Japanese Nu-Metal Band HANABIE. Reflect on Lollapalooza & How International Festivals Led to Their ‘Bucchigiri Tokyo’ EP
HANABIE. is an all-woman nu-metal band made up of vocalist Yukina, guitarist and vocalist Matsuri, bassist and backup vocalist Hettsu, and drummer Chika. Although it’s been less than a year and a half since their debut, they were performing at overseas metal festivals even before they debuted, and in 2024 they played on the main stage at Lollapalooza, one of America’s “big three” outdoor festivals. Their momentum, especially overseas, knows no bounds. They spoke with Billboard Japan about their experiences around the world and about how it turned their attention to their hometown of Tokyo, the theme of their new EP, Bucchigiri Tokyo.
First off, could you talk to us about Lollapalooza 2024, where you played in August?
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Matsuri: Lollapalooza is a super-famous festival, so at first we thought there was no way we’d actually be able to play there (laughs). We were jittery and restless all the way up until the actual day of the show.
Yukina: We’ve been very fortunate to be invited to play at metal festivals in lots of different countries, but Lollapalooza isn’t a metal festival, so we thought a lot about what to say and what to wear during the show. Hettsu stayed up late decorating the four platforms we stood on.
Hettsu: I went shopping for fabric with Chika. Not to sing my own praises too much, but I think the platforms turned out well, and they were a great match for the Lollapalooza stage (laughs). Also, for the first time at a HANABIE. show, we had a VJ, and for some of the songs we were projected up onto a huge screen.
Yukina: We also tossed some beach balls into the crowd and did some other things just for the show.
How did the success of the show affect the band?
Matsuri: It gave us a lot of confidence. Pulling off a big show like that was a great experience for the band. Also, we played during the daytime, so it sparked an ambition in us to make it even bigger and to one day perform in a later spot on the timetable. We also wanted to work even harder on our overseas shows.
Have you always been ambitious?
Matsuri: I don’t really think so.
Yukina: The more we play in different countries and in festivals in Japan, the more things we want to achieve.
Matsuri: We didn’t expect our music to connect with overseas audiences. Finding out that it connects gave us a lot of confidence. It made us want “more! more!”
You played at a few other overseas festivals after Lollapalooza. Have you gotten used to those kinds of shows?
Matsuri: Yes, we’re pretty used to them now. We’re gradually starting to get a picture of the different atmospheres at individual festivals in individual countries. Last year, every day was just like “This festival is amazing!”
Outside of festivals, you also did a roughly one-month-long tour of the U.S. together with Ukrainian metal band Jinjer and American deathcore band Born of Osiris.
Yukina: We played 19 shows in one month. It was like four days in a row, then a day off, and then repeat again, over the whole course of the tour. Jinjer’s performances had a lot of entertainment value. They were like watching a show. That influenced us, too, so we tried to be more expressive and to create an atmosphere for each song through our expressions, movements, and gestures.
Chika: Also, our individual performances came together and gelled.
Hettsu: Jinjer and Born of Osiris are both very technical bands, and they’re very locked in, so we focused more on getting ourselves locked in. That’s another way in which it was a really wonderful tour.
Matsuri: We’ve got the same sense of groove now, we push or pull the rhythm together. That was always an issue for us, but now we’re all starting to sync up, so I can really feel how we’ve grown.
After the tour with Jinjer, you did a tour in Australia, and now, having travelled the world, you’ve released a new album, Bucchigiri Tokyo. If it hadn’t been for your overseas experiences, you wouldn’t have chosen that name, would you?
Yukina: Right. Not just the title, but I don’t think we would have gone in the same direction with the songs, either.
Traveling to all these different places and meeting new people, you keep hearing “Japan’s great. Tokyo’s great.” So you rediscovered your pride and affection for where you’re from, right?
Yukina: Right. Partly because anime has such a huge presence that you take it for granted, I’d never really thought that deeply about Japanese culture, but through our world tour I found out how much people love Japanese culture. That opened up lines of communication, and I’ve come to feel really proud of our culture.
A lot of the songs on the new EP go pretty hard. “Bucchigiri Tokyo” is a surprisingly straightforward song.
Matsuri: So, about that song…I saw Green Day perform live for the first time at a festival in Europe. I’m a huge Green Day fan, so it was like a dream, being able to hear songs I’ve loved since I was little, all being performed live. That feeling stayed with us after the tour ended and we came back to Japan. We wrote “Bucchigiri Tokyo” about two days after we got back, still feeling that same spirit. I think that’s why that straightforward feeling comes through in the chorus riffs.
So the punk feel of the song comes from Green Day?
Matsuri: Right. Of course, it also has a lot of HANABIE. in it, but the mindset underneath comes from Green Day.
And then there’s “Ito Okashi My Type.”
Yukina: From that famous personality test…(laughs). It’s pretty popular now. Or, rather, it’s something that everybody’s interested in nowadays, so we decided to use it in a song. It’s well-known all around the world, not just Japan, so I think the song’s theme will resonate with people in any country. The song also has a kind of Heian era feel. A classical Japanese feel.
Matsuri: There are aspects of our modern age that share something in common with the Heian era, so we put them into our song, using a kind of pop approach.
There are artists who avoid referencing modern fads in their lyrics. You, on the other hand, actively try to do that, right? Don’t you worry about what will happen after those fads have passed?
Yukina: I don’t worry about it. It’s like the songs will age with us. We’re trying to create artistic output that’s super-fresh, in the way that only we can.
Matsuri: When we get older, there’s no way we’ll be able to do what we’re doing now, so we’ve got to do it while we can.
What kind of year do you think next year will be?
Yukina: It’s been almost a decade since our band formed. The one decade anniversary is a major milestone, so I want us to give ourselves a pat on the back and then be like, “Okay, now let’s give it our all again!” We’ve already been announced as playing at the German FWacken Open Air 2025 festival and some other festivals, so we want to really pump up the energy levels, both here in Japan and overseas!
—This interview by Daishi “DA” Ato first appeared on Billboard Japan
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