Her official credit in Maximum the Hormone is ドラムと女声と姉: drums, female voice, and big sister. All three parts matter.
The Founder
Nao was born on 16 December 1975. She is the oldest member of the band and the only woman in it. When Maximum the Hormone formed in Hachioji, Tokyo, in 1997, she was there, along with vocalist Daisuke-han. The other two came in 1999: bassist Ue-chan, and a guitarist who happened to be her younger brother, Maximum the Ryo-kun.
Drums and Voice
The band divides its vocals three ways. Daisuke-han screams, Ryo-kun sings and shouts, and Nao sings the clean lines from behind the kit. Singing lead parts while drumming is a rare job in heavy music at any level, and she has done it for the band’s whole career.
The Band That Waited
Twice, Maximum the Hormone has stopped playing live because of her, and both times for the same happy reason. The first pause came around 2009 and 2010, for her first pregnancy. The second was announced in 2015, when she said she wanted to try for another child, and the band returned to the stage in 2017.
Plenty of groups would have hired a stand-in and kept the tour dates. This one put the whole operation on hold, twice, at the height of its popularity. The second pause came after 予襲復讐 had spent three weeks at number one on the Oricon chart in 2013.
That tells you how the band thinks about itself. It is four specific people, and it doesn’t exist without all of them.
Since the Return
The band has kept its usual pace since: the manga-and-CD release これからの麺カタコッテリの話をしよう in 2018, the single “恋のアメリカ” in 2023, its own event 地獄絵図 revived in November 2025. In 2026 it played VIVA LA ROCK on 5 May and SiM’s DEAD POP FESTiVAL in April.
Start with ぶっ生き返す (2007), and listen for the second voice.
