Hanabie are the metal scene’s very own Powerpuff Girls. Delivering death growls in flouncy skirts and fuzzy leg warmers, the Harajuku-core unit have rewritten the metal handbook, serving up groove metal, hardcore punk and brutal EDM with a sprinkle of sugar, spice and all things nice.
Hammer caught up with Yukina, Matsuri, Hettsu and Chika to dissect their wild, technicolour world…
How did you all meet – were you friends before the band?
Monolithicmagnetar, Instagram
Yukina [Vocals]: “Me, Hettsu [bass] and Matsuri [guitars] went to the same junior high school. Me and Hettsu were in the same art club, but Matsuri was in the badminton club. But in high school, we finally all joined the same music club – and we found out that Matsuri liked the same music as me and Hettsu. That’s when Hanabie was born! We’ve always had that same name, ever since the beginning.”
What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at a show? Soltész József, Facebook
Chika [Drums]: “Someone was dressed up in a big dinosaur suit at one of our shows recently – and he was going wild in the crowd, we saw him right in the middle of a wall of death!”
Matsuri: “We were worried the dinosaur was going to get trampled, but we saw that he was absolutely fine and having fun.”
Hettsu: “The crowds really can be crazy! I love going down and being in the middle of a circle-pit. It’s great to be close to our fans – and they always look like they’re having so much fun, I get jealous! I just want to join in!”
Hammer: What about the craziest thing you’ve had to handle behind the scenes while touring?
Matsuri: “We had to deal with a ‘trampoline bus’ in Europe…”
Yukina: “It was broken in every way! The tyre suspension was awful, so it was like a trampoline whenever it moved. But it was our only option. The whole tour, things were breaking, getting fixed, then something else would break. At one point, the hot water stopped and so did the air conditioning! So we had to survive the heat of the bus and have freezing showers! We eventually got a new bus, but the ‘trampoline bus’ was with us for a long time. But we have lots of fun memories of it, looking back!”
Matsuri: “Everybody worked together to deal with the bus and it made our bond even stronger. Good experience, but terrible at that time!”
What has been the most fun thing about blowing up and touring all over the world?
Jon Hannah, Facebook
Yukina: “Well, it’s crazy that we’ve been able to tour with Limp Bizkit. Every time we get to see them perform, or we’re hanging out with Fred Durst, we get a little starstruck! When you are around him, he just has a really special aura.”
Did the Big Fuggler [the giant plushie] from your recent US tour survive?
Chris Pyzik, Facebook
Chika: “It’s still around! It’s doing very well. It used to sit very close to my drum set during the live shows, and it wears a really cool Hanabie tour shirt. It’s a big fan of ours – and part of the family.”
Yukina, when and how did you discover you can growl like that (and how on earth do you do it)?
Jan-Tetje Wolnitza, Facebook
Yukina: “My growling is self-taught, actually! I didn’t learn from anybody – I just listened to growling vocalists and tried to mimic them. It turned out that I had a knack for really rolling my voice inside of my throat and spitting it out! So I’d say just practise, and you might realise you have a secret talent for it.”
What is your favourite beer?
Sean Moxley, Facebook
Hettsu: “Gosh… I’m trying to remember the name of the beer. I know that it’s German… All the beers in Germany were amazing, but this one was perfect. Let me just check on my phone… A-ha! Berliner Kindl Jubiläums Pilsener!”
Does your fashion sense also inspire your fanbase?
Lauren Evans, email
Hettsu: “Well, our crowds have definitely started getting more colourful! A Hanabie fan is instantly recognisable; we’ve noticed their hair colour, their make-up and also their accessories are getting more wild and bright. So many fans have also started wearing outfits inspired by what we wear in our videos, and that’s so fun to see. It’s really rewarding, seeing how much people enjoy our fashion and want to get involved.”
What’s the story and meaning behind your new song, Spicy Queen?
Rob239421, Instagram
Matsuri: “Spicy Queen is our 10th anniversary song! We started writing an anniversary song on tour back in March, and we ended up getting really inspired by an incident in Nashville. One of our team members wanted to try this extra-hot and spicy chicken, because he thought he could handle it – and he ended up really, really affected by the spice!”
Yukina: “He was running around and his lips were swelling! Because of the chicken, we all started to call him Spicy King. It was about time for Hanabie to release a ‘spicy’ song – so we just flipped it to be Spicy Queen instead.”
In 2021, Matsuri and Yukina graduated from university and celebrated with a livestream. Did you all go to university? And, for those of you who did, what did you study?
Efficient_Summer, email
Yukina: “I majored in graphic design and product design – if I hadn’t ended up in a band I would have wanted to work with [Japanese entertainment company] Sanrio and design cute characters and toys.”
Matsuri: “I was studying information systems and programming – so lots of computer stuff, making websites. I was interested in sound production management, but it would have meant I had to attend shows all weekend. I wanted to focus on the band alongside my studies.”
Chika: “I didn’t go to university, but I instead went to a professional drumming music school.”
Hettsu: “Well, I did go to university, but I dropped out to fully focus on Hanabie. I was a fashion major, so I used to make dresses and clothes all from scratch.”
Hammer: Is Hettsu in charge of the band’s outfits, then?
Hettsu: “Being able to make clothes is very useful, but we all have a say in what we wear and what kind of clothes I should make for us.”
Yukina: “But she is like our fashion goddess. When we want help choosing an outfit, Hettsu will always give a good opinion. Hettsu is a bit of a nightmare to go shopping with, though – she always picks out such good clothes, we end up spending so much money! She’s just so convincing.”
Hettsu: “If I got commission, I would make loads…”
What artists do you like that might surprise your fans?
Cameron Kok, Facebook
Yukina: “Sabrina Carpenter. I love her!”
Matsuri: “I really love Tiny Moving Parts – I have been a big fan since high school. I don’t mention it a lot, but I enjoy that Midwest emo sound.”
Hettsu: “I love a moshpit, but I also love music from people like Ariana Grande. I especially enjoyed her in Wicked. The performance made me really appreciate how talented she is.”
Chika: “This might not be a surprise to people, but I love Spitz. They’re a Japanese rock band and I’ve just loved them ever since I was small.”
Which are the three best Japanese (new) bands right now?
Luca Fassina, Facebook
Matsuri: “View From The Soyuz are a really great metalcore band. We’ve known each other for a long time.”
Yukina: “We’ve done Battle Of The Bands shows together, and us and them would often bond over the fact we were the youngest bands on the line-up. We’ve been grinding our way through the metal scene together – and they’re really cool.”
Matsuri: “Whisper Out Loud are another cool band who we’ve also known for ages and seen rise up through the Japanese rock scene. They got a new singer in recent years and they sound really stylish and fresh – great, loud rock!”
Yukina: “We keep shouting out friends, but we promise C-Gate are also so talented! They’re a metallic hardcore band, and I featured on their track Bident back in 2022. They’re almost like our big brothers.”
What happened to the song Blindness that you performed at the music competition School’s Out, where you won second place? Do you think it will ever be released?
Ki2neup, Instagram
Matsuri: “I had almost forgotten about that song…”
Yukina: “Oh, that’s embarrassing! Maybe fans should forget about that… that must be a very old YouTube video. We must have only been in our second or third year in high school. I remember the title, but I don’t know if I remember how it goes. Wow, that makes me feel so nostalgic!”
Hettsu: “I think we reused part of Blindness in another song called Zero.”
Matsuri: “I’m pretty sure Blindness might be the third song we ever wrote. Maybe we could do something with it or perform it in the near future…”
Yukina, Hettsu & Chika: “NO, NO!”
Hanabie. tour North America from March 13 2026. For the full list of dates, visit their official website.