The Love… who?
Picture the words heavy metal. What do you see? I see a bunch of dudes in panda facepaint howling and screeching in their Slayer t-shirts. Dudes, you read that right. Now think outside the box. Exit the panda makeup, enter flawless eyeliner and flat-iron curls on fleek. Exit the Slayer shirts reeking of second-hand booze and Clearasil, enter virginal white cocktail dresses showing off endless legs and sumptuous round bosoms. Exit the dudes, enter five jaw-droppingly gorgeous chicks (no, we’re not talking about X Japan).
Yeah bros, I predicted you’d snort around this part. Chicks in metal? Mother of god. Holy Moly. Can
chicks even
do metal?
Japanese chicks? Japanese chicks styled like they’re about to hit the runway on an Issey Miyake spring/summer collection unveil show? Cool story bro. Unless they’re anime characters or Babymetal-grade puppets, they sure can’t… right?
WRONG.
I was introduced to the Lovebites by Morgan and nb around the time I also discovered Aldious, Band-Maid, Destrose and a few other Japanese girls-only metal bands. The first song of theirs that I listened to was Shadowmaker. A few hours later I was on CD Japan buying their debut album, Awakening From Abyss, a groundbreaking record that went on to score #18 on the Oricon chart in 2017. And then I was buying their EPs. And then I was buying tickets for their European tour. And then I was broke.
But hey, screw that. Screw that slice of paycheck that went straight to Victor Entertainment, it’s not everyday that you find a new band that sweeps you off your feet this quick. In our day and age where Rock’n’Roll is an old man that struggles to keep a timid remnant of independence in the same nursing home where New Wave, Punk Rock and Batcave are also aging tenants, finding a new metal band with a statement vibe is quite something. So it’s safe to say there’s not a lot in this world that could make me rush across the city on a Tuesday evening, in subzero temperatures, right during rush hour and after a ten-hour workday to go find refuge in a shoddy Parisian live house with overpriced beer that tastes like piss left to brew overnight in a mouldy barrel. This band better be worth it. And oh yes, they are.
Rock it, Midori! On stage, the Lovebites are even more mind-blowing than on your headphones. As legitimate granddaughters of the Visual Kei movement of the early 1990s, Miho, Haruna, Miyako, Asami and Midori know the importance of looks, stage play and va-va-voom. The outfits are carefully coordinated and match the trademark image they claimed as theirs for their debut tour. Asami plays her MC role with grace and parsimony (you don’t want to demystify the myth, do you?). She has her set of carefully rehearsed English and French phrases and she is eager to please the front row with disarming smiles are frugal contact here and there. Miho, the bassist and band leader, uses every break between songs to chug down some more beer.
Because she can, motherfucker. She’s a
rock star. We’ve had enough of uptight rockers who bring their mugs of warm tea and throat medicine on stage. We’re the children of Slash, Patti Smith, Janis Joplin and Taiji Sawada, motherfuckers. We eat our breakfast cereal with
Jack Daniels, motherfuckers (don’t, kids).
Still, crying victory for girls in metal at this point would be precocious. We still have a long way to go. This one’s for you, bunch of old mofos on the far left of the stage who spent the entire concert filming Midori’s glorious legs.
Who are they? Japanese?, said one to his slightly buzzed white-collar pal.
Dunno, but they’re hoooooot!, he growled back. Yes they are, sir. But they’re so much more than that. Had you bothered to drop the cam trying to get a pic under their skirts, you’d have noticed that Midori is a kickass guitarist and that Miho slaps the bass with her bare fingers. Badassery level 500+. And that Miyako does an even better job on keyboards than she does on guitar, and bro, were the stakes high. And you would have noticed little Haruna behind her drum set, banging those drums without complaining once about her neck and wrists (subliminal message for a certain drummer the X Freaks hold dear). Had to add this bit. It’s a Zeitgeist thing. Hashtag me too.
Their setlist included The Awakening, The Crusade, Don’t Bite The Dust, Break The Wall, Scream For Me, Shadowmaker, Above The Black Sea, Rising, The Hammer Of Wrath, Liar, Under The Red Sky and Edge Of The World + Bravehearted on the encore. Their second album, from Rising was taken, will be out on December 5. Eleven days to go and I’m crossing them off my calendar already. Because as Halestorm would put it, and you should repeat after me,
love bites and so do I.