GIRLFRIENDZ Interview: Japanese Indie Pop’s Third-Gen Goth Revival

Last Updated on 2026-02-09 by a-indie

Emerging band GIRLFRIENDZ is launching their first live show in Okinawa just one month after formation.

Their meeting was through something rare today: a member recruitment bulletin board.

Ido Kyo, who holds goth as a life goal, Spanish producer Miguel with experience working on the music for “METAL GEAR SOLID V,” guitarist Hitomi with unusually strong legal knowledge,

and vocalist Mayu Baby who joins recording sessions even during dates—these uniquely individual members met by chance on a bulletin board.

They completed everything from song production to music video shooting in just one week, and eccentrically chose to hold their first live show in Okinawa one month after formation.

With goth culture and “guilty pleasure” as keywords, we asked them about everything from formation background to musical roots, production behind-the-scenes, and their future aspirations as they create cute, indie-flavored yet pure pop music.

If L’Arc-en-Ciel represents Japan’s first generation of goth and PLASTICZOOMS the second generation, then GIRLFRIENDZ is the third generation.

We want you to experience the band’s values that differ from previous bands—rooted in goth while aspiring toward Holly Humberstone (Text: yabori).

The Formation of GIRLFRIENDZ

Artists: Mayu Baby (Vo.), Ido Kyo (Ba.)　Interviewer: Maririn　Translation, Editing, Proofreading: BELONG Media, A-indie

—Maririn: I’d like to ask about the band, but first about how it was formed. This is quite a real-time story, but today is exactly one month since the formation, right?

Ido Kyo: That’s right. It all started last summer when a friend and I decided to “start a band.” We had made about five songs, but then it came to a halt.

—Maririn: Right.

Ido Kyo: Since that band stopped, I thought, “Okay – let’s just start a new band!” I met this emo-girl type who came to a pop-up event for Goth Mall, a shop I run with some goth-loving friends, and we decided to “start an emo band.” But that also eventually fizzled out… My desire to form a band was still unsatisfied, so when I was wondering what to do, I remembered there were member recruitment bulletin boards, and I thought it would be interesting to search randomly like that, so I took action (laughs).

Meeting Through the Bulletin Board

—Maririn: Those member recruitment bulletin boards still exist?

Ido Kyo: They do! While searching there, I found this person named Miguel who had uploaded an incredible demo track, and I thought, “This is the one,” so I contacted him. It turned out only the vocalist position wasn’t filled yet, so I went to see my longtime friend Mayu and asked her, and she said, “I also wanted to start a band so badly that I was looking at bulletin boards.” By coincidence, Mayu had already been communicating with Miguel through the bulletin board and was talking about wanting to make music with this person. I said, “Wait, that’s my band,” and we all cracked up, the three of us quickly gathered together, and recorded the very next day.

Mayu Baby: Miguel came to my place, and Ido came too. There’s a guitarist named Hitomi, but I hadn’t met him at that point yet. First, we just did the vocal recording for a demo at my place. About two days later, we decided to shoot a music video, and that’s when I met Hitomi for the first time. Then we suddenly shot that slightly strange music video for “Tonight”… That was all within less than a week.

—Maririn: It was decided in a flash, just based on information seen on the bulletin board.

Ido Kyo: That’s right. So then, when I said, “Please join us officially,” Mayu immediately started recording early in the morning after coming home from a night out (laughs).

The Reality of Member Recruitment

—Maririn: Right (laughs). What kind of recruitment did you post on that bulletin board you mentioned earlier?

Mayu Baby: I posted something like “Vocalist, 35 years old, can do English.” While recruiting myself, I also saw Miguel’s post looking for a vocalist and contacted him from my side.

—Maririn: It was quite an old-fashioned method.

Mayu Baby: Yeah, it felt like old platforms such as mixi (a Japanese social networking service that was popular before Facebook).

Ido Kyo: Mayu searched on a site called OurSounds, but I was searching in an even crazier place—Craigslist (a community-focused bulletin board site originating in America). I searched using these overseas bulletin board-type sites. When I asked Miguel, “Where are you recruiting?” he said Craigslist and Jimoty (a Japanese local classifieds app where people buy, sell, or give away items within their community). Jimoty!? (laughs).

Mayu Baby: Including how we met, the members are quite strange (laughs).