ASTERISM rocks out with fans at Anime Expo 2024

Instrumental metal band ASTERISM appeared at all four days of this year’s Anime Expo, making the most of every moment to meet with fans and share with them the world of PLANET OF METAL. Their jam-packed schedule included daily performances, as well as a panel and multiple signing events with manga artist and illustrator Acky Bright, who created the colorful artwork for the album.

Talk session with Acky Bright and ASTERISM

Their panel on Day 1 allowed them to show off their new music video “THE TITAN” to fans, displayed on a large screen to give it the cinematic experience it deserves. One by one, they introduced themselves to the crowd, concluding with Acky Bright, who was jokingly introduced as the band’s triangle-player!

Reuniting at Anime Expo, of course they had to talk a little bit about how the band met Acky Bright and how their iconic collaboration got started at the previous Anime Expo. Guitarist HAL-CA mentioned that they had already been considering doing some sort of collaboration with an artist before they even met. As far as first impressions go, they saw Bright’s artwork before they ever met the artist, so that made the biggest impression. Being attracted to each other’s work, they then decided to embark on the project that would become PLANET OF METAL.

Drummer MIO also talked about the band’s love of experimenting. Because they’re so skilled, sometimes you forget that the band members are still quite young and exploring their own playing styles. For their previous album, branching out to doing songs with vocals was their experiment, but this time it was the artist collaboration. MIO said, “We are always working towards a new aspect of ASTERISM”.

Taking a step away from the music towards the artwork, Acky Bright commented that in the illustrations he created for PLANET OF METAL, he was trying to grasp the characteristics of their playing style, rather than just translating their physical appearance into artwork. The characters he created are his perspective of ASTERISM, which is why he designed their weapons based on each band member’s instrument.

Panel fun with rock paper scissors and prizes!

Towards the end of the panel, they faced off against the audience in a game of jan-ken-pon (rock-paper-scissors), giving out prizes to the winners, including PLANET OF METAL albums and T-shirts featuring a U.S. exclusive red, white, and blue color theme. Pretty appropriate, considering that day also happened to be U.S. Independence Day!

They had time for a short Q&A at the end, and the band was asked why they each chose the instrument that they did. HAL-CA’s response was that she actually started out playing drums, but it was after her music teacher brought her to a concert for the band Loudness that she decided to switch to guitar. Bassist MIYU got interested because he liked the band Mr. Big, and he thought the bass would be easier to play. Finally, MIO shared a funny story: his dad played guitar and wanted to form a band, so he asked him to play the drums in his band.

Jokingly, Acky Bright wanted to know why no one asked him how he got started on his instrument.

If you’re interested in learning more about the band and their collaboration with Acky Bright on PLANET OF METAL, check out the interview we did with them last month!

The panel was only just the beginning. The group of three-turned-four made time every day to meet their fans and personally sign copies of the PLANET OF METAL artbook (this JROCK NEWS writer also had to snap up a copy for herself). Between the Kinokuniya booth at Anime Expo and the Kinokuniya store in Little Tokyo, even fans who didn’t go to Anime Expo had a chance to meet with them and get their autographs. And waiting in line is certainly no hardship when you’re also marveling at Bright’s incredible artwork–even when still in-progress, there were so many details to enjoy!

Four days filled with metal music and anime

ASTERISM’s daily live performances were a celebration of both metal music and anime, and despite the summer heat, their stage drew a crowd of hardcore metal fans and casual convention-goers alike. Days 1 and 3 saw them performing at the Anime Expo Beer Garden, while on Days 2 and 4 of the convention they performed at the AX Crossing stage. Both outdoor areas were surrounded by booths where attendees could stop and grab a snack or a cold drink. Stands selling street food favorites from Japan like takoyaki (fried octopus balls) and gyouza (dumplings) gave the scene a festival-like atmosphere.

JROCK NEWS had the pleasure of catching them perform at the Beer Garden on July 6. In addition to showing off some of the newest tracks from their PLANET OF METAL album, the band’s experience from last year’s convention clearly worked in their favor, because they knew how to get the crowd of anime fans fired up. Their set included covers of favorites, such as YOASOBI’s “Idol” from the anime Oshi no Ko and even the classic Pokémon theme song.

They bounced around the stage in their baggy and bright white new stage outfits. Sometimes HAL-CA stepped up to sing vocals, but they often stayed true to their instrumental roots, each of them getting plenty of opportunities to show off their technical skills.

Acky Bright could also be spotted in the audience, showing his support for the band by making sure to wave and cheer for them, clearly proud of what they have accomplished.

We wish we could have joined them for all four days! If you weren’t able to attend Anime Expo, but are going to be in the Los Angeles area in November, make sure to see them at The Echo on November 4. ASTERISM will be returning to the U.S. for one show only as part of their PLANET OF METAL Live Tour 2024.