uijin + Band = Heart

/ Homicidol Maniac

During the Q&A after my class the other day, one of the eager-beaver new idol fans asked if there was an important level of credibility to idols performing with bands. Knowing that the real answer to that is “kinda!” I nonetheless gravely* intoned that yes, when idols want to take that step toward either the big-time or broader cultural musical respect, they at the very least do live gigs with bands backing them. This seemed to be sensible! And also pretty correct as long as we ignore both air bands and the large numbers of failed attempts at credibility-by-live-guitar, to say nothing of idol-fronted bands that have done nothing but break my heart.

This is all to say, though, that idols go great with bands most of the time, and especially so if said idols are both cool and good, which is what uijin is, and here is the evidence that they should be doing more of this:


Easily my favorite Japanese band name since Maximum the Hormone

Frankly, we don’t get enough uijin in the first place — not that they don’t work, because they do, but because they don’t put a ton online like they should — so anything that increases both their general exposure and opportunities to show up on stages and/or YouTube is a good thing in my book. However, that song, have mercy; every so often, I feel like the harsh vocal thing among idols is right at the point of being so commonplace as to be played out, and then somebody totally unexpected busts out a quality scream and I perk right the hell back up. THIS IS THAT INNOVATIVE STUFF RIGHT HERE! I am easily amused.

For what it’s worth, and as if to prove that uijin is in the We Matter Enough and You’d Better Be Paying Attention category, they’re going to be among the crowd doing MAWALOOP this year, and it was a nice chunk of exposure for some favorites ’round these parts who have since managed to kind of blow the hell up. So there’s hope!

*Note to friends: When I use such language, be it known that I am definitely not being serious about that