Commentary
Page 10
Street Roots • July 15-21,2016
Babymetal s adorable ascension
Japanese girl group Baby metal is revolutionizing the gruff and macho world of metal
BY MARK WHEELER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
t’s about the only sunny part of the
Download festival weekend in
Leicestershire, England, and we’re
sitting in the media garden. Suddenly
there’s a hurried and excited scramble as
Babymetal walk through the gate. Instantly
recognizable, the elusive trio of Japanese
teens have been winning over crowds with
their brand of cutesy, brutal, metal J-pop
everywhere they go.
They are accompanied by a small but
effective entourage, including a security
guard akin to Cersei Lannister’s new pet
knight. He keeps the crowd forming around
them in line with nothing more than a
glance.
Looking excited, nervous and bewildered,
yet still confident, the girls happily give us a
brief moment to snap a couple of photos
before they are ushered off to get ready for
their set. We’d get the chance to speak to
Suzuka Nakamoto, AKA Su-Metal, later. It’s
I
all very efficient
Making our way to the main stage to
catch the show, sun still shining, we naively
leave our waterproofs in a locker backstage.
Big mistake. Just before Babymetal’s set
there is a torrential downpour. I end up
soaked through to the skin. Delayed by the
weather, after staff wipe the puddles from
the stage Babymetal finally come out to
rapturous cheers, backed as always by their
incredibly talented Kami band.
“Despite the extreme pouring rain,
people stood before our stage to watch us to
the very end. It was a spectacular view from
the stage,” says Su-Metal, the band’s
18-year-old singer. The rain may have been
pouring but that didn’t stop the frenzied
crowd forming circle pits at her request.
“Our live performance is very intense so the
rain actually helped us cool down a bit”
I first caught Babymetal live at last year’s
Leeds Festival but the girls have played
most rock festivals now, steadily climbing
their way up the bill in a few short years.
“Download UK was amazing but really every
festival brings a different experience so it’s
hard to choose one over the other,” she
says.
“The crowd is probably the most
different. Over here everyone is just
enjoying the show in their own way. In the
beginning we always see people in the
crowd who have never seen us before, who
don’t know how to react, but by the end of
our set we always see everyone holding up
the fox sign [Babymetal’s version of metal
horns], which shows us that they are
enjoying our show.”
Back home in Japan Babymetal have been
selling out arenas for years. But with their
recent Metal Resistance album the highest-
charting by any Japanese band in the UK,
they are also the first to headline Wembley,
where they set records for merchandise
sales. On July 14-15, they are playing in
California.
“We’ve been so blessed to have
experienced so many things. As for a full
See BABYMETAL, page 11