Bridear appears to succeed at what a lot of Japanese bands attempt half-heartedly. They have toured Europe multiple times and every time, they attract a bigger audience. So big even, that their live album ‘Aegis of London…Live!’, which was released earlier this year, has been recorded during their most recent European tour. We spoke to the members about their international ambitions and their experiences in Europe.

Although the band has been active for well over a decade, ‘Aegis of London…Live!’ is their first live album. “The reason why we have not released any live albums until now is because we have been releasing live dvd’s instead of cd’s“, says singer Kimi. “After COVID-19 subsided, audiences in Europe were allowed to cheer loudly again and we wanted to capture the joy of our shows with those audiences and show it to the world. This release was also a statement of our willingness to play overseas more often as an international band.“

‘Aegis of London…Live!’ was mixed by Fredrik Nordström, best known for his work as a mixing engineer for Swedish melodic death metal pioneers like In Flames, Arch Enemy, Opeth, Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates. “Even before we decided to work with him, I had listened to and was influenced by many of the albums he worked on“, Kimi says. “We had always wanted to work with a major engineer overseas whenever we had the chance. This time around, we were fortunate enough to have a wonderful opportunity.“

Indispensable

Kimi and bassist Haru have been in Bridear since the band was founded in 2011. Among the other musicians, there have been many changes. Even very recently; guitarist Moe joined the band very shortly before last year’s European tour. “It was a difficult time for us from the moment when our former guitarist Misaki decided to leave the band“, other guitarist Ayumi explains. “Until we met Moe. She originally lived in Fukuoka, so we had very few opportunities to meet and talk in person before she decided to join the band.

We often had to do everything with her online, including planning our performances and direction, and exchanging detailed instructions regarding the next performance. However, Moe was very skilled at learning and memorizing songs quickly, so we were able to improve the quality of our performance even with minimal rehearsal. It is hard to believe that a year has already passed since then, but Moe has already become an indispensable part of Bridear.“

Along with the coming and going of band members, Bridear’s sound has evolved. “We all respect each other’s individual musicality“, Kimi emphasizes. “So each member’s individuality greatly influences the music at any given time. However, since the main sound of the band has always been hard but catchy, it is more like the band has been absorbing these individualities to broaden its sound rather than changing the sound.“

Turning Point

Moe is not the only Bridear member who has lived in Fukuoka. During their early years, the entire band operated from that city in the far west of Japan. After a few years, the band relocated to Tokyo. “During the early stages of our formation, while working in our hometown of Fukuoka, we were invited by a live event agent we knew to go to Nagoya to play our first show there“, Haru explains. “When we played our first show outside of our hometown, we had no audience. But the audience who came to see other bands saw us and the word spread on social media.

I think the show on August 4, 2012 in Nagoya was the turning point for us. The following year we were able to do a solo show in Tokyo. It took a lot of courage to perform live in a place where we didn’t even know anyone. However, once we left Fukuoka, we were convinced that we could greatly expand the band’s possibilities, and I think we made the right decision to take on the challenge of coming to Tokyo, the center of Japan.“

Experiences

There aren’t many Japanese bands who tour Europe as often as Bridear. “We were heavily influenced by European metal bands and all of us wanted to play live in Europe someday”, Haru states. “The actual decision to tour came about when we received a direct message asking if we would like to tour. The message was from a person we did not know at all and an overseas tour meant that we would need a large budget in advance.

Bridear did not have a manager at the time and there was no band close to us that we could ask about their experiences. Above all, we had nothing but anxiety about whether we would be able to tour safely. But we wanted to perform live in Europe and felt this might be our chance.

When we did some research and found a way to make it happen, the answer we all came up with was unanimous: let’s go! We were all unanimous in our decision to go. Knowing that our music was reaching Europe, we knew that outside of our hometown we could create new possibilities. I thought it would be the same abroad. And knowing there would be a different feel and environment compared to playing live in Japan, I felt that we could grow as a band. We now have more clear targets for playing in Europe. Since then we have toured there every year.“

Creative Preparations

“The circumstances under which we play are very different“, Haru continues. “There are restrictions on what equipment I could bring overseas. I could not bring my familiar amp or spare bass, for instance, and there were limits on the effects I could bring. So we made a lot of creative preparations before leaving Japan. Then, we made as many adjustments as we could while we were touring around. Apart from that, we were able to overcome everything by staying strong and believing in ourselves.

What I could rely on was the outstanding metal sensibility of European sound guys. They could take any piece of equipment and instantly make it sound like metal. This was one of the things that surprised me there. Another thing was the condition of the band members themselves. Performing live every day in a different environment inevitably leads to fatigue. We were grateful for the kindness and support of the people we met at each venue and the tour managers regarding this issue. The food prepared by the venues was prepared with us from Japan in mind, and the tour managers gave us the greatest support without making us feel anxious, which we truly appreciated.

And the messages from everyone who came to our live shows were a huge support for us, so we were able to make it through the tour thanks to all of you. Thank you so much!“

That wasn’t the only thing that surprised the band members, Moe emphasizes: “The fans cheered in Japanese. During our live performance, I would often hear “kakkoii” (cool) and “sugoi” (wow) It was a fantastic feeling to hear such Japanese words during our concerts, as it made me feel that they had been waiting for us all along, even though we were a long way from home. It was also impressive that we could all feel a strong bond with the audience through our music, which transcended national borders.“

Stronger

“In Japan, I did not have much experience playing gigs for more than two days in a row“, drummer Natsumi admits. “On our overseas tours, we had a grueling schedule of playing a 90-minute set list every day and then moving on to the next city. With the long travel time and little rest, I was constantly thinking about how much I could recover for the next day. I decided that no matter how sleepy I was, I would always fit in my stretches and massages before going to bed. Thanks to this, I was able to do so without getting injured and without any interruption for the next live performance.

The thing that made me really push through, I think, was the fact that I really did not want to compromise on my performance. I really put my all into every live performance, so once I got to the end of each show, I had no energy left in the tank and was sleepy to the point of almost passing out. But I think that enduring this and going through the touring experience helped me build my mental strength, my stamina, and my muscular strength.

When we returned to Japan and performed live, we brought with us that confidence and energy from having constantly performed overseas to the point where I wouldn’t get nervous, and I think that the audience watching our live performance after coming back home felt that we were even more powerful than before we left.“

Balance

Bridear’s combination of power metal melodies, catchy J-rock and the contemporary aggression of metalcore is fairly unusual. Even within Japan. “Japanese music tends to focus on melody throughout the song“, Kimi explains. “So we naturally embraced melodic elements and hooks in a hard-sounding song. I think the most difficult part is the balance between the intro and the melody part.“

With that, the band strives for a sound that is rawer than that of many other Japanese metal bands. “We value the feeling of playing live“, Ayumi states. “So from the moment we start recording the drums, we record them in such a way that they directly convey the feeling of what we are playing. Although we use synthesizers in some of our songs, the basic core of Bridear is our own performance, and this is the result of that.“

Personality

In their lyrics, Bridear alternates between Japanese and English. “There are many factors that determine which language I will sing in“, says Kimi. “Including the tone of the song, the concept and vibe of the song, and the melody. Sometimes we begin work with the idea of using English even before the song is composed, in anticipation of possibly performing it on an overseas tour.“

Multiple band members contribute to the lyric writing. “Each of us writes lyrics with a different personality“, Ayumi nods. “So I always look forward to the finished results. Especially Kimi, who writes a lot of lyrics, which are often visually interesting not only in terms of the meaning of the lyrics, but also in terms of the chorus using Japanese katakana and things like that. That made me learn a lot that I can apply to my own lyrics.

When I write lyrics, I often imagine Kimi’s singing voice in my head after the melody is finished and then apply vowels and words. With each piece of work, I have come to know her habits and the tone of her voice better, so it was quite easy for me to write the lyrics for the songs on our most recent studio album ‘Aegis of Athena’.“

Vibrant

Ever the ambitious band, Bridear is always working towards the next step. “What we have next is touring with X-Ray in Japan“, Kimi says. “We would also like to organize some headline shows, if possible. At the same time, each of us is working on songwriting. We are also planning to go abroad again so you might want to look out for that.“

So after all their international shows, what is still on the band’s wishlist? “I would like to play in other countries around Asia“, Moe confesses. “Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia… . I have never been there and I believe that these countries have vibrant music scenes covering various genres. They also have an entrenched musical culture that is different from that of Japan, and I am curious to see how they will react to our music. We also want to expand our own musical possibilities by bringing our music to a new fan base.“