I saw them live at Carolina Rebellion a few years ago. It was an odd mix of pleasure and shame: I really enjoyed the music, and they DO have a fantastic metal band, but they also are(or look) like they are about 14 years old…so its a little awkward sometimes.
I saw my friend from Japan a couple of months ago and asked if he had ever seen BABYMETAL. He laughed and said, " Uh, No. Because I’m not a pedophile."
We were at a funeral and didn’t have a chance to talk further about it.
@howard Do you know what he was talking about?
He was probably commenting on the fact that it’s a metal idol band whose gimmick is it is fronted by kids, I would imagine - though they must all be in their 20s by now, that was definitely their gimmick.
There’s a lot that’s skeevy about the idol band thing in Japan - primarily (or entirely) the fans. I have made similar comments to what your friend said many times. I remember one time someone asked me what “AKB48” meant and I said something like “It’s Japanese for ‘dude she’s 15.’”
The reason I said they shouldn’t be written off above is that although they are a gimmick idol band, they are a gimmick idol band backed by a super solid metal backing band. And they almost singlehandedly kicked off a musical genre. Their producer is a genius - but yeah they have a lot of skeevy fans.
Like @howard said, when the band started the three singers were 14,14, and 16 I think. So they should all be into their early 20s now. However, they still look like they are 12…but Asian women tend to look very young for much longer than other areas in my experience.
But the whole schtick is that you have these three young innocent looking Japanese girls singing mostly bubbly sounding lyrics over a hardcore metal band that is super raw and aggressive…but REALLY good too.
So it is a weird juxtaposition of worlds.
Another band I mentioned up in that post, Doll$boxx, has funny video kind of skewering the whole idol band skeevy fan thing. The band is the musicians from Gacharic Spin with the singer from Unlucky Morpheus and it’s kind of like what Hole would have been if Hole had come from power-pop/rock/metal and not grunge. (And been made up of world class musicians.)
I like the flipping back and forth between what the 30-something band actually looks like vs the costumes. Some nice bass slapping there from Koga as well.
Thank you! I can’t wait to watch them!
The best thing about this kid is his bass face
That kid’s got a great future ahead of him!
I think I’m becoming a convert to all sorts of Japanese music, and it’s all your fault @howard.
Confession: I used to think I probably couldn’t play bass because I have hands like a girl.
Then I stumbled across this lady’s videos and was just like “Oh… I’m a dumbass…”
These days I’m thankfully a little more educated about bass players.
But you’re also in here, so you can e a badass instead.
You arent the only one that has the flying pinky issue… as beginners/intermediate players Im sure most of us struggle with that!
And I am also like you…so driven to the point of detriment to myself. If I cant be “Good” then I dont want to do it. I have to keep telling myself that “Good” at bass will take a long time and a lot of patience. Just enjoy the moment, learn something new every day, and in time all of this will come together!
Daamnnn… so little hands…NO EXCUSE! That young squire is KILLIN it!
Me too!
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
It doesn’t have to take a long time, but for some people it does. For some people it comes easily. Some of us have issues to overcome along the way, or at the beginning. Some of us will put in 5 hours a day and get ‘good’ in weeks. some of us will only have an hour a week to spare and will take months or years to get ‘good’.
Little hands shouldn’t stop you. Missing fingers shouldn’t stop you. MS/Parkinson’s shouldn’t stop you. Being lazy shouldn’t stop you. Having a busy life shouldn’t stop you. But not everybody you see/hear will be at the same pace or level as you - and that’s OK! And ‘good’ is a very relative and very movable point. We’re all good, it’s just that some are gooder than others.
That’s why I signed up for B2B - I didn’t wanna simply be a “Good” bassist, I wanted to be a “BADASS” bassist!!
I’ve been complaining silently that my hands are short that why I can’t play the bass until I saw this video today.
It’s obvious I gat a lot of work to do.
I wonder when this kid started playing and where he’dbe in the next 10yrs?
I’m totally embarrassed
All that and his bass face is killing it!
O yeahhh, the bass face is the most intimidating part😂