They have a Japanese crew: manager. translator, and I think about 5 techs/roadies. Their double-decker tour bus could sleep 14. Their normal guitar tech, Daisuke, was hospitalized during the US 2022 tour. So they had a woman tech instead, which is unusual for Japanese bands.. Kanami brought her out to take a bow during one of their last concerts. Daisuke was back for this past May tour and they acknowledged him as well. Be nice to your roadies! You can actually take a tour of the quarry.
Lazing on a Sunday afternoon with a Jbf deep dive - it's a Hunky-Dory Day! Never spotted that that opening pick scrape is coming from Miku and Kanami at the same time. Kanami composes so subtly and loves using both guitars to the full...and getting MISA or Akane to put in fills too when there's a break from the guitars to keep the melody going. Amazing breakdown of Kanami's solo! Miku's lyrics are always deep enough for the song - very deep, Zen Buddhist, Shinto and Japanese culture references in many other songs - and you're right about the self-awareness in this song as the all have their accounts on social media but are egoless enough to never discuss their private lives, only their stage personas. This is typical of all the female Japanese Rock and Metal bands - Band-Maid, Babymetal, Nemophila or Lovebites for example - massive as they all are. It's very refreshing! The MV was filmed at the old quarry of Ishikiri Sanmyaku, in Kasama, Ibaraki, Japan.
That's really cool, there must be a tonne of cultural references like that that totally go over my head! And the location as well, what a legend you are! Absolutely stunning scenery.
On their latest tour they have gone wireless. So they have been dashing around the stage from side to side without tangling up the wires. It was over a hundred degrees when they filmed this video apparently, Spraying water about to cool down. Miku often uses phrases from different Countries or Japanese dialects in a song. The English Hunky Dory day is great for the live performances for the crowd to join in. The Band love to watch reaction videos and will even point influencers and rectors out during concerts. So the song is very much a self aware parody. Even though I am no musician I enjoy these Analysis and thanks for the deep dive. As with all Band Maid songs there is never enough time to look at it all in depth.
@@JbfMusicGuitar This is it! They make incredibly dense music that is accessible to non-musicians. What I mean is, you can leave their show humming a tune but what they do with it is astounding when you dig into it.
Sorry for the delay in getting this one up folks! Quick question: Are the Chapters better as song sections, or the stuff I'm talking about like: "Inverted Power Chords Of Chunky goodness" 🎸 Tip Jar www.paypal.me/JbfGuitar 🎸 Make Your Own Patreon Request www.patreon.com/JbfMusic Most of these videos get totally demonetised, if you like what I'm doing here and want to support these, have a specific request I should really check out, or just fancy chucking something in the hat!
I think that your mixture of stopping at sections to explain how the magic is made and then expanding on something specific that caught your ear (ie, Inverted Power Chords Of Chunky goodness"!) is fine. Basically, the way you do things seems fine! PS Since I found Guthrie Govan through your channel, I have now become utterly fascinated by everything of his I can get my hands on - I swear I feel moved to tears (which drip off my mostly dropped jaw) when I watch him. Never seen anyone so connected to his instrument.
Awesome, will plough on as is, unless otherwise prompted! So glad you've found your way to his playing! Oh man, tell me about it, it's like the guitar is just part of him. Seems as second nature as breathing. He did some really cool stuff with Hans Zimmer's live show. Without any real spoilers, something goes a bit wrong and he handles it like a total boss- th-cam.com/video/oHew2D9zDw0/w-d-xo.html
A few years ago when Saiki and Miku were visiting with Tony Visconty at his studio in New York while working on The Dragon Cries they saw David Bowie's Hunky Dory album and were very curious about the term which sounded odd or strange to them. This use may stem from that.
Great to hear that, as I've never heard this story before. My fave Bowie album too! Although it was one of the few Bowie albums that Tony did not produce.
I’ll take a good analysis reaction any day over just some guy feigning excitement and doing over the top reactions. I’m actually learning something here that I can try on my own later.
A great breakdown of this complex paradox of a song. Miku penned some terrific lyrics about the vain narcissistic nature of the social media “Influencer” phenomenon. As usual, Saiki’s little rap part was stylishly delivered. Akane’s drumming/pedal work is so clever and is so well synced with Misa’s excellent bass playing. As for the visually striking shoot location, during Japan’s post war economic boom, companies built some factories on these remote Islands. These facilities were abandoned leaving these cool kinda spooky ghost towns. I was surprised, not really surprised at all, how well the Maids play this song live.
Fun fact about your comment on Miku needing to have good balance...she is actually very clumsy and tends to be bruised up from falling a lot. In a fan cam of one show from last year you can see one of her ankles was wrapped up.
Deep abyssal dive!. Six minutes of loads of information BEFORE the song even starts lol. That is why I awfully love your analysis. Thanks Jack! A pleasure to listen to you as always.
And in recent popular culture, mostly used in an ironic sense: 'aside from totalling my car, im hunky-dory.' I'm impressed that Miku caught lots of nuances of meaning even in a non-native language. Miku is a clever bird.
I'm in the South and have lived here most of my life - it's a phrase you'll hear pretty routinely although maybe by older folks. But you'll hear all sorts of Olde English phrases. This is the place that time forgot, like a Pogo cartoon.
My understanding of Hunky Dory is that it is derived from Honcho-dori, a street in Yokohama (essentially Main Street). This was once a popular hangout for sailors on shore leave. They brought the term back to the west, where Honcho became Hunky, and that eventually made its way back to Japan, as used in this song. There may be alternative ideas on this, but that seems to be the most likely origin.
I remember hearing the phrase " Hunky-Dory" as a kid growing up some 65 years ago (yeah, I'm a very old codger) in the context that everything was going well and that there were no complaints worth mentioning. The phrase seemed to become obsolete long ago but when I heard it again, thanks to Miku's lyrics. I instantly remembered its meaning. Remarkable how Miku can take little known phrases or references and weave them into catchy musical phrases that fit the song's melody perfectly. She really is an outstanding lyricist along with her many other talents.
Love that power chord inversion trick! That's the kind of stuff i'm looking into at the moment as well, like incorporating inversions into chord progressions to minimize neck movement and keep the playing as clean as possible, so great timing haha. As for the really high pitched sounds during the solo, i wouldn't know for sure, but i think it's just a pitch shifter pedal toggled on and off, i think you talked about one of those in your analysis of Different. PS : as a French i had a good laugh when you tried pronouncing Jean Baudrillard LOL i had never heard a Scotsman attempt that before, and i wasn't disappointed! Great video as usual!
Superb! If you've not had a look at the CAGED system yet, it's really good for staying in one part of the neck, can do smaller or 4 string chord to get really smooth inversion too. Aye, I think it's a secondary pitch shifter popping that one note up, but not totally sure? Lmao, I'm sure there was a whole slew of bad pronunciations to choose from my various attempts there, haha!
@@JbfMusicGuitar Yes i'm familiar with CAGED, but i was working on an exercise where i play a simple triad, and then play the same triad in different inversions all over the neck and on all the strings to build muscle memory for that. And i realised that augmented triads keep the same shape the whole way up and down funnily enough! Another exercise was just making up a simple chord progression, again with triads, and using inversions to play them as close as possible. I'm sure it can relate to the CAGED system, but i've never really dived into it that much, because i learned very early on to make my own chords and to use intervals for scales instead of CAGED or memorizing all 3 note per string shapes. And i've learned a super useful tip that really unlocked so much for me, to combine 3 nps and 4 nps, that way you can really visualize the scales on 2 strings and the intervals in it. Sorry i went on a tangent there lmao! I even had a tech question but i'll keep it for another video, i don't want to steal too much of your time, cheers!
The high pitches are from Kanami's Eventide H-9 Harmonizer pedal. She has had it for years, but mostly used it for it's delay and chorus functions. She just recently started using it as an actual harmonizer.
From my perspective(I live in the Deep South USA), hunky dory is a phrase your grandfather would use to convey "All's well." Kinda reminds me of a word that the hipster of the 40s would have come up with. Like that scene on Yankee Doodle Dandy when an older Cohan is talking with the teens, if you've ever seen that movie. Fits in with Miku's "middle age man" persona.
Why do we or the ladies do this to you? It's easy to answer. You are one of the few who can disassemble a song in a split second and explain it in an understandable way even for non-musicians like me. 🔥🤘🏻 Thanks again for that! 🙏🏻
Thanks, real useful. And fun. And no fake crying! They're in an abandoned quarry, by the way. There were some near where I grew up and they were great swimming holes. Really clear and deep. People also used hunky dory a lot back then in the states. Now, not so much. Miku is really a great lyricist. They may go their separate ways some day, but I feel she and Kanami will be writing killer songs and lyrics for years to come.
Cheers mate! Oh wow, must have been awesome to swim around in. I see them as maybe as folk who might do collabs and side projects, but still keep their thing going ... so more about this fake crying stuff, is this a thing people do? How do I do it, vapor rub under the eyes or something??? 🤣
Thanks for all your insights with this. My opinion is that “Influencer” is one of Band-Maid’s weirdest songs. Not guitar focused. Definitely a departure from familiar BM. I’m still trying to figure out how to classify it? All I can say is it’s in the “Band-Maid Genre”
And great job JBF, as usual. Learned a lot of stuff watching this. Yeah, the maids fake a lot of people out thinking there's a tempo change, when in fact there isn't. They kind of fake you out about a lot of things, which of course is cool stuff indeed.
Great deep dive. Random notes: 4:00 - Miku's lifts. Check out the boots Kiss wore in the 1970's. Their platforms were like 9 inches high or something. I remember back then the Kiss guys joked how they often fell down, usually it was Ace Frehley if I can still recall. What strikes me is that Miku's high lifts are not part of the uniforms worn by the maids working for At-Home Cafe, where Miku worked. In the reply to this comment, I'll share a link to a dance video produced by her cafe, showing the maids dancing in more normal-size shoes. So, Miku is out of uniform. Why? I could guess because she's compensating for being shorter than her bandmates. Or, my own weird take is that she's inspired by Kiss. She's not a maid, she's a maid superhero character. And, she uses a lot of stage make-up. I'd call it costume make-up. Or even Kabuki make-up. Well, Kiss brought Kabuki make-up and Kabuki theater to rock music. It just seems to me that's maybe what she is doing. But what do I know? I'm just a crazy rabbi. 5:40 - One guitar scrapes while another slides. Band-Maid did that years earlier in "Take Me Higher". Although Kanami performed both in the studio, on stage she scraped and delegated the slide to Miku. 15:00 - Good catch on Akane switching to triplets. I heard that 1000 times but never noticed the switch. 29:25 - Nirvana. Yep. Totally hear "Anuerysm". That's probably my fave Nirvana song, which explains why I like "Influencer". Ha! Final note: As a native of LA who still lives here, I got a chuckle out of "LA accent". :-)
Miku will say she is 5'1" but Kanami IS 5'1" and is taller than Miku. So Miku wears 4 inch heels with a 3 inch platforms. And when converting her centimeters to inches Miku is is 4'11.80"
Kiss is a good shout, had no idea they were as huge as 9 inches, that's seriously impressive. Nice to delegate the best guitar parts to the other player from time to time, haha! I hadn't really clocked it until that listen either, just assumed something weird and band maid-ey was going on Haha, cheers, I did try to find a good Letterkenny clip for that, but couldn't quite find the one I was looking for!
@@JbfMusicGuitar Thanks for the replies. Heehee, 9 inches might be a tad exaggerated. But, I found an LA Times article from 1985 calling them "stilts". You can judge for yourself in a link I'll post in a comment below. Also, at 19:40 you solved a mystery for me. I had wondered why Saiki goes into that hip hop rap. Now that you've pointed out Akane's switch over to a tiktok influencer beat, it makes perfect sense. Good call.
One of the great things about tube amplifiers is the pleasing way they create harmonics. When you overdrive an inverted power chord you get this weird interference that creates a lower root that doesn't exist in reality. But, what is reality?
Thx Jack. I did actually understand some of that but i'm not a great fan of Kanami's Eventide octave harmoniser. i guess that's why they were at the Ishikiri Sanmyaku stone quarry & i'm sitting at home commenting....Tho i am eating a sausage sandwich & have a cold can of Fosters export so i'm not complaining :)
Shambles just dropped a few hours ago and took us all by suprise!! Right on the eve of their Lollapalooza appearance was a pretty brilliant move here!! To say they set the stage on fire might be putting that mildly lol. 🤘🎸🔥
On guitar necks, my "First" guitar was a bolt on neck Harmony Rocket H53/1, my next guitar was a Neckthrough JB Player, which is like the Gibson Firebird or Thunderbird, which from tail piece to headstock is solid all the way through. Then there are like the SG and Les Paul, which are set necks, or glued in necks. Now I have a Tele thinline clone and a set neck resonator and a set neck acoustic bass. Gibson also has the "Axcess" carve, where they carve away the heel of the neck to allow better access to the higher frets. Akane played at least part of that on the rims of her racked toms in Houston. IDK on the PH either. And what ever gets us to the Ladies is all good. I think one day you will post a 6-9 hour video of you doing a full complete breakdown of a Band-Maid song, every instrument and the vocals, your hair will be half gone by the time the video ends and you look like you've been up for days and have overdosed on Redbull and Monster energy drinks.
Awesome, sounds like a great collection! I don't even handle a weak coffee well, so that would be a total trainwreck, lmao. I imagine the amount I go on that would only be 'part one' as well
Been waiting for this one! Very entertaining. Yes Band Maid does have their own techs and sound engineer. When overseas they also rent equipment but have it in a separate van that travels with them. So they are using the same equipment. Kanami said that it has made a big difference in their sound quality when performing in the US vs pre Covid years. Yeah the techs are on either side of the stage and one is deicated to Kanami...I assume the other one is dedicated to Misa/Miku? Good point about the water bein warm but I know in many Asian they drink room temperature water so that might be a preference. Now I'm wishing they had done the pick scrape at the end. Nice touch!
Cheers dude, that makes a lot of sense, rent so the heavy stuff doesn't have to fly, then chuck it in a van on the mainland. Guitar tech and a guitar/bass tech, that adds up. Haha, just a good excuse to hit repeat at the end of the song!
The one on MISA's side is running their backing tracks and IEM's. Akane will still trigger the click track, which will trigger the backing track, but the tech on the side sets them up as the software they use only does 4-5 songs at a time, hence why the Ladies will play 4-5 songs have a small MC break, then another 4-5 songs, another MC etc. Also during their 2022 and 2023 tour, Saiki and Miku called audibles, changing the setlist mid performance a few times. The Tech had the next song ready in seconds, so they had set it up in advance if they needed to switch out the play list. The OTHER Tech, during 2022 was Mu-Chan, who was the instrument tech and ran the backup controller for Kanami's pedal board, both Mu-Chan and the other Tech also did cable management. Since Dai-San is back, and the Ladies have gone full wireless rigs now, Mu-Chan runs the wireless setup while Dai-San checks all the instruments and runs the backup controller to Kanami's pedal board. At the Houston show in May, Dai-san took care of the instruments, Mu-Chan took care of all the wireless rigs, and the other Tech whose name I still haven't found out, took care of the Click and Backing tracks, and their Sound Engineer (Whose name I can't remember) worked with the venues FOH for the rest of the sound and his board was out on the main floor about 3/4 of the way back in the hall.
Hunky-dory is a term that would definitely be understood almost ubiquitously in the USA but it's certainly evocative of an older person or an older time, at minimum someone raised pre-internet. The entomology of the term is probably a mix of Dutch and Japanese or English slang derived from Dutch and mispronounced Japanese used as English. I didn't know it was a common phrase in Japan but that would be consistent with the way they're kinda using English to have a double meaning throughout the rest of the song.
There was a really interesting comment by @mightydegu about it's origin being to do with a street in Japan, which ties in pretty well with what you're saying as well
After Band-Maid released that MV, at least 2 other artists have since recently uploaded their own MV's filmed at that same location: Wands and Galneryus. Did those 2 copycat? Maybe one of your viewers can offer insight. In case YT deletes links, I'll post them in separate reply comments below:
The rhythm in the gallop section reminds me of "GET BACK." I think the drums in this song are based on a funk-like 16th note beats, but the syncopation of backbeats, the drum fills with ghost notes, and the triplets in grouping of 4 (10:33), I felt a jazz influence. Akane is very technical and good at polyrhythm.
26:29 That high pitched octave jump sounds like it’s done with the Digitech Whammy or other pitch shifter which can do octave up pitch shifting controlled by a rocker pedal.
@11:55 hunky-dory (adj.) 1866, American English (popularized c. 1870 by a Christy Minstrel song), perhaps an elaboration of hunkey "all right, satisfactory" (1861), from hunk "in a safe position" (1847) New York City slang used in street games, from Dutch honk "post, station, home," in children's play, "base, goal," from Middle Dutch honc "place of refuge, hiding place." A theory from 1876, however, traces it to Honcho dori, said to be a street in Yokohama, Japan, where sailors went for diversions of the sort sailors enjoy.
How much tech do you think Kanami knows or is aware of. She did a couple of demo vids for pedals and PRS guitars, but she has a massive pedal board. Kanami used to all the guitar parts in studio.
A good amount I reckon, she seems quite interest in the Tom Morello school of 'making a guitar not sound like a guitar', which I'm a big fan of as well! I'd guess she's pretty in the know about new pedals and tech?
Interesting side note, Kanami is afraid of heights, for her to go up on the ledge to play shows her willingness to push forward for the effects, maybe letting Mincho take over!
Good shout! Will have a look the now... So, with that mystery solo note it sounds like another pitch shifter in the studio, but live she's not doing that: Here Kanami plays it as a double stop (without being very high pitched) th-cam.com/video/B5f_lGjfrdk/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/uwWJHfpUnzg/w-d-xo.html In these ones it sounds like she's using a pinched harmonic: th-cam.com/video/Tu0i3uwAtvI/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/RQ8gAb_N0fc/w-d-xo.html And in this one, I'm more or less certain that's what she'd doing because her pedal board isn't at her feet and having that done via that automated midi switching thing for one note would be very fiddley to get right th-cam.com/video/DZgcGknHiSc/w-d-xo.html I'm gonna say: pitch shifted in stufio, pinches or sometimes double stops live?
Lol, I guess it's more complicated then I thought. For context, the first 2 (with the double stops) are from last month and the other 3 are from last year. People said that the lady on the right that you mentioned in the beginning of the video had a controller for Kanami's pedal board. I wouldn't be able to tell from just looking at it, but I did see her using a folder with something that looked like the music score and following along with her finger on some of the songs.
@@falagar4567 That' Mu-Chan. Last year she had the back up controller for Kanami's pedal board, this year she moved to control the wireless rigs since Dai-San is back and he has the backup controller for Kanami's pedal board.
re hunky dory -- there's a peculiar thing i kind of noticed about japanese people's use of the english language. it's not unique to these ladies. they don't see 20th century expressions as dated vocabulary. i've read and seen and heard japanese translations -- online academics, skilled trade, hobby crafts, vtubers, stand-up comedy, jav -- they have a penchant for phrases that generally belong to generations past. anyway, this is another episode of valuable music insight. thank you so much! o7
Can all the pedals on a pedal board be replicated digitally? If so, I would assume at some point it would be replaced by a computer that is synced to the click track, or in the future, an AI would listen to what you're playing and would adjust the settings on the fly, that would allow you to do impromptu solos and then jump back into the song.
Yes and no. You can set it so the track can run a digital switcher, but each venue is different, requiring some venues to use different settings for the pedals. Instead of having it turned to 7, you might have to turn it to 5/6, and other things which can affect the sound. So I don't think too many "GOOD" bands will go to having the pedals run through the tracks. Not until the computer can take the acoustics of the hall in question into it's equation and change the setting to be optimal.
@@VegetaRabbit I learned about it watching a documentary on RUSH's crew setting up where the Sound engineer and the instrument techs were discussing how they had to make changes in some of the settings for the venue.
They have a Japanese crew: manager. translator, and I think about 5 techs/roadies. Their double-decker tour bus could sleep 14. Their normal guitar tech, Daisuke, was hospitalized during the US 2022 tour. So they had a woman tech instead, which is unusual for Japanese bands.. Kanami brought her out to take a bow during one of their last concerts. Daisuke was back for this past May tour and they acknowledged him as well. Be nice to your roadies!
You can actually take a tour of the quarry.
Alwasy be nice to your roadies - words to live by!
It looks stunning, a tour would be pretty amazing
Lazing on a Sunday afternoon with a Jbf deep dive - it's a Hunky-Dory Day! Never spotted that that opening pick scrape is coming from Miku and Kanami at the same time. Kanami composes so subtly and loves using both guitars to the full...and getting MISA or Akane to put in fills too when there's a break from the guitars to keep the melody going. Amazing breakdown of Kanami's solo! Miku's lyrics are always deep enough for the song - very deep, Zen Buddhist, Shinto and Japanese culture references in many other songs - and you're right about the self-awareness in this song as the all have their accounts on social media but are egoless enough to never discuss their private lives, only their stage personas. This is typical of all the female Japanese Rock and Metal bands - Band-Maid, Babymetal, Nemophila or Lovebites for example - massive as they all are. It's very refreshing! The MV was filmed at the old quarry of Ishikiri Sanmyaku, in Kasama, Ibaraki, Japan.
That's really cool, there must be a tonne of cultural references like that that totally go over my head! And the location as well, what a legend you are! Absolutely stunning scenery.
On their latest tour they have gone wireless. So they have been dashing around the stage from side to side without tangling up the wires. It was over a hundred degrees when they filmed this video apparently, Spraying water about to cool down. Miku often uses phrases from different Countries or Japanese dialects in a song. The English Hunky Dory day is great for the live performances for the crowd to join in. The Band love to watch reaction videos and will even point influencers and rectors out during concerts. So the song is very much a self aware parody. Even though I am no musician I enjoy these Analysis and thanks for the deep dive. As with all Band Maid songs there is never enough time to look at it all in depth.
Oh wow, that's a swelter of a day! Ahhh, that makes even more sense, adds a whole new depth as well. Indeed never enough time!
Thanks for the amazing shout outs! I got a bunch of stuff to say which I'll post in separate comments, but for now thanks for the awesome lesson!
Oh wow, bloomin' heck thanks a bunch mate, very much appreciated!!
@@JbfMusicGuitar You're very welcome!
These ladies only become more epic when you start to understand what they're doing in their music... Love your breakdowns....Good work ,keep it up.
Totally, it's like seeing 'the guy behind the curtain' and realising that it's somehow even more impressive!
@@JbfMusicGuitar This is it! They make incredibly dense music that is accessible to non-musicians. What I mean is, you can leave their show humming a tune but what they do with it is astounding when you dig into it.
Sorry for the delay in getting this one up folks!
Quick question: Are the Chapters better as song sections, or the stuff I'm talking about like: "Inverted Power Chords Of Chunky goodness"
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I think that your mixture of stopping at sections to explain how the magic is made and then expanding on something specific that caught your ear (ie, Inverted Power Chords Of Chunky goodness"!) is fine. Basically, the way you do things seems fine! PS Since I found Guthrie Govan through your channel, I have now become utterly fascinated by everything of his I can get my hands on - I swear I feel moved to tears (which drip off my mostly dropped jaw) when I watch him. Never seen anyone so connected to his instrument.
Awesome, will plough on as is, unless otherwise prompted!
So glad you've found your way to his playing! Oh man, tell me about it, it's like the guitar is just part of him. Seems as second nature as breathing. He did some really cool stuff with Hans Zimmer's live show. Without any real spoilers, something goes a bit wrong and he handles it like a total boss- th-cam.com/video/oHew2D9zDw0/w-d-xo.html
As always great reaction.. I love hearing your thoughts on Band-Maids songs. I love your dissecting of music. Again great reaction. 👍👍🤘🤘
Huge thanks mate!
A few years ago when Saiki and Miku were visiting with Tony Visconty at his studio in New York while working on The Dragon Cries they saw David Bowie's Hunky Dory album and were very curious about the term which sounded odd or strange to them. This use may stem from that.
Brilliant, so cool to get the inside scoop like this from you guys, much appreciated my dude!
I never heard that little tidbit before. Very cool!
Great to hear that, as I've never heard this story before. My fave Bowie album too! Although it was one of the few Bowie albums that Tony did not produce.
I’ll take a good analysis reaction any day over just some guy feigning excitement and doing over the top reactions.
I’m actually learning something here that I can try on my own later.
Different strokes for different folks and all that, eh? Reallly glad you guys dig what I'm doing, cheers mate!
Lot of those headbangers have well over 50K subs too. 😮 just don't understand them.
That signature Zemaitas that Miku plays is beautiful.
A great breakdown of this complex paradox of a song. Miku penned some terrific lyrics about the vain narcissistic nature of the social media “Influencer” phenomenon. As usual, Saiki’s little rap part was stylishly delivered. Akane’s drumming/pedal work is so clever and is so well synced with Misa’s excellent bass playing. As for the visually striking shoot location, during Japan’s post war economic boom, companies built some factories on these remote Islands. These facilities were abandoned leaving these cool kinda spooky ghost towns. I was surprised, not really surprised at all, how well the Maids play this song live.
"complex paradox of a song" - nailed it.
Just a great choice of location, tones of vibe
Fun fact about your comment on Miku needing to have good balance...she is actually very clumsy and tends to be bruised up from falling a lot. In a fan cam of one show from last year you can see one of her ankles was wrapped up.
Well if you're gonna trip over anyway, might as well do it in style, eh!
Deep abyssal dive!. Six minutes of loads of information BEFORE the song even starts lol. That is why I awfully love your analysis. Thanks Jack! A pleasure to listen to you as always.
Haha, felt a bit bad about that actually, glad you got something from it! Many thanks mate
Yep, Hunky-dory day is a phrase used in the states in certain regions. Great analysis!
Good to know, thanks for that! Glad you enjoyed it bud
And in recent popular culture, mostly used in an ironic sense: 'aside from totalling my car, im hunky-dory.' I'm impressed that Miku caught lots of nuances of meaning even in a non-native language. Miku is a clever bird.
I'm in the South and have lived here most of my life - it's a phrase you'll hear pretty routinely although maybe by older folks. But you'll hear all sorts of Olde English phrases. This is the place that time forgot, like a Pogo cartoon.
Thanks!
Huge thanks mate, much appreciated!
Wonderful as per usual @Jbf Music
many thanks dude!
My understanding of Hunky Dory is that it is derived from Honcho-dori, a street in Yokohama (essentially Main Street). This was once a popular hangout for sailors on shore leave. They brought the term back to the west, where Honcho became Hunky, and that eventually made its way back to Japan, as used in this song. There may be alternative ideas on this, but that seems to be the most likely origin.
Fascinating, I always assumed it was an old scots saying or something- I like your take much more!
I remember hearing the phrase " Hunky-Dory" as a kid growing up some 65 years ago (yeah, I'm a very old codger) in the context that everything was going well and that there were no complaints worth mentioning. The phrase seemed to become obsolete long ago but when I heard it again, thanks to Miku's lyrics. I instantly remembered its meaning. Remarkable how Miku can take little known phrases or references and weave them into catchy musical phrases that fit the song's melody perfectly. She really is an outstanding lyricist along with her many other talents.
Love that power chord inversion trick! That's the kind of stuff i'm looking into at the moment as well, like incorporating inversions into chord progressions to minimize neck movement and keep the playing as clean as possible, so great timing haha. As for the really high pitched sounds during the solo, i wouldn't know for sure, but i think it's just a pitch shifter pedal toggled on and off, i think you talked about one of those in your analysis of Different.
PS : as a French i had a good laugh when you tried pronouncing Jean Baudrillard LOL i had never heard a Scotsman attempt that before, and i wasn't disappointed! Great video as usual!
Superb! If you've not had a look at the CAGED system yet, it's really good for staying in one part of the neck, can do smaller or 4 string chord to get really smooth inversion too. Aye, I think it's a secondary pitch shifter popping that one note up, but not totally sure? Lmao, I'm sure there was a whole slew of bad pronunciations to choose from my various attempts there, haha!
@@JbfMusicGuitar Yes i'm familiar with CAGED, but i was working on an exercise where i play a simple triad, and then play the same triad in different inversions all over the neck and on all the strings to build muscle memory for that. And i realised that augmented triads keep the same shape the whole way up and down funnily enough! Another exercise was just making up a simple chord progression, again with triads, and using inversions to play them as close as possible. I'm sure it can relate to the CAGED system, but i've never really dived into it that much, because i learned very early on to make my own chords and to use intervals for scales instead of CAGED or memorizing all 3 note per string shapes. And i've learned a super useful tip that really unlocked so much for me, to combine 3 nps and 4 nps, that way you can really visualize the scales on 2 strings and the intervals in it. Sorry i went on a tangent there lmao! I even had a tech question but i'll keep it for another video, i don't want to steal too much of your time, cheers!
The high pitches are from Kanami's Eventide H-9 Harmonizer pedal. She has had it for years, but mostly used it for it's delay and chorus functions. She just recently started using it as an actual harmonizer.
From my perspective(I live in the Deep South USA), hunky dory is a phrase your grandfather would use to convey "All's well." Kinda reminds me of a word that the hipster of the 40s would have come up with. Like that scene on Yankee Doodle Dandy when an older Cohan is talking with the teens, if you've ever seen that movie. Fits in with Miku's "middle age man" persona.
Aye, it's an older generational saying here as well, usually meaning you're all set
I've heard it from my grandfather! It like it is much older than the 1940s though, maybe older than the 1840s.
Why do we or the ladies do this to you? It's easy to answer. You are one of the few who can disassemble a song in a split second and explain it in an understandable way even for non-musicians like me. 🔥🤘🏻 Thanks again for that! 🙏🏻
Lmao, far too kind!! Really good to hear some of my ramblings are understandable, cheers dude!
The most entertaining 33 minutes you will get this week ! Thanks Jack !!
Pffft, I'd better keep my ego in check with comments like this, lol!
Thanks, real useful. And fun. And no fake crying! They're in an abandoned quarry, by the way. There were some near where I grew up and they were great swimming holes. Really clear and deep. People also used hunky dory a lot back then in the states. Now, not so much. Miku is really a great lyricist. They may go their separate ways some day, but I feel she and Kanami will be writing killer songs and lyrics for years to come.
Cheers mate! Oh wow, must have been awesome to swim around in. I see them as maybe as folk who might do collabs and side projects, but still keep their thing going
... so more about this fake crying stuff, is this a thing people do? How do I do it, vapor rub under the eyes or something??? 🤣
Thanks for all your insights with this. My opinion is that “Influencer” is one of Band-Maid’s weirdest songs. Not guitar focused. Definitely a departure from familiar BM.
I’m still trying to figure out how to classify it? All I can say is it’s in the “Band-Maid Genre”
Yeah, it's broadly still 'rock', but I mean that such a vague category. Band-Maid genre is usually the easiest way out of trying to define it!
And great job JBF, as usual. Learned a lot of stuff watching this. Yeah, the maids fake a lot of people out thinking there's a tempo change, when in fact there isn't. They kind of fake you out about a lot of things, which of course is cool stuff indeed.
It's a really clever way to shake things up, without really shaking them up too much... I'll be stealing that one as well!
What better place than a quarry...to be 'slating' the social media culture.
I see what you did there, I like it.
Great deep dive. Random notes:
4:00 - Miku's lifts. Check out the boots Kiss wore in the 1970's. Their platforms were like 9 inches high or something. I remember back then the Kiss guys joked how they often fell down, usually it was Ace Frehley if I can still recall. What strikes me is that Miku's high lifts are not part of the uniforms worn by the maids working for At-Home Cafe, where Miku worked. In the reply to this comment, I'll share a link to a dance video produced by her cafe, showing the maids dancing in more normal-size shoes.
So, Miku is out of uniform. Why? I could guess because she's compensating for being shorter than her bandmates. Or, my own weird take is that she's inspired by Kiss. She's not a maid, she's a maid superhero character. And, she uses a lot of stage make-up. I'd call it costume make-up. Or even Kabuki make-up. Well, Kiss brought Kabuki make-up and Kabuki theater to rock music. It just seems to me that's maybe what she is doing. But what do I know? I'm just a crazy rabbi.
5:40 - One guitar scrapes while another slides. Band-Maid did that years earlier in "Take Me Higher". Although Kanami performed both in the studio, on stage she scraped and delegated the slide to Miku.
15:00 - Good catch on Akane switching to triplets. I heard that 1000 times but never noticed the switch.
29:25 - Nirvana. Yep. Totally hear "Anuerysm". That's probably my fave Nirvana song, which explains why I like "Influencer". Ha!
Final note: As a native of LA who still lives here, I got a chuckle out of "LA accent". :-)
at-home cafe maids dance: th-cam.com/video/ihRRitEzJKg/w-d-xo.html
Miku will say she is 5'1" but Kanami IS 5'1" and is taller than Miku. So Miku wears 4 inch heels with a 3 inch platforms. And when converting her centimeters to inches Miku is is 4'11.80"
Kiss is a good shout, had no idea they were as huge as 9 inches, that's seriously impressive.
Nice to delegate the best guitar parts to the other player from time to time, haha!
I hadn't really clocked it until that listen either, just assumed something weird and band maid-ey was going on
Haha, cheers, I did try to find a good Letterkenny clip for that, but couldn't quite find the one I was looking for!
Sorry took me a while to liberate those links!
@@JbfMusicGuitar Thanks for the replies. Heehee, 9 inches might be a tad exaggerated. But, I found an LA Times article from 1985 calling them "stilts". You can judge for yourself in a link I'll post in a comment below.
Also, at 19:40 you solved a mystery for me. I had wondered why Saiki goes into that hip hop rap. Now that you've pointed out Akane's switch over to a tiktok influencer beat, it makes perfect sense. Good call.
One of the great things about tube amplifiers is the pleasing way they create harmonics. When you overdrive an inverted power chord you get this weird interference that creates a lower root that doesn't exist in reality. But, what is reality?
Mmmm... Maidtrix!😉
The note exist, but does it _really_ exist...
Thx Jack. I did actually understand some of that but i'm not a great fan of Kanami's Eventide octave harmoniser. i guess that's why they were at the Ishikiri Sanmyaku stone quarry & i'm sitting at home commenting....Tho i am eating a sausage sandwich & have a cold can of Fosters export so i'm not complaining :)
Great, really glad to hear that. Sounds like a snack of champions, I've got one beer left in the fridge might have to crack it open...
Shambles just dropped a few hours ago and took us all by suprise!! Right on the eve of their Lollapalooza appearance was a pretty brilliant move here!! To say they set the stage on fire might be putting that mildly lol. 🤘🎸🔥
Way hey!
On guitar necks, my "First" guitar was a bolt on neck Harmony Rocket H53/1, my next guitar was a Neckthrough JB Player, which is like the Gibson Firebird or Thunderbird, which from tail piece to headstock is solid all the way through. Then there are like the SG and Les Paul, which are set necks, or glued in necks. Now I have a Tele thinline clone and a set neck resonator and a set neck acoustic bass. Gibson also has the "Axcess" carve, where they carve away the heel of the neck to allow better access to the higher frets.
Akane played at least part of that on the rims of her racked toms in Houston.
IDK on the PH either.
And what ever gets us to the Ladies is all good.
I think one day you will post a 6-9 hour video of you doing a full complete breakdown of a Band-Maid song, every instrument and the vocals, your hair will be half gone by the time the video ends and you look like you've been up for days and have overdosed on Redbull and Monster energy drinks.
Awesome, sounds like a great collection!
I don't even handle a weak coffee well, so that would be a total trainwreck, lmao. I imagine the amount I go on that would only be 'part one' as well
Been waiting for this one! Very entertaining. Yes Band Maid does have their own techs and sound engineer. When overseas they also rent equipment but have it in a separate van that travels with them. So they are using the same equipment. Kanami said that it has made a big difference in their sound quality when performing in the US vs pre Covid years. Yeah the techs are on either side of the stage and one is deicated to Kanami...I assume the other one is dedicated to Misa/Miku?
Good point about the water bein warm but I know in many Asian they drink room temperature water so that might be a preference.
Now I'm wishing they had done the pick scrape at the end. Nice touch!
Cheers dude, that makes a lot of sense, rent so the heavy stuff doesn't have to fly, then chuck it in a van on the mainland. Guitar tech and a guitar/bass tech, that adds up.
Haha, just a good excuse to hit repeat at the end of the song!
The one on MISA's side is running their backing tracks and IEM's. Akane will still trigger the click track, which will trigger the backing track, but the tech on the side sets them up as the software they use only does 4-5 songs at a time, hence why the Ladies will play 4-5 songs have a small MC break, then another 4-5 songs, another MC etc. Also during their 2022 and 2023 tour, Saiki and Miku called audibles, changing the setlist mid performance a few times. The Tech had the next song ready in seconds, so they had set it up in advance if they needed to switch out the play list.
The OTHER Tech, during 2022 was Mu-Chan, who was the instrument tech and ran the backup controller for Kanami's pedal board, both Mu-Chan and the other Tech also did cable management. Since Dai-San is back, and the Ladies have gone full wireless rigs now, Mu-Chan runs the wireless setup while Dai-San checks all the instruments and runs the backup controller to Kanami's pedal board.
At the Houston show in May, Dai-san took care of the instruments, Mu-Chan took care of all the wireless rigs, and the other Tech whose name I still haven't found out, took care of the Click and Backing tracks, and their Sound Engineer (Whose name I can't remember) worked with the venues FOH for the rest of the sound and his board was out on the main floor about 3/4 of the way back in the hall.
Hunky-dory day ----> Hunky Dory is the fourth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 17 December 1971.
Oddly enough I was listening to that on LP the other week, great album
@@JbfMusicGuitar But you didn't know Hunky Dory phrase? Bad Guitarist, no biscuit.
Hunky-dory is a term that would definitely be understood almost ubiquitously in the USA but it's certainly evocative of an older person or an older time, at minimum someone raised pre-internet.
The entomology of the term is probably a mix of Dutch and Japanese or English slang derived from Dutch and mispronounced Japanese used as English. I didn't know it was a common phrase in Japan but that would be consistent with the way they're kinda using English to have a double meaning throughout the rest of the song.
There was a really interesting comment by @mightydegu about it's origin being to do with a street in Japan, which ties in pretty well with what you're saying as well
Good stuff!
Nice to see you here sir!
Many thanks mate, appreciate that!
Cold water is considered unhealthy to drink in most of east Asia. They drink it warm by preference.
The more you know, eh? Brilliant insight, thanks bud!
After Band-Maid released that MV, at least 2 other artists have since recently uploaded their own MV's filmed at that same location: Wands and Galneryus. Did those 2 copycat? Maybe one of your viewers can offer insight. In case YT deletes links, I'll post them in separate reply comments below:
Wands = th-cam.com/video/1Bk9YpwWEsg/w-d-xo.html
Galneryus = th-cam.com/video/Iq6MtiANS38/w-d-xo.html
Good find, such a cool location... always been a fan of Syu's playing
The rhythm in the gallop section reminds me of "GET BACK." I think the drums in this song are based on a funk-like 16th note beats, but the syncopation of backbeats, the drum fills with ghost notes, and the triplets in grouping of 4 (10:33), I felt a jazz influence. Akane is very technical and good at polyrhythm.
Good at making polyrhtyhms sound cool as well, instead of there for the sake of it, you know?
Bandmaid in your line must be Band-Maid so fans can find it.
Have just changed it to two separate words, will try out the hyphen as well to see if that helps, cheers for the suggestion mate!
Ishikiri (cut out rock) sanmyaku is where the film was shot.
I mean, the translation makes a lot of sense!
26:29 That high pitched octave jump sounds like it’s done with the Digitech Whammy or other pitch shifter which can do octave up pitch shifting controlled by a rocker pedal.
Her Eventide H9 actually
@@realdocloco ^^This^^
@@realdocloco Yeah, that’s probably it. I recognise the effect but not the device.
Cheers for that mate!
Hunky Dory is indeed known to those of us in the USA, although it may be only us old farts. Makes me think of the Bowie album for sure.
A classic album at that!
@11:55
hunky-dory (adj.)
1866, American English (popularized c. 1870 by a Christy Minstrel song), perhaps an elaboration of hunkey "all right, satisfactory" (1861), from hunk "in a safe position" (1847) New York City slang used in street games, from Dutch honk "post, station, home," in children's play, "base, goal," from Middle Dutch honc "place of refuge, hiding place."
A theory from 1876, however, traces it to Honcho dori, said to be a street in Yokohama, Japan, where sailors went for diversions of the sort sailors enjoy.
I quite liked the Yokohama theory, but the first seems very plausible as well
👍👍👍👍👍
This looks like where H-el-ical// recorded her "Alternate" video. Cool location indeed!
Apparently a few bands have used it, I can see why, totally stunning!
How much tech do you think Kanami knows or is aware of. She did a couple of demo vids for pedals and PRS guitars, but she has a massive pedal board. Kanami used to all the guitar parts in studio.
A good amount I reckon, she seems quite interest in the Tom Morello school of 'making a guitar not sound like a guitar', which I'm a big fan of as well! I'd guess she's pretty in the know about new pedals and tech?
17:35 - looks like a quarry.
looks like a quarry because it was a quarry once.. it's the ishikiri mountains
If it looks like a quarry and you say it's a quarry, I'm also willing to bet that it is, in fact, a quarry. A very stunning quarry at that!
Location : the one of the largest quarries in Japan, Ishikiri Sanmyaku, in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture
Really beautiful landscape
Interesting side note, Kanami is afraid of heights, for her to go up on the ledge to play shows her willingness to push forward for the effects, maybe letting Mincho take over!
Fantastic, the show must go on and all that!
Saw Elvis Costello this past weekend. "I wanna bite the hand that feeds me."
5:05-5:06 Finally, a feeling of success! I can do this! (LOL)
It's also like, the best noise a guitar can make. Win/win!
I think it might be good to jump to the fan cams for the parts where you are not sure about what they are doing.
Good shout! Will have a look the now...
So, with that mystery solo note it sounds like another pitch shifter in the studio, but live she's not doing that:
Here Kanami plays it as a double stop (without being very high pitched)
th-cam.com/video/B5f_lGjfrdk/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/uwWJHfpUnzg/w-d-xo.html
In these ones it sounds like she's using a pinched harmonic:
th-cam.com/video/Tu0i3uwAtvI/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/RQ8gAb_N0fc/w-d-xo.html
And in this one, I'm more or less certain that's what she'd doing because her pedal board isn't at her feet and having that done via that automated midi switching thing for one note would be very fiddley to get right
th-cam.com/video/DZgcGknHiSc/w-d-xo.html
I'm gonna say: pitch shifted in stufio, pinches or sometimes double stops live?
Lol, I guess it's more complicated then I thought. For context, the first 2 (with the double stops) are from last month and the other 3 are from last year.
People said that the lady on the right that you mentioned in the beginning of the video had a controller for Kanami's pedal board. I wouldn't be able to tell from just looking at it, but I did see her using a folder with something that looked like the music score and following along with her finger on some of the songs.
@@falagar4567 That' Mu-Chan. Last year she had the back up controller for Kanami's pedal board, this year she moved to control the wireless rigs since Dai-San is back and he has the backup controller for Kanami's pedal board.
re hunky dory -- there's a peculiar thing i kind of noticed about japanese people's use of the english language. it's not unique to these ladies. they don't see 20th century expressions as dated vocabulary. i've read and seen and heard japanese translations -- online academics, skilled trade, hobby crafts, vtubers, stand-up comedy, jav -- they have a penchant for phrases that generally belong to generations past.
anyway, this is another episode of valuable music insight. thank you so much! o7
Fascinating, I'll need to keep an ear out for that kind of thing
Thumbs up, great as always👍. Your video doesn't show up in the search for band-maid. Maybe because you wrote "Bandmaid".
I always search for "band maid" (no "-", two words), so there is no problem.
Cheers dude, well spotted, just fixed that!
New sub. Great content. What about them Maids!?
Thanks for the sub! Glad you liked it, aye they smashed it as usual!
is it just me or what he plays in the minute 12:48 sounds like the same riff kanami plays in "sense"?
I think there is a similar hook, but I'll need to listen back to Sense to check it out
@@JbfMusicGuitar thanks for the answer.. i'm deaf tone but as soon as i hear what you played i started humming sense
Can all the pedals on a pedal board be replicated digitally? If so, I would assume at some point it would be replaced by a computer that is synced to the click track, or in the future, an AI would listen to what you're playing and would adjust the settings on the fly, that would allow you to do impromptu solos and then jump back into the song.
Yes and no. You can set it so the track can run a digital switcher, but each venue is different, requiring some venues to use different settings for the pedals. Instead of having it turned to 7, you might have to turn it to 5/6, and other things which can affect the sound. So I don't think too many "GOOD" bands will go to having the pedals run through the tracks. Not until the computer can take the acoustics of the hall in question into it's equation and change the setting to be optimal.
@@greylocke100 Thanks for the information, I didn’t think about the changes in venues.
@@VegetaRabbit I learned about it watching a documentary on RUSH's crew setting up where the Sound engineer and the instrument techs were discussing how they had to make changes in some of the settings for the venue.
I can't even imagine the attention to detail that would be doing sound for Rush
@@JbfMusicGuitar Rush Tech docs (Snakes and Arrows tour) th-cam.com/video/NdwOOuqV4xU/w-d-xo.html
No. Pronouncing it as "psyche" is fine.
Had a vague memory of being told that was close enough... for a Scotsman, lol. Cheers for clearing that up
😁
I would love that song if it didn't have the honky dory day part which I find a bit annoying after a while.
Ohhh, hot take!!!