The newly revamped metal band BABYMETAL with SU-METAL, MOAMETAL, and MOMOMETAL released their new song "METALI!! (feat. Tom Morello)" this August. Featuring Tom Morello of "Rage Against the Machine'' as a guest guitarist, this song became a hot topic this summer. We spoke with this trio who is crossing over various genres to take on the world in 2023.>>Photo gallery: BABYMETAL WORLD TOUR 2023 ASIA --You’ve started the tour, “BABYMETAL BEGINS - THE OTHER ONE -” in Japan and visited the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. What was the response to your overseas tour in the first half of 2023 under the new three-member lineup?
SU-METAL：This was our first overseas tour in about three years. During that time, the world changed drastically because of the Pandemic, and we also went through a period in which we changed our approach to live performances because we had been closed off from live activities.
So we were very honored that “Sabaton” remembered us and decided to invite us to their tour. Although Sabaton was the main performer, local fans living in England and Europe came to see us perform.
Even in Poland, where we had never been before, I was happy to see so many warm reactions, as if they had been waiting for us for a long time. I had always liked Sabaton, and after the tour with Sabaton was determined, I had been listening to their music every day to boost my spirits. I think that the live performances are a band's quintessential activity, and something you have to experience visually and listen to up close and personal. I strongly felt that I was a part of Sabaton’s live performance this time.
It was a long tour of 24 shows, but I learned a lot from their performances, and we really enjoyed the tour because of their kindness to us and they took care of our staff well,too. It was a lot of fun.
MOAMETAL: It's only been about four months since MOMOMETAL officially joined us, but I'm having such a great time that it feels like we’ve been together forever. At first we wondered if we would be able to make it to the overseas shows since we just started as a trio, but the fact that there were fans waiting for us at all the venues, that gave us confidence.
It was frustrating not being able to perform live for a long time, but I was very surprised and happy to see that our fans remain excited to hear our music more than ever before, and I found there were more younger fans.I felt that we are gradually becoming somewhat aspiring for some fans.
Until now, we have been pulled along by “Metallica” and the other legendary metal bands, but this tour made me strongly feel that we can be the role to lead the younger generation by paving the way with our own strong will.
MOMOMETAL: I was overseas for about two months, and I didn’t know how much fun it was on a tour (laughs).
MOAMETAL: That's good, that's good (laughs).
MOMOMETAL: It was interesting to see the different reactions of the audience at each performance, and most of all, I felt happy to be on stage almost every day. I was amazed that the audience sang almost all the songs together at the Indonesia concert, and it was refreshing to hear them memorize all the songs even though they spoke different languages. I thought, "Wow!”
SU-METAL: I know, it was really amazing.
MOAMETAL: That was fun.
--MOMOMETAL, was it different emotionally for you to participate as an official member of the band than to participate as a support member?MOMOMETAL：Yeah I think so. We really wanted to show our new three-member lineup to as many people as possible.
MOAMETAL：We also felt that MOMOMETAL has a stronger sense of responsibility now that she is one of our members. Until now, she has been a supportive presence for us. She could have a huge pressure of joining a group that has been around for 13 years, but she still chose to join this group.
MOMOMETAL: The audience knows the history that the two have built, so I wanted the audience to look forward to the future of the new BABYMETAL, while also keeping that history intact, through the tour.
--I know you performed with F.HERO for the first time in 4 years at the Thailand show. He was always in the video at your live shows, but what was your impression after you haven't seen him for a long time?MOAMETAL: We had been on stage digitally together every time we played "PA PA YA!!”, so I didn't feel like I hadn't seen him for 4 years. It's been a long time! (laughs).
SU-METAL: During rehearsals, he was very quiet, but the moment we went on stage, he was like, "Come on!”
MOMOMETAL: It was a lot of fun.
SU-METAL: Was this your first time listening to F.HERO’s rap in live?
MOMOMETAL: Yes, it was. It was so powerful (laughs). It was great.
MOAMETAL: Since we were performing in Thailand, there were many F.HERO's fans, and they got the crowd shouting in Thai.
SU-METAL: Yeah, really.
MOAMETAL: I wanted to play more with him.
Photo by Taku Fujii-- You mentioned that you felt more younger fans came to your live concerts during this tour. Do you feel that after the Pandemic, your music is being received differently than before?MOAMETAL: We ourselves hadn’t changed anything, so we weren't conscious of anything different. However, thinking back, we’ve had more opportunities to collaborate with various artists recently. Like the rapper Lil Uzi Vert (with whom I collaborated on "The End (feat. BABYMETAL)"), or Bring Me the Horizon's "Kingslayer feat. BABYMETAL", and I think that BABYMETAL has been spreading beyond genres. I think that's why BABYMETAL has spread to people who didn't know about us before, and if we include the recent activities of Japanese musical groups into overseas markets, I feel that we, as representatives of Asia, can create an interesting genre of music.
--"Kingslayer" has become one of the essential songs in Bring Me's current live set-up, hasn't it? They play it a lot at festivals and stuff.MOAMETAL: It's strange, and I'm really grateful that they sang this song even during the period when we weren't performing live.
