Band Maid - "The Dragon Cries" - First Reaction 

Do you think it's significant that the Official Video appears to be shot in an abandoned church? Let me know your thoughts.

Finally, someone dissects this song and points out how outstanding this song is video or live, it doesn’t matter which version. The song is pure fire and a direct punch in your face like an explosion of music in your face and ears that makes you want more. Great Reaction!

I found a new favorite band

Tony Visconti produced this song and was at this performance and brought his 12 string Zemaitis electric guitar, one of only two ever made George Harrison had the other one, and let Miku and Kanami try to play it, pretty cool!

It's well documented by the band that Kanami is the main wellspring of the music. Her demos typically have all the instrumental parts and the vocal melodies. But it IS a very collaborative process. Everyone gets to suggest or make changes. And in recent years, Kanami just adds initial bass and drum parts but MISA and Akane rewrite them because Kanami trusts them implicitly. And she's happy to let Saiki and Miku riff on the melodies. She seems happiest when all of them contribute as much as possible. But she is the Alpha and Omega. If she wants something a certain way, they'll defer to her. Misa and Akane have credited the requirements of B-M's music for their development and evolution as players. One example: when Kanami took the reigns of their music composition, she told Misa that to play B-M music, she had to learn to play a 5-string bass. Akane has said that she wouldn't have become the drummer or person she is without Kanami. She actually is that special. I posted what I think is a pretty accurate outline of their process in the "Wonderland" video. It's a bit lengthy for a YT comment, but I think it's a pretty accurate summation of what they've explained in multiple interviews. You might not have had the will to read through it all, but it's there.

Kanami composes all parts of the songs ( guitars, bass, drums, keyboards). Then she gives the song to Akane & Misa and tells them they are free to make any changes that they wish to the song. Which they do. Akane creates her drum parts and Misa creates her bass parts. Akane & Misa collaborate on their parts ( they've know each other since their Tokyo School Of Music days ). Then they send what they changed back to Kanami. When the music is completed, Miku listens to it and then writes lyrics. Saiki & Miku work on vocals and vocal lines. Saiki then gives the song either a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. The band has alot of respect for Saiki's judgement, so she gets the final say on the song.

Thank you sir for the great reaction!! This is one of the criminally under loved Bandmaid song!!

This song was produced and arranged by Tony Visconti, who produced David Bowie / T-Rex and lives in New York, thus BAND-MAID performs this song when they tour in New York.

From Japan, Thank you so much for your always accurate and excellent responses. I can feel your love for BANND-MAID in your words. As for the process of creating the music, Kanami sends the data to each member, and the arrangement of each part is done by each member.This also means that Kanami trusts each member and respects everyone's ideas. The concert in New York is a respect for him, because at this concert, Mr. Tony was here. Saiki's judgement, so she gets the final say on the song. . This is proof of her responsibility as the frontwoman, her confidence, and the trust of each member. It may be unrelated, but the name Kanami translates to” songwave” in English. Saiki translates to” colorful princess”. What a fitting name for a ministry! By the way, both names are real name.

Love this song, that bass just prowling around and Kanami feeling that old school rhythm.

The band actually has the sound engineer with them at the live, and they do have the back track running(it may not pick up on the fan's phone mic though). The main difference typically is Kanami's guitar is lower in the mix. You nailed it. Miku takes care of all the dirty work no one else in the band wants to do(as the founder of the band). The five ladies have put in their time in the small clubs with no crowds, small crowds, and now packed crowds. They've definitely found their groove over that experience

Great analysis! I'm very happy that I can finally add a video of "The dragon cries" to my "Best Band-Maid reactions" playlist.🙂🙂

Miku is the Swiss army knife of Band-Maid!😁👍👍😉

Great reaction, no one ever did such a deep dive into any song of band maid, especially this song. Very good points, you mentioned 👍

New sub here. Wow! Someone who finally gets it!!! I can hear the hints of Woodstock in the music video, but the live is 100% Hendrix!!! And Akane gives me almost a Ginger Baker/Cream feel on the drums.

When you mentioned Janis in the same breath as SAIKI, I got the notion that you would like another Japanese band, one that plays “Vintage Rock.” (Just shoot me.) GLIM SPANKY are REMI MATSUO and HIROKI KAMEMOTO. In high school, Remi was playing guitar and writing songs. Then she recruited school mate Hiroki to form a duo. They also play as an amazing six-piece band, but they are most compelling as an acoustic-electric duo. Here is a live performance of young REMI and HIROKI with an acoustic version of WILDSIDE WO IKE (Get To The Wildside) - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YbXKaNLR_qk.html I’m still amazed at the raw power of two guitars and two voices. I hope you might take a look and share your thoughts.

I am old school I loved it from the go🤘🤘🤘

🚂-Thanks again for another great reaction to a GREAT BAND-MAID song!!!!! To me BAND-MAID is pure rock-n-roll hard, fast, gentle, powerful ,beautiful and just plain PERFECT!!!!! PO!-🕊🍌🍻☕⚾

The best live of Dragon, imo, is from the 2020 Line Cube Shibuya concert. Check it out, John! btw - If you want a little Hendrix action, check out Chemical Reaction from the no-audience covid live shows. Especially at the end.

Absolty, From my first listen I hear shades of Jimi, and The Jefferson Airplane!......Interesting I had this comment typed out at 4 or 5 minutes.. one of my favorite tracks

I think Rock Candy's emphasis at the end is especially evident in recent B-M songs. It is very significant that AKANE is beginning to create drum parts and MISA is beginning to create bass parts as they wish, based on "the basic sound" made by KANAMI. And what I personally think is that neither AKANE nor MISA are writing the parts (scores) as usually thought of. I feel that they are each "composing" in their own way, based on their own digestion of KANAMI's ideas and a common understanding of KANAMI's musical concepts. In other words, here, not only KANAMI's ideas, but also AKANE and MISA "sing their own SONGS," and the framework of the instrumental part is completed as a result of these three carefully weaving their own elaborate and complex "songs". The same goes for the singing part. Recently, it seems that KANAMI has been entrusting SAIKI and MIKU with ideas for the harmony of the singing parts and adopting the singing parts completed through consultation between the two of them in an increasing number of cases. In other words, the "song" created by SAIKI and MIKU's collaboration is further woven into the instrumental part that has already been woven by the three instrumentalists, AND in addition to this "prototype," MIKU's guitar is used as the glue and the driving force for the groove of the entire song. ―― so, I can't help but feel that MIKU's guitar is further woven into the song as the overall "organizer" of all the parts to complete the song. In short, in a real sense, their recent songs, in particular, are literally "BAND-MAID compositions (a collaboration of the five members)". These are my personal impressions of what I see as the most prominent characteristics of recent B-M songs.

I think you are right on Kanami's writing and composing. She writes the base song then sends it to Akane and MISA with an idea of what Kanami is looking for, but allows the input of Akane and MISA to alter the song to get it just right. Miku to a lesser degree, but still her input is always welcome. Also Saiki is the QC person for the band. If she doesn't like or a part of it, she will speak up and they talk it out to serve the song best. Band-Maid is a team working towards the best possible song, every time, never just as a filler song, as most say, there are no "B" side songs from these ladies. 100% effort in every song without ego getting in the way. Unique band!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for taking the shot on this one. Again you have taken us to school on what BAND-MAID is all about. I knew a man of your musical intellect would appreciate this song. Your explanations of what we are hearing is so good. This has always been one of my favorites, and always will be. Now I know why. Cheers man. You will see from the comments that (as I Said) a lot of people don't like this song, simply because of the visuals. So many kids just can't handle the truth.

Dragons, a poignant commentary of the sad, self-inflicted current state of the world, is a great plunge into the bluesy rock style given to us by Hendrix and others. Heard live (and without the overly compressed mix), the song jumps from the souls of the members and into our minds as a warning. Let's all heed that warning and support each other and our home planet! Thx, John!

Great analysis of this fantastic song. A lot of people don't like it simply because of the video ☮️🇨🇦

Kobato Miku love! It's baseball season. Miku is that utility player every winning team seems to have. She's willing to do anything. She will _dye_ for her band! It's good for them to work with different producers. Each producer will teach them different techniques and show them different sounds, and it will be good for their future creativity. It it absolutely true that their live sound is much rawer and in your face. I'm here for that.

Thanks for this - it's such a pleasant change to listen to someone who knows what they're talking about break down a song like this . Nowadays so many people get ALL their music from the internet that I doubt they realise quite how different " unproduced " music sounds - and in Band Maid's case how good it can sound .

Excellent reaction. I like how you described Miku as the "Swiss Army Knife of BAND-MAID". You are correct about the song writing being a collaborative process, the other band members do recognize Kanami as the head writer/architect of their newer songs, however, she doesn't take a writing credit and the songs are written by BAND-MAID. Most of their newer songs have lyrics written by Miku, where she does take a writing credit. I think Miku seeks Saiki's approval on lyrics and if Saiki's input causes major changes Saiki will take a co-written credit. (Saiki also writes lyrics on her own)

I think Misa has a far bigger input than people realise - and collaborates A LOT with Kanami

❤❤❤❤❤🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘 Akane !!!💗

Great analysis!!!

Thank you for putting into words why i like this song and all Band Maid songs. I have almost zero musical knowledge. I just know when I like something. I initially did not like this song. That changed when I started listening to the various live versions. I finally realized that my initial negativity was caused by 2 aspects. The visuals of the MV, and the simplicity of the lyrics. As you said, this song, live, could have fit right in with the stuff I was hearing back in 60/70. Also, your point about the song writing process for Band Maid is correct. In multiple interviews they have clearly stated that is what happens. Finally, for more 60/70 groovy style songs of Band Maid, try Take Me Higher, Turn Me On, and Chemical Reaction. Just the titles alone says it all!

There is a version in a more big venue recorded professional in the infamous Line Cube Shibuya (the same of the Domination, Play and Freedom live)

You are correct on every point. We used to love albums by Status Quo because they sounded as though they were recorded in a room at home. They were one of the best live bands between 1968 and 74 when most bands at the time were new and had so much energy on stage. This is why we like to discover new young bands now- The Sixsters, Nova Twins and Optica (Jazz) are current great examples.

Do you smell what *BAND-MAID* is cookin' 😁

After working with Tony on this song, the Maids went back and wrote "Flying High." I think it is an improvement on TDC. Arguably the best song on the album, though many would say Blooming gets this honor. MISA gives a masterclass in bass. I would like to hear your thoughts on it. No MV or live that I am aware of.

Lyrics written by Thomas Kenney. Vocals recorded and produced by former David Bowie etc. producer Tony Visconti in New York. Have not seen who wrote the music other than that Band-Maid is listed under "music" meaning I do not know what. A lot of B_M fans dislike this song because of the video and the style of the song. Has not , that I know of, been said whether the Maids were aware of the video that was overlayed with there music video. And not aware of any of them talking about the finished MV. Then again I am not on Band Maid Prime or any of their twitter or tik-tok accounts. I think the fact that the video is out there stands for itself and is one of their better songs. Just my opinion.

I was at this concert! Anyway, this is perhaps Band-Maid’s most divisive song. Someone will come along and explain why. But your comments show that you kind of know why. FYI Tony Visconti produced the vocals, and the two ladies spent the entire day singing the vocals for hours without losing power.

I liked Miku's lead part. Kanami should sing more her voice in the acoustic christmas set she backs up Saiki. And also in that set Akane backed up Miku. I wish both could step up to the mike more often.

The live version only sounds so different because it was recorded on a mobile phone (and sounds awful - I can't watch it it's so bad) . They had the full production with backing tracks and their own sound engineer there. It would of sounded more like the studio version if you were stood in that room - just better! (I've seen them four times in Japan in small venues). It's a great song, really old school sounding. And MISA's mum loves it!

Some very sad news - NEMOPHILA HAVE JUST ISSUED A STATEMENT ANNOUNCING THAT SAKI HAS LEFT THE BAND DUE TO " DIFFERENCES " . They intend to carry on as a 4 piece at the moment

Nice a 2 Fer

Loved the song from the git-go, just not the video. All in English and a old rock sound.

Great reactions. I really like the song but I REALLY dislike the official.music video. Visually it is depressing and does not represent the positive spirit of Band Maid. I wish they would erase the official music Video and do another one. Kanami writes the song (Miku does the lyrics), including bass lines and drum, distributes it to the other members and then they flesh out their parts, adding their magical spicey fills and riffs. It is well documented that the parts Kanami writes for the other instruments is getting increasingly more difficult as their skills have improved. So.my friend you are both right and wrong. Obviously there is heavy collaboration, but Kanami is the ringleader. She is an amazing songwriter. Rock on 🤘

この曲は現在の世界を予言してました

Not able to post comments.

The only Band Maid song I don’t like. I’m sure someone does

These fans are boring barely have reaction

Gary... don't say it! 🗜