This BAND-MAID Instrumental Killed me! First time hearing 'from now on'

First time music reaction and analysis of BAND-MAID / from now on (Official Music Video) by a guitar teacher.

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🎸 Music Lessons (guitar, singing, production, songwriting):

🎧 Original music:

00:01 - Intro
00:36 - Music starts
03:05 - First commentary
04:33 - Bass melodic breakdown
05:50 - In conclusion

Original video:

@BANDMAID

#bandmaidreaction #bandmaid #fromnowon #musicreactions #reactionchannel #reactionvideo #reacts

[killinjoke]

Kanamis singing voice! And She doesnt need to write Lyrics for it!LOL!

[cbus]

I would like to report a murder. Because Kanami just killed me. But I died with a smile on my face.

[stanleyday]

Blooming, Shambles, Different, Onset, Gion Cho, Daydreaming are a few other masterpieces!

[TomRussell-cyll]

The musicianship of this Band is second to two things really stand out that make them so special...Kanami's writing and playing
skills and Akane and Misa's ability is off the charts

[yusupamin]

Story short Band-Maid in a video Music gold rush Band-Maid.

[RoyYoung-pwgt]

This is what happens when you let Kanami be the "Lead Singer" 😆

[MerryOlSoulGigglesmith]

I'm jealous that it's your first time. I remember the feeling i got hearing it for first time.

I'm sure you've already done ONSET (live) if not, another BAND MAID sensation .

[greylocke]

Band Maid was started in 2013 by Miku Kobato. At the time she had just left the Idol Group, Lil Cumin and she didn't like the type of music she had been performing. She approached her management agency with the idea of making an actual band playing rock music but dressed as maids. She had worked in a Maid Cafe and thought the image of maids playing rockin music would create what she called "The Gap" between what you see and what you hear. The Management company was like Ok, go ahead.

Miku then looked around and found Kanami a singer/songwriter who was posting her own videos on the internet. Miku had her agency contact her and Kanami thought the idea was cool and agreed to join. Miku then asked if Kanami knew a drummer who might be interested. Kanami had worked with Akane in the past and there is 2 versions of this, the first is, Kanami literally walked over to Akane's apartment and asked her, the second is Kanami called Akane and asked her. (Akane has said in 2 different interviews that 1: Kanami called her and asked if she could come over and 2: in a second interview Kanami just came over) Akane was actually hesitant as she had worked in an "All Girl Group" before and didn't enjoy it as it wasn't the type of music she wanted to play. After hearing a Demo, Akane was like ok, but was still slightly hesitant because of the "Maid Outfits", but she agreed to give it a try. Akane was asked if she knew a bass player and she had gone to Tokyo School of Music with MISA and had worked a couple of jobs with her. So Misa was contacted and after she heard a demo she was like I like the music, but she also was hesitant about the "Maid Outfits", but she relented and joined in as she really wanted to play the kind of music she heard in the demo. The 3 of them then "Auditioned" for the record company and passed the audition.

Now we have the "Core" members. The 4 members worked out some songs provided for them by the record company, and a setlist and they had performed 3 times with just Miku on main vocals. Miku after those performances felt that her voice wasn't powerful enough to really perform the songs she wanted. So she approached her management company again and asked if they had any singers who weren't in other projects. They then auditioned several singers. Miku heard Saiki rehearsing in a room across the hall and asked if she could be auditioned, the record company then had Saiki audition.

Saiki was signed to the same management company and had done some work as a backup singer and dancer and was asked if she would be interested in auditioning for this new group which currently had 4 members and she would be the fifth. She had been a member of a group with 8 other people as a backup singer and dancer, and HATED it. So she listened to the demo and thought "Cool" because she liked the music.

Now we come to the tricky part. Miku KNEW that if Saiki was told about the "Maid Outfits" she would say NO WAY!, so they didn't tell her. They told her they would have "Cool/cute Clothes"(I've read it translated either way), and she never met Miku until a few days before they had a contracted performance. She wasn't told about the "Maid Outfits" until the day before the performance, and she had considered backing out, but she had signed the contract. (Saiki also had NEVER met Miku until then as well)

So the Ladies, went and did the performance and Saiki really, REALLY liked the crowds reaction and the music they were performing. She DIDN'T like the apron she wore so it got ditched after the first performance.

And you now have the beginnings of the BEST LIVE HARD ROCK BAND in the WORLD!

ALL HAIL BAND

Now that we have the Full band, it was felt that there needed to be a second guitar. Saiki was like, "Not Me, No Way." So Miku said, "I'll do it.", at first that was literally all she did, was hold the guitar and mime playing it, until Akane said, if you are going to hold it, you NEED to learn to play it. And Miku said, "Ok.", and Kanami started to teach Miku how to play. The Ladies released their first album in 2014 "Maid in Japan" which failed to chart, but later after "Thrill" it was reissued and charted to #26 in Japan.

Then in 2015 they released "New Beginning"


On New Beginning was the song that changed Band Maid's entire existence. "Thrill"...

The band was getting ready to release their first music video and the choice was between "Love, Passion, Matador" and "Thrill" and the ladies chose Thrill. (Little known fact, Miku helped with the lyrics on Thrill but did not get credited)

This became the seminal moment of Band Maid. Because their second album charted at #64, the record company was seriously considering disbanding the Ladies and switching them to other projects. (In fact they had Kanami and Akane work with Mochi to Cheese thinking that when Band Maid cratered they could use them in another band. MISA had also just started working with Mochi to Cheese as well). However about 6 months after the video's release, a Facebook page "JRock Radio" posted the video to their timeline. And the video went viral. Having over a million views in just a few short weeks. The Ladies Twitter page got so many hits they thought their page had been hacked. Their YouTube channel also started getting more and more subscribers and views to Thrill.

Now the ladies knew where their fans wanted them to go. Harder Rock, less pop. And history was Maid.

[DaElfer]

It only looks like an instrumental, but the singing is done by Kanami by way of PRS

[TlanImass]

Pop band? Hardly. :P~ How they formed? Hmmm... Short version: Rhythm Guitarist recruited Lead Guitarist who recruited drummer who recruited bassist. Then all 4 SORT of recruited lead vocalist. (The story isn't short). The Youtuber Ohrenje made documentaries on each member so you can discover the band's history through that. Of course, the starting point is Saiki, the lead vocalist.

[tommyjohnson]

Miku (rhythm guitar) formed the band, she worked for a time in a traditional Japanese Maid Cafe so she used that look to envision Band Maid.

[DAVID-ionj]

Rhythm guitarist Miku could not play guitar at the start of the band. Lead guitarist Kanami taught her. Kanami is the main music composer. She started out on piano at an early age and mostly concentrated on classical music until high school.

[zertzer]

Miku won an idol competition. Sh took that and parlayed it into a record deal after she got tired of being an idol. She then found lead guitarist, Kanami, through her online videos. She asked Kanami if she knew any good drummers and she said, Akane, who she had worked with on a project before. Then they asked if Akane knew any good bassists. Akane attended the Tokyo School of music with MISA. So the line up was complete, but not quite. Miku had envisioned dual vocalists, and her voice wasn't really suited to the Hard Rocking Maid image she wanted for her band. So they look at their agency for another singer and found Saiki. That was it! That's always been the line up. Miku dropped back to second vocalist, but they needed a second guitarist. Rather than hiring a sixth member Miku had Kanami teach her how to play rhythm guitar. If you look in their very first Music Video 'Thrill' she's just using it as a prop. Lucily it went iral, because if it hadn't the label was going to fire the musicians and turn the to singer into DANCE-MAID. Miku and Saiki both cried, "We didn't come to Tokyo for this!". Luckily it was posted on the Japanese Rock Facebook page. It took off so fast BAND-MAID thought their page had been hacked! Check out Ohrenji. He has a documentary video on each of the girls and 3 on band founder Miku.

[roumiaou]

Thank you so much.To me, Band-Maid stands for "freedom" in terms of composition. They'll surprise you each time with all that hey've got.

[bocatampere]

Kanami Tōno-my alltime favourite musician 🔥❤️ Band-Maid -Greatest band in this Universe 🔥❤️ Thank you.

[michaelgregoirejr]

You should check out.
The documentary about them. That is on youtube

[RetiredInThailand]

Boy oh boy, one of the most interesting (and random) things in the world is how Band-Maid came together .... a great story, which I see is already told very well by commenters below.

As for your comment about their composition, yes, it is very unique and interesting ... after listening to them since 2014 I have a theory on how Kanami (lead guitarist who does the majority of music writing and arrangements) composes.

1 - Her melodies come from the Gods
2 - She arranges the song as though she had a full symphony orchestra at her disposal
3 - She then uses all the boxes and knobs she has to come up with sounds that can be used to replace all the violins, horns, reeds, etc and then MISA on the bass (when MISA isn't coming up with her own earth shattering solos) replaces all the lower registered instruments (oboes, stand-up bass, bassons, etc.)

So when you listen to their music you can hear underneath the main melody Kanami, MISA, and Miku doing things that if you use your imagination you can hear a 'string section' or 'horn section' being played out on guitar or bass ... and all arranged in enough detail as to have legitimate 'counter-melodies' and 'rounds' happening in the 'background'.

And of course Akane does her part ... her drums being tuned to my ears with a much larger and dynamic tone range than most, so she too can add more than just a 'great drum beat' and more of a 'percussion section' feel to the songs.

All that and them being Japanese, have a background in Japanese 'pop' chord progressions, which while are similar to Western are also more complicated and meandering (ie. takes more chords to get to the 'resolution', which is a 'fresh' sound to Western ears, and you have some amazing and unique sounds.

When I was a 'kid' in the 60s & 70s I used to come home and throw on Elton John (Captain Fantastic for example) and listen to those arrangements, which were awesome, but they were 'rock' arrangements so the main point of the arrangements was to keep players from stepping all over each other with the odd harmony or counterpoint thrown in once in a while ... Kanami takes this to a whole new level, and uses modern guitar and processing technologies to turn Band-Maid into a'new rock orchestra'.

Check One-OK-Rock and the live concerts they did with an actual orchestra, I hear a lot of the same orchestral 'motifs' from Kanami's arrangements. ... this is why I consider her the reincarnation of Mozart.

[Dante]

It started with Miku, the rhythm guitarist, she had the idea for the band then she found Kanami, the lead guitarist, doing music on the internet. Kanami knew Akane, the drummer. They met through a prior music project and became friends. Akane knew MISA, the bassist, because they actually did go to music school together, TSM. And finally they decided to bring in the lead singer Saiki, when Miku realized her vocals weren't the kind she wanted to go with the music they wanted to play, even though her voice is amazing. Saiki, they found, through their talent agency.

[jenssweden]

Congratulations you just found the best band on the planet 🤘🎎🤘🎎🔥🔥🔥🔥. Check out something of there live music.

[ALAN_COX]

Be aware that a lot of Band-Maid songs are played with the guitar tuned to drop-d. I am also fairly sure that they use Digitech Drup pedals in order to play certain songs in a pitch that works for their singer, Saiki.

Some song suggestions for you are Moratorium, No God, Rinne, Onset, From Now On, Without Holding Back, About Us, Play, Why Why Why, Clang, and Matchless Gum. Their latest live videos from Yokohama Arena are incredible. Don't You Tell Me and Hate are straight up bangers with guitar vs bass duels, and Endless Story is a tear jerker that even choked up the singer, Saiki, and the drummer, Akane, since it was the last song of their 10th year anniversary tour. Also, they just released a collaboration with The Warning called Show Them which is a must listen. Have fun with it!