What are you listening to?

[Bill Sikes]

 

[TNucks1]

 

[AV's Coin]

 

[Cerridwen]

 

[Gollumpus]

In the recent TWITCH stream on Herman Li's channel (lead guitarist for Dragon Force, he had as his guests two members of Band Maid, Miku and Kanami - the song writing duo for their band. Miku handles most of the lyrics and is the rhythm guitarist, Kanami is the primary composer and lead guitarist.

 

One of the topics for discussion was regarding the fastest songs that each group plays. Li wasn't exactly sure about Dragan Force's song list, but responded that their fastest was maybe 225 BPM ("The Game" has been listed at 240- follows). The reaction to this from the two Maids was interesting to see. Miku kind paled at Li's comment. for the fastest tune that Band Maid have put out is "Black Hole" (220 BPM - follows) from their latest album, and it was challenging for them to get it right, but hoped that their band could play it live at some point in the future.

 

Kanami was like, "225? Challenge accepted." Kanami being Kanami, it wouldn't surprise me that she did some research on Dragon Force songs and aimed higher.

 

 

 

                                                       regards,  G.

Edited February 28, 2021 by Gollumpus

[Ghostsof1915]

I don't care about BPM. I care about the sound. Just because something is rapid-fire doesn't make it good. Think Johnny Cash. Sometimes Less is more. 

Because Akane will make an insane solo, as will Kanami and Misu. Don't try too be someone else. Just be the best Band-Maid you can.

 

So far I'm never disappointed. 

[RWMc1]

 

[4petesake]

 

[Gurn]

For years I thought this was Annie Lennox:

 

[RWMc1]

 

[RWMc1]

 

[Gollumpus]

On 2/28/2021 at 9:11 AM, Ghostsof1915 said:

I don't care about BPM. I care about the sound. Just because something is rapid-fire doesn't make it good. Think Johnny Cash. Sometimes Less is more. 

Because Akane will make an insane solo, as will Kanami and Misu. Don't try too be someone else. Just be the best Band-Maid you can.

 

So far I'm never disappointed. 

I can't say that I disagree with anything you have written. (Apologies for the late response, I was watching curling, amongst other things.)

 

This being said, from things I've read and video I have seen, this band is always pushing their boundaries outwards, one of the areas being BPM. They can make fast songs not feel like they are all that fast, and slower songs feel like they have gone by in a blink. BPM is a challenge which (I believe) the entire band is willing to take on, but they view the challenge differently. I suspect that the hunt for higher BPM is primarily a Kanami thing, while Misa and Akane look for greater complexity in the sound from the bass and drums (perhaps a jazz influence?). I have seen some interviews where it seems that Misa is blaming herself for how the bass section is more complicated than it needed to be in a particular song, but she wanted to try something different. 

 

Faster songs are something which they have reservations about because the higher BPM can result in errors, which makes them less likely to be heard in concert at least until they have had a chance to practice it a lot. BPM also has nothing to do with some songs which the band has in their library not being performed all that often, such as "Fate". This song is only 130 BPM (in that regard it is well within their capabilities) but it has been performed in concert something like 3 times since it was written/composed/released in 2018(?). I've never seen anything to indicate what there is about this song which makes them reluctant to play it in concert.

 

 

"YOLO" is listed as being 170 BPM, but to me it feels a lot less:

 

 

Or, if anyone really wants to slow down, I really like the piano version (supposedly this is Kanami tinkling the ivories):

 

 

"Don't Be Long" comes in at 195, and they seem to be able to pull that off, so I'm not sure that they have an issue with BPM as much as it's the other complexities which they themselves insert:

 

 

Second concert performance for reference:

 

 

                                                        regards,  G.

[McBackup]

 

[Smashian Kassian]

 

Love this song. Been learning it on guitar. 

[J-23]

 

[RWMc1]

 

[Cerridwen]

 

 

 

[Gollumpus]

18 hours ago, Cerridwen said:

 

I like this! It has a real Tom Waits kind of feel to it.

 

                                                 regards,  G.

[Gollumpus]

Otherwise, anyone else heard of this guy? I've only found out about him fairly recently from a mention on the Herman Li TWITCH stream with Miku and Kanami from Band Maid (it seems I don't get out much).

 

 

                                               regards,  G.

[4petesake]

This makes my wife happy every time.