Last year, Band-Maid started what seems to be becoming an April Fools’ Day tradition, where they don traditional Japanese Maiko attire and turn into Band-Maiko. They released a new music video for the song “Gion Machi”, which features Band-Maid’s signature style of rock blended with the more traditional Maiko style.
But the festivities don’t stop there! The band quickly announced an all new mini-album under the Band-Maiko moniker, featuring last year’s “Secret Maiko Lips”, “Gioncho“, and five other tracks (for a total of seven) which appear to be “Maikofied” versions of other Band-Maid tracks.
The Limited Edition of the release comes packaged in a nice draw string bag and also features a DVD of the Gioncho music video and a “making of” video, which will no doubt be a great addition to the collection of anyone who loves the band.
Band-Maiko is a welcome new tradition and a great creative outlet for the band to mix up their style a bit. If this is a yearly tradition, it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. For now, enjoy “Gioncho” and get your hands on the mini-album if you want more!
Both the Limited and Regular editions become available on April 3, 2019 but you can pre-order here:
Limited Edition
Regular Edition
You can listen to “Gioncho” here:
And here are some great images of the ladies in their traditional garb:
- (Credit to Peter Lim from the “Band-Maid Fans Worldwide Facebook Group” for compiling the photos)
Hobby Scratch 