DEADLIFT LOLITA are quickly becoming known across the globe as the world’s strongest idol group.
One of the pioneers of the Kawaiicore genre that combines idol pop with hardcore, the duo has pushed the mould of what it means to be a pop group by joining their passion for music with muscles, cuteness, and wrestling.
We met up with Ladybeard and Reika at HYPER JAPAN in London to find out how DEADLIFT LOLITA came to be.
You guys have been stealing the show today!
Ladybeard: That’s very kind of you!
You call yourself DEADLIFT LOLITA, but roughly how many lolitas can you deadlift?
Ladybeard: Exactly, 4,602. Exactly!
So what’s the workout routine to be able to lift that many lolitas?
Ladybeard: You have to find one lolita, then just lift him, her, or non-binary other, repeatedly in long sets in order to build up your stamina. Then after that you have to deadlift a multitude of lolitas at the same time. You haven’t gotten yourself up to 4,602 yet, but you’re working on it. It’s a slow building process!
You guys were one of, if not THE pioneers of Kawaiicore. What inspired you to bring idol pop and metal together?
Ladybeard: For me it’s always been about putting the two extremes together. In my career I put the masculine together with the feminine and emphasising either as much as I possibly could creating the perfect unity with the largest gap that creates the biggest impact possible. So I think Kawaiicore achieves that very very well. Kawaiiness and hardcore/metalcore are as opposite as sounds can be. So it’s an extension of that joining of the ying and the yang- without one you are incomplete!
Reika: I love these songs and I love performing these songs, but I was not into Kawaiicore until I got involved with Ladybeard. We embody the same principles of bringing the two extremes together!
What are your favourite pop and metal bands?
Reika: Mozart!
Ladybeard: That’s literally the only thing she listens to. It’s brain music you see, she studies hard! For me it’s a tie between Wednesday 13, Rammstein, and Slipknot. Pop stars are the same, there are so many good ones and there are many from different countries that I really admire a lot. Nicki Minaj I think is excellent, Katy Perry, LMFAO when they were around were very good, but it’s hard to pick just one.
You two have been wrestling for quite a few years now, and your intensity in the ring tends to spill out into your live shows. Who was that man who interrupted the show today?
Ladybeard: We don’t even know! This is our life, we turn up to a place expecting to be singing and dancing, then EVERY TIME some local hooligan takes some kind of issue with us and tries to crash our performance. But because we are not only the world’s cutest idol unit, but also the world’s strongest idol unit, we’re able to handle unexpected interruptions like that!
Where have you been injured more, in the ring, or on stage?
Reika: In the ring! I broke my wrist after a wrestler landed on my arm after hitting me with a dropkick.
Ladybeard: Mine is actually neither, mine was gymnastics training. Gymnastics is brutal! I’ve got little feet and weak ankles, so jumping is something I’m not very good at. So I broke my ankle in gymnastics many years ago and it’s never been the same.
Still seems like you’re doing well in all consideration!
Ladybeard: Thank you, but it ruined my gymnastics career! Though it is one of the things that brought me to pro-wrestling because I could still do the flips, I just couldn’t land on my feet. In pro-wrestling you land on your chest or your back so that’s kind of how I got into pro-wrestling.
Reika: What about that time in Madrid?
Ladybeard: Ah yes and that happened too, but we all know about that.
(Ladybeard injured his head during a live performance at Japan Weekend Madrid which you can see in DEADLIFT LOLITA’s ‘It’s Manic Time’ music video)
Top 3 wrestlers of all time?
Reika: Goldberg #1! I like him a lot so I use the jackhammer! Also The Rock, and Keiji Mutoh who is a legend in Japan.
Ladybeard: I actually have two lists, one for pure wrestling ability, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Shuji Ishikawa, who I love very much. But for brand building there’s four- Hogan, The Rock, Stone Cold, Cena, and you can throw in The Undertaker as well for a fifth. You can’t deny them, right?
What are you biggest achievements in wrestling so far?
Reika: Champion belt! I’m the former Tokyo Joshi Pro champion, and I’m currently the tag title belt holder.
Ladybeard: Mine is being part of the illustrious history of the DDT Ironman Championship belt, which is of course the greatest championship ever known to mankind. This belt can be contested by anyone at anyplace, anytime, so previous holders of the belt include Spider-Man, a ladder, a dog, a four-year-old boy, at one particular time the belt won the belt. So I’m very proud to be a three time holder of the DDT Ironman Belt!
So did you both meet at DDT?
Ladybeard: Reika became popular though her first image DVD Muscle Angel, so that’s when we first noticed her, but we actually met face to face for the first time though DDT. We invited her to be a guest on a talk show and it went very well so we put DEADLIFT LOLITA together!
Have you ever thought of coming together to take the DDT tag team belts?
Ladybeard: Well we only started tagging recently, we’ve only done one tag match together so far, but there’s more of that coming up!
Reika: Think worldwide!
Ladybeard: Of course! Right here right now, DEADLIFT LOLITA challenges all tag teams from all over the world. We will contest for your belts anytime, anywhere! You name the place, we will fight you for your belt! We have a plan to take all tag team belts off the entire world and unify them under one single belt called the Kawaii 4 Life belt.
There are a lot of tough tag teams here in the UK, we would love to see you come here and kick some ass!
Ladybeard: Listen all you UK promoters! It’s time to bring over DEADLIFT LOLITA. I don’t know why you’re messing around with all these higgledy-piggledy tag teams, it’s time to bring over a real tag team who can not only bring the rage to the ring but can also bring kawaiiness and joy to the audience!
DEADLIFT LOLITA
It’s Sou Time!!
Release Date: 01/04/2018
Label: OPALUS Records
Get at: Amazon | Spotify
LINKS:
– HYPER JAPAN | Official Website
– DEADLIFT LOLITA | Official Website
– Facebook
– Twitter
– YouTube
