All Good Things Explode: BURST GIRL Announce Dissolution

/ DAEMON

In the latest episode of “COVID Ruins Everything”, BURST GIRL’s international debut has been postponed to never.  The strongest and most crazy punk idols have unexpectedly announced that they will be disbanding two weeks from now on the third of October. While three years and eight months is not a bad run for a fully self-produced, self-managed idol unit, for many of us (and the world at large), the end is coming far too soon.

Like many of you, we eagerly jumped on the BURST GIRL bandwagon from the moment of their creation having known Boss Rei, Miyako, Rinchama and Yurapico from the legendary indie-punk unit and Heaviest Idol in The World, Guso Drop.  When manager and producer Daichi-san announced Gudro’s disbandment because he couldn’t figure out how to make money with the group, the four idols must have decided they could do a better job than that, and took things into their own hands. 

BURST GIRL’s debut in January, 2018 was an all-star affair featuring a line-up of Broken By the Scream, Candye♡Syrup and NECRONOMIDOL. The burgeoning truly-indie idols’ first year was full of realized promise, with a successful crowdfunding campaign for a nation-wide tour following the release of their self-titled debut single. The B-side’s “GREAT FXXKING MY WORLD” now ranks among the all-time-great punk idol classics.

The BURST GIRL bomb wagon steamed into 2019 full throttle, opening auditions for new members of any gender (only requiring that candidates must eat rice everyday and be able to add and subtract) and dropping their fist mini-album, Riot. They also gave us one the greatest quotes in chika idol history, thanks to a profile by our friends at Chaotic Harmony.

Their first bump in the road came later that September when Boss Rei withdrew to focus on what had up until that point been a side project: fronting fancy animal punk band Knuckle Chiwawa.  New boss Yurapico’s response was to blow up the model, immediately announcing two new members (Roa and Anku), costumes and their overseas debut live at Monster of Dolls 2020.

BURST GIRL’s following year was equal parts accomplishment and disappointment. While new addition, Anku, withdrew at the beginning of 2020, they soon announced their US debut appearance at Saboten Con, as well as the release of the new EP, Story, a collaboration with several stand-out indie composers including DJ Mariko Gotou and Oyasumi Hologram founder and producer Kouichi Ogawa.

Story’s willingness to explore new musical territory revealed BURST GIRL as a project with surprising depth . The three district tracks are each expertly crafted with far different musical textures than the classic punk sound of Guso Drop  or BURST GIRL’s early singles.  Artistically, it is probably one of the most successful collaborations of the last several years of chika idol.

Around the time of Story’s release, former Guso Drop alum Waka joined up to bolster the unit as they prepared to tackle their upcoming international debuts on two whole separate continents. Then COVID ruined the fun for everybody. Saboten and MOD 2020 were postponed/cancelled along with almost all international travel and many, many other good things. To close out the disappointing year, Miyako was suddenly dismissed, reportedly for signing with another unit without discussing the matter with her Burst Girl colleagues. 

With so many expectations dashed by the dumpster fire 2020 turned out to be, were BURST GIRL just as pissed as the rest of us? Judging by the tone of the surprise single they dropped to kick off 2021, probably.

This by-and-large brings up to yesterday’s unexpected notice of BURST GIRLS’s imminent demise. The machine translation of their dissolution announcement indicates that this was a difficult and mutual decision.  From the statements of the individual members, you can feel that they loved this group and put everything they could into it. 

This always been one of the best aspects of BURST GIRL: as a truly independent idol unit, the genuine sincerity of their efforts was unquestionable. What ended up on an album or onstage was the result of the exuberant efforts and honest emotions of the idols themselves, not some anonymous manager or agency behind the scenes.  In the world of idol, where artifice is omnipresent, BURST GIRL were as authentic as it gets.

BURST GIRL’s final performance will be a free YouTube livestream on October 3rd (details TBA). This will be preceded by a Dissolution One-Man Live on September 28th. Livestream tickets are available for that show.