Ariel: Haven't we already talked about them?
Sasha: I mean here on the blog.
Ariel: Oh! Well, I mean, we could have talked about them here a long time ago, couldn't we?
Sasha: Sure, we could have, we just didn't. We could have talked about them three years ago.
Ariel: Three years! We've only been listening to them since May!
Sasha: Yeah, but Akane got here three years ago and played us different videos by different bands from Japan that she liked, and Band-Maid was one of them.
Ariel: Were they? I think if they were I would have said, "Wait, stop showing us videos by different bands and just show us more of that one!"
Sasha: You only think that because we've been overdosing on Band-Maid for the last 4 or 5 months. Akane has really good taste in music, remember? All the videos she showed us were really cool, and the Band-Maid one was like, their first video that was 7 or 8 years old at the time.
Ariel: OMG.
Sasha: What?
Ariel: You always insult me by saying I'm so lazy --
Sasha: It's not really an insult ... more kinda like an observation.
Ariel: -- but now I just realized as far as all those videos she showed us, you're right. They were all so good, and while we were watching them I thought, ooh, I've got to watch more videos by that band. Oh, and that band too. And that one! But then when we finally turned off Metoob I was like, "Whew! It's late! I'm going to bed!" And when I got in bed, I was thinking, "Wow, so many great bands! Tomorrow morning when I get up I'm going to have to zzzzzzzz."
Sasha: You weren't thinking that, you actually said it out loud. Just a lot more mumbly. And probably you should have used all capital Z's there and put more of them, because the snoring was an ear-splitter.
Ariel: Was not! Elle says I have a cute snore.
Sasha: Elle would say that.
Ariel: It's true!
Sasha: Well, most of the time, sure. But that time it was like GRWONNGKKK!
Ariel: ... mmph. If you say so. I guess I hope I didn't keep you awake making a noise like that.
Sasha: It was only 10:30, Aers. The rest of us stayed up for hours after that anyway.
Ariel: I don't know how you guys do it.
Sasha: Pretty much just by being normal people and not having anything to make us get up the next morning.
Ariel: I'm normal!
Sasha: I mean as far as how much sleep you need.
Ariel: Oh. Okay. Anyway, that next morning I tried to decide on some of those bands to listen to more of over breakfast, but it seemed like too hard a decision so I just ate my Golden Grahams instead and by the time I was done we all got to doing something else and I forgot to go back and listen. I could have been listening to Band-Maid this whole time if I hadn't been so lazy! And so hungry for breakfast, I guess. Maybe it was more the hungry.
Sasha: You're just saying that because you're starting to re-think admitting you're lazy.
Ariel: Well ... but ... if I was lazy, would I put so much energy into arguing over whether I'm lazy the way I always do?
Sasha: That's maybe a pretty good point, but how about if we get back to talking about Band-Maid?
Ariel: Sure, as long as you're admitting I proved I'm not lazy.
Sasha: I am way not admitting that, but let's pretend I am so we can finish this post today.
Ariel: Okay.
Sasha: Anyhow --
Ariel: (you are admitting it though!)
Sasha: -- as far as Band-Maid goes, we're ready to finally post about them, right?
Ariel: We'd better be, with all the work we just did getting this post started!
Sasha: So how are we going to dive into talking about them?
Ariel: We should link to that first video we watched of them, "Thrill."
Sasha: Sure, good idea.
Ariel: It will also give me a rest from all this talking I've been doing.
Sasha: Mm-hm. Here it is, then.
Ariel: Wow. That's such an awesome video. I think I love it more every time we watch it. But why didn't you do that thing where people can just click on the picture and watch it here?
Sasha: There's some kind of block on the video, so that won't work.
Ariel: I just hate to make our readers do all the work of going to a whole other page and coming back.
Sasha: I set it so it opens in another window, which means they won't have to come back, just close the window when they're done.
Ariel: I guess if that's how we have to do it. It's still more work than I wish they had to do. What if they get tired and don't want to bother clicking it closed and shut their computer and go take a nap instead?
Sasha: Then both windows will still be open when they come back and open their computer later and because of us, they will have had a nap that apparently they really needed.
Ariel: Okay, I can deal with that.
Sasha: So what part is your favorite part of the video?
Ariel: Hmm. I think it's a tie between the way she says, "Heh" at the start of the song and the way she like, hangs her head and arms down and does that sort of super-low-energy head-banging. It's like, "Whoa, look at how much this chick rocks, and also what a great job she's doing conserving her energy." She's honestly kind of my hero for that.
Sasha: More than the guitarist being a hero?
Ariel: Well, with all the other Band-Maid videos we've seen, I know that the guitarist can kill it even better than she does in this video. But this one's the only one where the singer does that fuel-efficient head-bang. So what's your favorite part? Probably the drummer, right?
Sasha: I do love her, especially with that cute tiny hat she wears. But it's kinda like you and the guitarist where in later videos she shows that she can just totally stomp the crud out of the drumming in this song -- which is saying something, since it's really good drumming even here.
Ariel: So ... is your favorite part the bass player and that cool slap bass solo she does?
Sasha: Actually, this is kind of goofy, but my favorite part is knowing that the rhythm guitarist couldn't actually play guitar when they made this video. If you watch, you can totally tell she's basically just using it as a prop while she's singing backing vocals.
Ariel: That seems kind of a mean thing to have as your favorite part.
Sasha: No, because it makes it even more amazing when you watch the videos from four or five years later and you're like, "Dang, she's really good on that guitar now."
Ariel: We should put one of those video links in here.
Sasha: Sure. Here, I think this is a good one.
Ariel: Ooh, yeah, she's really fire in that one.
Sasha: Rock star.
Ariel: I don't think we're really telling people how much Band-Maid we've been listening too these last couple of months, though.
Sasha: I figured we were getting to it. Are you in a hurry?
Ariel: They're probably just wondering, is all. Since we put it in the title and everything.
Sasha: True. Anyway, it's a lot.
Ariel: Yeah, our boyfriend keeps buying more Band-Maid albums, and then on top of that we keep watching their videos, and then on top of that we keep watching those videos of people reacting to their videos.
Sasha: And then on top of that we watched those documentaries about each one of them too, remember?
Ariel: Oh yeah, those were really good!
Sasha: And we watched that episode of the Japanese travel show where the rhythm guitarist was being like a travel guide riding the train and going to that town and learning that fish-scooping dance.
Ariel: That was wild. I don't think anybody would watch that and figure out she was a rock star except for that one scene where they show her guitar.
Sasha: It's been a pretty excessive amount of watching stuff about them.
Ariel: But it's all so good!
Sasha: What's another one we should link to, then?
Ariel: The cartoon one!
Sasha: Excellent choice.
Ariel: That one's amazing.
Sasha: I would watch a whole anime series of that.
Ariel: Me too! Except you spelled it wrong.
Sasha: What?
Ariel: It's Unleash!!!!! With 5 exclamation marks.
Sasha: That's not really spelling.
Ariel: Yeah, but I'm not sure I'd spell the punk word right without looking it up and I don't want to have to do that. And if I tried I'd end up spelling it "puncturated" or something and you'd make fun of me.
Sasha: Probably I would, but I like calling it "the punk word." We'll have to remember that one.
Ariel: Not around Hettie, though. I don't think she'd like us making fun of punk mark rules.
Sasha: Anyway, how close do you think we are to wrapping this post up?
Ariel: Mmm ... maybe two more song links? There's no way we can have a post about listening to so much Band-Maid without playing the Hate? song and Freedom.
Sasha: Hate? is a good one. Definitely a song about a punk.
Ariel: Also he gets punctured pretty good in the lyrics, so you definitely have to remember the question mark.
Sasha: Here we go, then:
Ariel: Oops. We should have told people to put their spoiler blankets on before showing them that picture though, on account of that guitar and bass part being so amazing.
Sasha: I don't think anything's going to be spoiled by just a picture. You can't figure out what that part's going to be like from a picture or from you saying it's amazing.
Ariel: Oh no! I did say that without telling them to put on their blankets!
Sasha: Seriously, I don't think it's a problem.
Ariel: I guess that's true. I mean, in all those reaction videos we've watched, pretty much every single time the person reacting pretty much freaks out at the start of that part and then keeps freaking out more the more it goes on.
Sasha: I could totally watch that part over and over again. The whole video, really. It's amazeballs.
Ariel: The Freedom video is even better, though.
Sasha: You think so?
Ariel: Uh-huh. Because when you're watching it, you're like, "OMG. These five people are having the best time any five people have ever had doing anything together in the whole history of everything."
Sasha: Wow. That's a pretty bold statement, considering some of us here think we can have a pretty good time doing some of the stuff we do together.
Ariel: Yeah, but there's seven of us, so it's kind of cheating comparing us to Band-Maid.
Sasha: Gotcha. Anyway, here's the video so people can judge for themselves.
Ariel: The way they make everything they're doing look so chill and easy and fun, omg. They're just so awesome.
Sasha: And they rock SO HARD.
Ariel: Yeah, I guess we haven't really said all that much so far about their actual music ... what the heck?
Sasha: R - O - C - K, ROCK.
Ariel: Between all the albums MSG got and all the videos we've watched, we must have heard, like, a hundred dozen songs, and not one of them has been bad.
Sasha: Probably more like 70 or 80, I think. But yeah, they don't do filler songs like most bands do. Everything is a banger.
Ariel: If you listen really close, though, I think most of those 70 or 80 songs have enough music in them to count as 3 or 4 songs each, so I don't think a hundred dozen is that much of an exaggeration.
Sasha: Let's not get into the math it would take to figure that out.
Ariel: Major agree on that.
Sasha: Well, if we don't wrap this up we're going to start looking for what other Band-Maid songs we should link to, and that could take all night.
Ariel: Yeah, I'm good calling this one done.
Sasha and Ariel: See you later, everybody!
