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'They do receive power from the metal gods'
BABYMETAL have spoken out about the influence and inspiration of Metallica, saying that they one day hope to have the same live presence and standing as they do.
The Japanese idol-pop-metal trio, renowned for their mindblowing choreographed, high-octane live shows, say they were humbled to meet Metallica while on tour last year - and were truly inspired by their live performance. Largely thanks to the 'metal gods'
"We never got any advice [from them], but just watching their stage we learned so much," Moametal told Rolling Stone. "They separate who they are onstage and who they are backstage. That's something we learned from them and we hope one day we'll be able to reach that kind of level onstage that Metallica has onstage. It feels like they do receive power from the metal gods when they're on because it's amazing. How much do you prepare for a tour?"
Su-Metal continued: "For this tour, we had about two weeks of rehearsal, but that's probably not enough. Just being onstage, looking at the fans reacting to us and looking at each other, we kind of support each other onstage. That's where we get our energy to go on. We see each other, we look at the fans, the fans are enjoying themselves and that's enough for us."
Watch BABYMETAL performing 'Gimme Chocolate' below
Speaking to Gigwise about their favourite metal bands, Su-Metal said: "One of the bands is obviously Metallica. The first real metal band we saw live was Metallica. The first time we met them, they were just really nice old folks, they we went to watch them and they were totally different to the guys we saw on stage.
"Their aura and stage presence had such a real impact on me. I was like 'this is real metal'."
Both BABYMETAL and Metallica will be performing at Reading & Leeds Festival this August. For tickets and information on Reading, visit here and for Leeds visit here.
The band's creator Kobametal said that the name Babymetal came from a "divine message" from the Fox God, or Kitsune-sama as he is also known. It means that they have created a new genre of music that combines Japanese idol pop with metal, hence the term baby in the name. This is why instead of devil horns the band use the symbol of the fox (two fingers), in order to symbolise the band's divine inspiration.
The average age of the group is 15. Moa Kikuchi and Yui Mizuno are both 15 with Suzuka Nakamoto being the oldest at 16. On stage, Suzuka who is also the tallest stands in the middle with Moa and Yui on either side.
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'Headbanger' is about Su-Metal's 15th birthday: "This special night of my fifteen/I'll never forget/All the crybabies, get out of here!/With the legendary black long hair disordered around and gorgeously/blooming crazy/this flower will soon disappear fruitlessly/I'll never come back again and it's so short period/I etch in my heart this special night of my fifteen/I jump lightly and dance in the air/Headbanger!"
The release of 'Headbanger' came with a corset to help ease the necks of listeners into the habit of headbanging. How considerate.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, the trio admitted that they had no prior knowledge of metal: "When I first started, my stamina could not keep up. I did not know what metal was, so I never head banged before I used to have muscle pain that lasted 3 days, but now I am used to it and I have more stamina now," said Yui is now a fan of Cannibal Corpse, Moa likes Iron Maiden and Behemoth while Su is partial to a bit of Metallica.
The translation of 'Gimme' Chocolate' tells a story of worrying about your weight, a subject particularly relevant to the Japanese idol industry: "Check-it-out chocolate. Can I have a bit of chocolate?/But my weight worries me a bit these days./However, chocolate/Can I have a bit of chocolate?/But wait a while! Wait a while! Wait! Wait! Wait!
The producer of 'Gimme Chocolate' is Takeshi Ueda, who is the bassist from The Mad Capsule Markets. Who many will know from the song 'Pulse' which is taken from the Tony Hawks 3 soundtrack, and was really awesome.
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Photo: Press
