Formed as teenagers during Japan’s strict COVID lockdown, WENDY came together in secret with the aim of making rock ‘n’ roll for a new generation. Early, raw demos quickly earned the band a publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing and caught the attention of Grammy Award-winning producer Marc Whitmore.
Whitmore was impressed enough to take on their debut album himself. Recorded live in just nine days, with no edits, the record captures WENDY as they are, immediate, energetic and unfiltered.
Having already turned heads at home, with attention from Billboard US, NHK World-Japan’s J-MELO and appearances on Japan’s rock festival circuit, WENDY are now looking beyond Japan and towards the international rock scene, with the band from Setagaya, Tokyo, playing dates in the UK last November.
I last met the band three years ago, and since then there has been a lineup change. “We were a four-piece band,” frontman Skye told MetalTalk. “Now we’re a three-piece. We lost two bassists in the last year or two years, and that was pretty hard for us, but we’re managing.
“We decided on having a new chapter in our career. We never thought we’d lose a member because we’re all from the same neighbourhood, childhood friends and all that, so it was pretty hard. But we got through it. Our fans and our staff were really supportive of us.”
WENDY have played the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles and The Water Acts in London. Two venues with big reputations. “We were all a bit nervous,: Skye said. “But we knew what we could do. We tried not to think about it and do what we do best. It doesn’t matter if there are five people, or a hundred people. We try to make it as big a show as we can.”
The band are influenced by ’70s and ’80s music. Drummer Sena cites Led Zeppelin, while guitarist Paul leans towards Mötley Crüe and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. “I think as a band, we were really inspired by Mötley and all that,” Skye, who loves Prince, said. “I don’t know if that reflects in our music. We’re not that hard of a band, but that’s our roots, definitely.”
Skye says that Wendy “haven’t thought of an album yet. Our first album, Don’t waste my YOUTH, was released in 2023, and that album is really special to us. Marc Whitmore, a dear friend of ours, produced that, and we recorded it in a very old-fashioned way. One take, everybody in one room.
“That was really a very special experience for us. But nowadays, we’re being more cautious about what we’re trying to put out in the world. So, no album yet, but there’s going to be lots of digital singles.”
For the future, the plan is to do more of a layered recording. “We want to make it sound more…not cleaner, but more modern,” Skye says, “so people can try to connect with us, and maybe go back to our first album to see our roots.”
Never meet your heroes, they say. Because they might be disappointing. Well, I know for a fact that my hero is not disappointing at all. That’s because he’s the extraordinary Kai Hahto, which I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing during Kaaos Festival last month. Here’s what we talked about!
Benedetta
Hello Kai, how are you doing today?
Kai Hahto
It was great. I came in the morning from Oulu. We played with Auri last night in the last festival of the summer. And now I’m here in the Kaaos Festival. And we played with my old band, Misantropia, for the first time in 30 years. So it was pretty exciting, actually.
Benedetta
How was rehearsing those songs again after so many years?
Kai Hahto
Actually, the guys started much earlier than me. Because some of the guys, especially the other guitar player, hasn’t touched his guitar for 30 years. He’s a writer. He makes books, and he hasn’t really played since the band broke up in 1998. But, yeah, it’s been great. To come back, like old friends get together and we start playing together. It was nice to bring back some of the stuff you kind of have probably forgot over the years. Because I’ve been playing with so many bands and toured the world with so many bands. So it was great to go back together and do this show.
Benedetta
I could tell that you were having fun and the audience was also having fun.
Kai Hahto
Yeah, of course. There were a lot of people who were actually our fans 30 years ago. I saw some familiar faces, which I saw in the last show, which we actually had here in my hometown, in Vaasa, in Club 25, which is now demolished. It doesn’t exist anymore. But that was like a legendary venue that we played a lot. Even Wintersun played there. The first show that Wintersun played was in Club 25 here in Vaasa. So it has a lot of memories. But it doesn’t exist anymore. It burned down.
Benedetta
So it is special to play in Vaasa.
Kai Hahto
Of course. It’s my hometown. I’ve been living here for 52 years. This is my home.
Benedetta
Can you share with us what is your favorite Iron Maiden show that you have seen?
Kai Hahto
Probably the one that in 1999 when Bruce came back in the band. They played with Megadeth in Helsinki at the Ice Hall. And I cried the whole show because I was so happy that he came back to the band. I wasn’t really a big fan of the previous singer. Nothing against him, but I just felt that he couldn’t really do justice for the songs that Bruce and Paul were actually doing in the past. But that was probably my favorite show.
Benedetta
You play with many different kits, depending on which bands you play with. But do you remember the first kit that you played with?
Kai Hahto
Actually, yes. I had this silver kit called Beat when I got it, I was six years old. But then I purchased another one because for me the silver was not cool enough. So I wanted all black. The brand was Starra. Just one music store they had it and I bought it. And that was the first gig I played live with my old band Black Eagles. I think I was 13, 14, something like that. It was a disco, it was not really successful. But that’s what we did. I still practice. I still love what I do. I still want to develop my skills, so it’s never ending. I hope I stay healthy and I can still do what I love to do.
Benedetta
And we love to see you on stage. Can you also share with us about which drumsticks do you choose to play with?
Kai Hahto
Yeah, I’ve been having my signature sticks actually since I joined Nightwish. It’s a brand called Balbex from Czech Republic. But I was with them already before I joined Nightwish. So I was playing also with Wintersun and Swallow the Sun. So I think since 2009 or something like that I’ve been with them. It’s quite a long time I’ve been with the same brand. If I like something I try to keep the relationship going.
Benedetta
Do you have any different kinds?
Kai Hahto
Of course, it depends on the music I do. Like with Auri I had to order some lighter sticks because the music was not heavy metal. So the mixing guy wasn’t happy when I was using my own sticks he was like, “Okay this sounds like too powerful”. I had to order lighter sticks so it suits the music better.
Benedetta
Can you share with us any female drummers that you like?
Kai Hahto
Anika Nilles, who plays with Rush nowadays. And of course we have so many good ones nowadays. Which is great. We need more female drummers in the world, that’s my opinion. For sure. The lady who used to play with Lenny Kravitz [Cindy Blackman]. Yeah, she was really nice drummer. Like Sheila E., she also plays percussion, more like Latin style. So there’s a lot of good female drummers. But Anika is one of my favorites actually. I think she’s originally from Germany, but now she plays with the Canadian band Rush. So that’s a great combo. She’s really doing great justice for the music. Really well done, I’ve seen some clips online. Because I’m a huge Rush fan as well. I love Rush, almost all of the albums. And Neil, who was the previous drummer who died, we actually had the same drum teacher in New York City. In America. Freddie Gruber. I studied with him in 2002. He’s not from New York City. He lived in LA, but he was in New York at that time. So I took some lessons. And Neil was actually his student before.
Benedetta
Do you think that we will ever reach some sort of equality between men and women in the metal world?
Kai Hahto
I hope. And also, no matter if you’re a man or a woman or whatever. It’s really important that people are enjoying what they do. And like I said, we need more females to do this. Because of course we also see a lot more females in the shows. In the 80s, you go to a heavy metal show. In the front row, there was mostly guys in their fucking battle vests, leather jackets, long hair. That’s how it was. I remember that. But now it’s changed. So it’s great. And of course we have bands like Nightwish or Epica, Within Temptation. There are so many good bands that have female vocals in them. Of course it has changed the thinking of people. You can have a female singing in a metal band. It’s not all male.
Benedetta
On a scale from 1 to 10, how technological would you say that you are?
Kai Hahto
Technological? Maybe 6. I kind of try to stay away too much from technology. Because of course you need your phone and your computer. But still I kind of like the old school vinyls and cassettes.
Benedetta
Kai, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with me. Is there anything else that you want to add to our viewers and readers?
Kai Hahto
You know, I always say what I say to everybody. Go and see the live bands. Support the music. Buy the albums. Because that’s the way that the bands can survive. Bands need to tour because the albums are not selling. For me Spotify is not the solution. It’s great to have, but it’s not really doing good for the artists unfortunately. So I still buy my albums. I still go to the store. I support the bands that I love. Because at least I’ve tried to do something for them. And they get a bigger share from what I’ve given to them. I still go and see live bands I love. I still buy the merchandise from my favorite band store. Thank you very much.
Bloodstock is back, baby! After a triumphant first night with Saxon – who headlined the very first event back in 2001 – the 25th birthday celebrations are well underway by the time Lamb Of God rock up on Friday evening. It’s their third time taking top spot – putting them on equal footing with Judas Priest and Nightwish for the bands who’ve headlined the festival most – and they aren’t fucking about getting things started.
A blast of sparks marks their arrival as they get stuck into Ruin. From there, we get a crash course in why Lamb Of God are so beloved on these shores. Laid To Rest and Now You’ve Got Something To Die For are undeniable anthems, kickstarting a flurry of movement that is astonishing considering the day has effectively been HIT training with each successive band turning the dial up (Life Of Agony – Fit For An Autopsy – Biohazard – Municipal Waste – Sepultura’s final UK show).
For all the energy the crowd bring, Randy seems to want to match them pace-for-pace. Leaping, howling and stomping his way around with a demonic sense of vitality, his howls take on an almost screeching, manic fury. It’s all off-set with a sense of playfulness and humour that betrays that they aren’t the same band who seethed with a genuine sense of danger and destructive force 20-odd years ago and to be honest, they’re better for the change.
There’s a sense these lads actually like each other, and are having the time of their lives on stage (Randy even brings out his beloved mock-British character “Roger Brilliant” for a few bits that clearly crack up guitarist Mark Morton), inviting 20,000 metal fans to join in the fun. Enhanced with pyro and some freewheeling instrumentals, the set feels loose and joyous as the band span almost their entire careers (no New American Gospel or Omens era tracks stops it being a clean sweep). While there’s a few dips – the drum solo after Parasocial Christ doesn’t help – they manage to keep things tight and explosive for the most part.
Given just how consistently brilliant they’ve been live over the past 26 years, it’s easy to take Lamb Of God for granted. But when they break out the likes of Walk With Me In Hell, 512 or even a newer rager like Momento Mori, you can’t deny they basically set the bar for 21st Century metal bands live. Accept no substitute.
The long and sometimes fractious relationship between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks has had plenty of drama over the years, but the story has just taken another twist.
Tensions have existed between the two ex-Fleetwood Mac colleagues – and former romantic partners – since singer and guitarist Buckingham was forced out of the band in 2018. But he has revealed that the ice has once again thawed between the two, hinting that they may even work together once more.
“Stevie and I are talking all the time now,” Buckingham told E! News. “Next year should be a pretty interesting year, because I think quite a few things will reveal themselves.”
Buckingham’s departure from the band was followed by a legal battle which was subsequently settled out of court. Nicks said in 2024 that the pair had only interacted once since then, briefly at the memorial service for late Mac keyboard player and singer Christine McVie, who died in 2022. “The only time I’ve spoken to Lindsey was for about three minutes,” Nicks told Rolling Stone. “I dealt with Lindsey for as long as I could. You could not say that I did not give him more than 300 million chances.”
The first hints at an easing in hostilities came in late 2025, when Nicks revealed that the pair had been talking ahead of a reissue of their pre-Fleetwood Mac album, Buckingham Nicks. Earlier this year, Buckingham himself confirmed their relationship was back on healthier terms via an Instagram video: “I think on a more general level, just the energy in terms of what Buckingham Nicks did to sort of create a resurgence of connection between Stevie and myself, I think on a larger scale, that seems to be something that’s in the air.”
His new interview with E! News seems to confirm this. Buckingham says an upcoming Apple TV Fleetwood Mac documentary was partly the catalyst for the pair’s renewed friendship. “I think the process of making that has been a very circular healing process for all of us,” he said, adding: “Because we had left things in 2019 [following the legal issues], maybe as far as I was concerned, not in a very good place for all the wrong reasons. No one was happy about it, and all of that has been healed and worked out.”
Whether the project Buckingham is teasing is a new collaboration between the pair or a Fleetwood Mac reunion isn’t clear – the guitarist was circumspect about the specifics, while Nicks hasn’t commented. But he didn’t explicitly rule out a Mac tour, despite the fact that Nicks has stated that she wouldn’t want to tour without McVie. “I don’t think the fact that Christine is no longer with us would be the deciding factor,” Buckingham told E! News. “If you want to be realistic about it, Christine left the band in the very late ’90s and we did 15 years very successfully and many tours and even did an album without her. And so there is a template that’s already been established for touring without Christine, so I don’t think that would be the decider necessarily.”
Whatever materialises, the fact that the two are talking once more indicates this long-running story has a few more miles in it.
Crossbone Skully ignite the skies with their brand new single ‘Thunder Love‘ featuring Def Leppard’s Phil Collen. Listen to the new single – here. Capturing a thunder-shaking midnight encounter between two sinners, the song is a shot of lightning and lust fuelled chemistry, delivering the first strike from their upcoming sophomore album, ‘Condemned to Rock […]
Cherry Red/HNE Records continue to crank out their always quality box sets of vintage New Wave of British Heavy Metal. This time it’s the mighty Satan with a four CD set spanning 1981 to 1985. Based in the NWOBHM hotbed of the Newcastle area, Satan burst on to the scene with their debut album of […]
Following the recent announcement of their new album ‘Harmonic Mind‘, Ozric Tentacles today share the album’s first single, ‘Space Platform‘. From chief Ozric Ed Wynne himself – “Hey everyone, hope you’re doing well n stuff. Here’s the first taster for the upcoming ‘Harmonic Mind‘. ‘Space Platform‘ is a bit like a launch pad to the […]
