Band Maid

History

Band-Maid formed as a four-piece in July 2013. Vocalist/guitarist Miku recruited guitarist Kanami, who brought her friend drummer Akane, who in turn brought her friend bassist Misa. They had their first live at the PP Audition held at Osaka Deep on July 24. Vocalist Saiki joined the group through an audition in August and they performed as a five-piece for the first time at the P Festival at Shibuya-AX on August 22, 2013.

Since their formation, Band-Maid has regularly performed live at various venues around the Tokyo area. The group released their debut mini-album Maid in Japan in January 2014, written in collaboration with musicians Masahiko Fukui and Kentaro Akutsu (the latter formerly of the musical group Zero).

In August 2014, Band-Maid released the maxi single "Ai to Jōnetsu no Matador". In November 2015 they released their sophomore record New Beginning. The band undertook a tour of Tokyo venues to promote the album through February 2016, culminating in a sold-out concert on February 14. In March they had their first overseas performance at Sakura-Con in Seattle, Washington.

They dropped the "®" from their name in April and released their major label debut, Brand New Maid, in May on the Nippon Crown sublabel Crown Stones. In October and November 2016, Band-Maid went on their first world tour that took them to South America, Europe and Asia.

In January 2017, they released their first full-length album titled Just Bring It. It was preceded by the single "YOLO", released on November 16, 2016.

Image and music

Band-Maid's image is modeled on Maid café hostesses. In interviews, they explains the concept came from founding member Miku who had previously worked at the Noodol Cafe in Akihabara. The subservient maid theme is continued by the band referring to their male fans as "masters" and female fans as "princesses", and their concerts as "servings."

The group aims to defy expectations with their look and sound. Their "cute" and submissive maid appearance contrasts with their wild and dominant rock music. Second vocalist Saiki was recruited to allow a larger variety of music with two different voice types.

Miku draws inspiration from Japanese enka music, Kanami is a big fan of Carlos Santana, Akane is a fan of Deep Purple and Maximum the Hormone, particularly the latter's female drummer Nao, while Misa likes The Smashing Pumpkins and Jimi Hendrix. Miku has loved singing since she was a child and attended a vocal school around 2012, but started playing guitar with the formation of Band-Maid the following year. Saiki started singing when she was 14 and Band-Maid is her first band. Kanami has played classical piano since she was a child and started guitar when she joined her high school band club. Misa started the piano at around 3 or 4 years of age, and played the trumpet, alto horn, guitar and vocals through elementary and middle school. Akane plays the drums, trombone and piano.

Related acts

Akane and Kanami also perform as guest members of the acoustic group Mochi to Cheeze (もちとちーず) (roughly translated as "Rice Cake and Cheese"), a sub-unit of the Platinum Passport idol group Predia.

Band members

Studio albums

Mini-albums

Singles