BABYMETAL

BABYMETAL — the heavy metal offshoot of the Japanese pop idol group SAKURA GAKUIN that performs a distinctly Japanese mix of schoolgirl J-pop and metal — was interviewed at the U.K. edition of the Sonisphere festival, which is being held July 4-6 at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire. You can now watch the footage below. "Our goal is to start a new genre of metal called Kawaii Metal [Cute Metal]," BABYMETAL said. "We are the only band making music in this genre right now and we want this genre to be accepted." BABYMETAL kicked off its world tour with a headlining show on July 1 at La Cigale in Paris, France. The band will support pop superstar Lady Gaga on five shows in July and August: Jul. 30 - Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Arena Aug. 01 - Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena Aug. 02 - Stateline, NV @ Harveys Lake Tahoe Aug. 04 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Energy Solutions Arena Aug. 06 - Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center BABYMETAL will also play a headlining show at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles on July 27. BABYMETAL became the youngest artists to ever appear at Tokyo Nippon Budokan when they took the stage at the famed venue on March 1 and March 2. Sayuri Iwai, previous holder of the title, made her Budokan debut at 15 years old and one month. She was usurped by Suzuka Nakamoto (16), Moa Kikuchi (14) and Yui Mizono (14), who hold a mean age of 14.6 years. BABYMETAL released its debut album on February 26 via Toy's Factory. The effort was made available in regular and limited editions. The CD includes five of BABYMETAL's singles that were released in 2011 - 2013, from "Doki Doki Morning" (digital single) to "Megitsune", their B-sides and three new songs. "Babymetal" made it to No 3 on iTunes' U.S. rock chart and was in the Top 10 in six other countries, including the U.K. The band's video for the song "Gimme Chocolate" has received nearly 10 million views on YouTube, and BABYMETAL was featured on the cover of the U.K. weekly rock magazine Kerrang! The band's first major single, "Ijime, Dame, Zettai", sold 19,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 6 in the Japanese Orion weekly singles chart. BABYMETAL released its first-ever concert Blu-ray, "Live ～Legend I, D, Z Apocalypse～", on November 20, 2013 (the limited-edition DVD box was issued on October 19). The set contains footage of the band's performances at Shibuya O-East (October 2012), Akasaka Blitz (December 2012) and Zepp Tokyo (February 2013). BABYMETAL last year embarked on the "Death Match Tour 2013" and was accompanied by a "full metal band." In the spring of 2013, Suzuka Nakamoto graduated from junior high school and therefore had to "graduate" from the group SAKURA GAKUIN (which consists of girls of up to junior high). However, it was decided by the management that BABYMETAL would not dissolve and would continue their activities as a band. BABYMETAL is: Su-Metal - Vocals and Dance Moametal - Screamer and Dance Yuimetal - Screamer and Dance TeamRock interview: Sonisphere interview: