Babymetal boss on his vision for the Japanese trio

Babymetal founder and manager Kobametal says he understands the backlash against the band – and admits he’d have been a voice of dissent if they’d appeared 10 years earlier.

Kobametal got the trio – Su-Metal, Yuimetal and Moametal – together and turned them from a pop idol group into a global phenomenon. But as a metalhead himself, he admits he wouldn’t have been a fan if they hit the scene a decade ago.

He tells Metal Hammer magazine: “If Babymetal had appeared 10 years ago, I would have been one of those people bashing them for ruining metal.

“But the reason I wanted to create Babymetal is that out of all the genres of music, metal is the only one that’s open to so many different types. There’s rap-metal, melodic metal, power metal and black metal.

“As much as the metal scene is very closed-minded, it’s open to all different type of music. That’s why Babymetal is here right now.”

Babymetal are the cover stars of the latest issue of Metal Hammer, available now in print, digital and via TeamRock+.

Babymetal learn from Metallica

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.