How HANABIE. Took on the International Market: The History of this New Sensational Hybrid Girl Band

HANABIE.

From left to right, Chika (drums), Matsuri (guitar and vocals), Yukina (vocals), and Hettsu (bass guitar and backing vocals). A "new sensational hybrid girl band," HANABIE. is rooted in its own original and self-styled "HARAJUKU CORE" genre, which evolved from metal core and hard core music together with Akihabara culture. The group expanded an international fan base through YouTube and TikTok. HANABIE. marked their major record label debut with their release on July 26, 2023. In the following month, they launched a world tour, playing at venues in Europe, the United States, Oceania and Asia through December. They have gigged in many venues in Japan and abroad in 2024. Their song, “Tasty Survivor” will be featured as the opening theme song for “MOMENTARY LILY” an anime TV series set to air in January 2025.

Click here to view the second part of this article: How HANABIE. Took on the International Market: The Future of this New Sensational Hybrid Girl Band

“I don't want to be like anybody else!” The beginning of the band

Photo by Mei Okabe

HANABIE.’s origin goes back to 2015, when Yukina (vocals), Matsuri (guitar and vocals), Hettsu (bass guitar and backing vocals) and the first drummer, all of them members of an after-school music club, formed the band. At that point, Matsuri was the only one who had played any instrument. Having been raised in a musical family, she began playing guitar at a young age.

Hettsu had played percussion instruments in an elementary school club, but otherwise had no experience. She had no experience of playing any stringed instrument. Yukina had always loved to listen to songs but never had the intention of singing herself. What brought the three together was Yukina’s desire to start a band.

“When I was entering high school, I had this passion to form a band no matter what, so I began by joining the after-school music club and started my search for potential band members,” Yukina said. “When I met her, Matsuri had been playing guitar, so I thought she should definitely be a member. I had talked with Hettsu about joining a (high school) music club together when we were junior high school students, and she had said she might want to try bass, so she became the bassist. The girl who played the drums had played percussion instruments in a brass band, so we had the drummer, I thought. Then, I realized we didn’t have the vocalist (laughs).” “So, I said, maybe I should do it,” Yukina said.

Photo by Mei Okabe

It was around this time that they adopted their unique band name, HANABIE., which includes the period at the end. Yukina’s birth month was April and the other three were all born in winter, so “hanabie,” a “kigo” describing a temporary return of chilly days in spring, seemed fitting. [Kigo are words that evoke a particular season, and are used in traditional haikus.]

“So we said, ‘Many (Japanese) bands have English names, so we should definitely have a name in Japanese’,” said Hettsu. “And we chose the name that would stand out on flyers.”

“HANABIE.’s members are all individuals who want to be themselves, and it hasn’t changed yet,” Yukina said. “The reason we have the “。” [the full stop in Japanese] added to the end of the (Japanese) name emulates what another band had done, because Hettsu and I were into that band at the time. So when I had to fill out an application for something and I had to indicate the band name, I added it without permission from the rest of the band (laughs).”

After forming in the first year of high school, HANABIE. honed their skills by covering punk and melodic hardcore bands, including MAXIMUM THE HORMONE, which the members describe as their starting point, and ELLEGARDEN. The band also wrote their own original music along the way. They were chosen as the runner-up in School’s Out, a band competition for high-school students. The band remained active, while replacing the drummer several times, and, after the members graduated from high school, they continued to gain experience by performing in the indie band scene, playing at live venues.

Photo by Mei Okabe

Chika joins at a fateful juncture

The current lineup of HANABIE. was cemented in May 2023, when Chika, who had played in bands since junior high school in her hometown of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, officially joined. The encounter was fateful.

“At that time, I had been involved in this project as part of a band I was in and it was nearly over,” Chika said. “So I was brooding over what I should do next and thinking maybe I should quit the band. It was just then that a teacher at my music school told me about HANABIE.”

“So our third drummer decided to quit in April of last year, and the band was scheduled to make our recording debut with Epic Records Japan in July and appear in overseas live events, including U.S. tours with FOX LAKE and DROPOUT KINGS,” Hettsu said. “So we had this huge pressure to find a new drummer and it was a major headache for us.”

Although they were fortunate to find a new member who was close to their age and at a critical juncture, the members had their worries.

“First of all, Chika had been gigging in her hometown of Hamamatsu for many years, so she had to come to Tokyo, and then she immediately had to face recording a debut album with a major record label and embark on overseas tours,” Yukina said. “On top of that, HANABIE. plays heavy music, and I thought she might find it difficult to mix with the three of us, who she had just met for the first time and whose members can often have strong opinions. I really appreciate her for making the brave decision to join us.”

But surprisingly, Chika “didn’t hesitate for even a moment,” she said, chuckling.

“HANABIE. is my first band that plays loud music, but I decided to join as soon as I received the offer because I thought it was my destiny,” Chika said. “You know, when I was in junior high school and formed a band, I was telling everyone we were going to take on the world!”

Photo by Mei Okabe

“As soon as Chika joined, we had a live gig, and then we announced our debut with a major record label and then immediately set out on an overseas tour,” Matsuri said. “So we had such a busy schedule that we couldn’t afford to be shy with each other although we had only met for the first time. So, I think was a good thing. It was like living together for about two months, so instead of being shy with each other, we quickly became like a family (laughs),” she said.

Asked who she may liken the members of HANABIE. to members of a family, Chika said:

“Matsuri is the leader with initiative, so maybe she’s the dad. Hettsu always pays attention to the other members, so she should be the mom. Yukina is a bit like me because she is usually relaxed, but gets tense as soon as a live show begins, so she’s the older sister, while I may be the baby sister, I don’t know!”

“We’re like a family in that all of us tend to be talkative and loud when it comes to our favorite topics,” Yukina said. “Chika gets passionate when she talks about food, Matsuri gets carried away when she talks about her hobbies or anime, and Hettsu, who loves fashion and gadgets, talks really fast when she is talking about clothing and makeup. But when one of us gets carried away, there’s always another who will calm them down. That way, we are a very balanced band.”

Photo by Mei Okabe

“WE LOVE SWEETS” reaction videos led the band to think of taking on the international market

With Chika joining to complete the lineup, HANABIE. released their first major record label album, “Reborn Superstar!” on July 26, 2023. So how did it feel to make their debut with a major label after producing their recordings themselves up until then?

“The biggest thing obviously was that it made it possible for us to do what we wanted to do,” Matsuri said. “Before our major label debut, we of course had to do everything ourselves, from recording songs and producing video clips to preparing for live gigs. Now that we have the staff to support us, we have double the amount of ideas that we can come up with and we can do far more things than we were able to do on our own. Everyone is so supportive without forcing us to change what we want to do or our style, so we are having great fun right now. I’m grateful for the working environment we have.”

The members say the band would not have been able to tour overseas, which now represents a major part of their activities, if they remained an indie band.

“In those days, we didn’t have the idea of going out to overseas venues to have shows on our own,” Hettsu said.

“All we did was we said maybe it would be fun if we went on a tour. No one was saying we should go on an overseas tour or anything like that,” Matsuri said. “‘What are we going to do in Japan?’ was all we could think of at first.”

“Well, at least Gaku-san of CRYSTAL LAKE, which is a metal core band that has a big overseas fan base, told me about their experience overseas, and that left a strong impression on me,” Yukina said.

Still, they were at least aware of the existence of fans overseas. What made them realize this was their 2021 music video “WE LOVE SWEETS,” in which the members delivered a simple message of loving sweets in cute outfits and, in one segment, were all wearing cute strawberry-shaped headgear, all while their hard rock sound is playing in the background creating a sharp contrast with the scene.

【花冷え。】-我甘党- (WE LOVE SWEETS) Music Video【HANABIE.】(add：English Lyrics)

“There are many people who post so-called reaction videos on YouTube these days. These are videos in which they watch a video and discuss their impressions about it,” Yukina said. “And many people posted reaction videos featuring “WE LOVE SWEETS” from overseas. I was like, wow, there are so many people who enjoy this song and say great things about it! It made us realize we had to think about our overseas listeners.”

“Many people from overseas posted in the comments section of our videos saying they want us to come to their area or such and such places, which gave us the opportunities to see their messages directly,” Matsuri said. “It reminded me the world is a huge place and made me seriously want to go out of Japan.”

For us to be ourselves. How our “HARAJUKU CORE” style began with “L.C.G.”

The biggest factor that helped HANABIE. capture the hearts of overseas rock fans is the unique “HARAJUKU CORE” style of expression that only the girls can offer. There is no doubt the gap between their appearance, which combines a colorful, pop, cute, and kitschy subculture style with the Harajuku-style fashion, and their authentic loud rock sound, which mixes elements of metal, surprised many people. But perhaps surprisingly, the band did not establish this style until relatively recently. Their style change was brought on by a song released in November 2019.

“I think it was around the time we recorded the song called ‘L.C.G’ which we released five years ago,” Matsuri said, “That is when we began to share this idea like, ‘Isn’t this something only we can do?’ although we talked about it in a subtle, loose way at the time.”

花冷え。「L.C.G」 Music Video【Official】

Until then, the girls appeared on stage clad in T-shirts and shorts with undyed black hair, typical of metal and hard core bands, in live shows in which other bands were also billed. This was because they wanted to blend into the scene that formed the key element of their music.

“Just being an all-girl band made us a jarring presence with the rest of the people in the venues we played, because nearly all people were men, including members of the other bands and the audience,” Matsuri said. “So if we tried to introduce even a slightly “KAWAii” element, we would have been completely out of place. Such were the kinds of events we would appear in in those days. Mind you, we always made sure to strike an attitude and told those around us, ‘We won’t lose to you guys! We’re strong!’ (laughs)”

“But it gradually dawned on us that that’s not our strength. So we eventually decided to wear what we like and have hair styles we choose,” she said.

“Until then, even in video clips, we had dark-colored hair,” Hettsu said. “In my case, I tried to stay in the background and tried to look plain to make sure Yukina would stand out, because she is the lead singer, although I always dyed my hair in gaudy colors outside of playing with the band (laughs).

“But ‘L.C.G’ gave us the chance to free ourselves. It gave us the chance to realize that we didn’t have to look around and worry about what people may think of our appearance, and that we should instead appear how we choose to.”

“Actually, we always had a taste that directly clashes with the image of a loud-style band. For example, we all love Sanrio [the company behind characters such as Hello Kitty] (laughs),” Yukina said. “The realization that we can project any image we like was very significant for HANABIE.”

“When I joined the band, the other members told me my black hair was no problem at all because none of them had black hair at the time,” Chika said. “But as I continued to play with them on tours, I gradually learned the fun of thinking about my costumes and makeup. So I grew more and more showy in my appearance, not least of which was due to Hettsu’s gift of makeup kits for my birthday! (laughs)”

Photo by Mei Okabe

In Part 2, we ask the HANABIE. members their thoughts on their overseas activities and their interesting experiences overseas, as well as their what their future goals are.

(To be continued in Part 2)

Text by Mika Abe
Translated by Atsushi Kodera