Draft:Lena Abé

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  • Comment: Interviews and other primary sources do not establish notability per WP:GNG, and for a band member to be notable outside the band they would need to satisfy either GNG or WP:MUSICBIO in their own right. DoubleGrazing (talk) 12:05, 9 April 2026 (UTC)
Lena Abé
Born
Lena Abé

(1983-01-04) 4 January 1983
Tokyo, Japan
OriginBradford, West Yorkshire, England
Genres
OccupationMusician
InstrumentBass guitar
Years active2007–present
Websitemydyingbride.net

Lena Abé (born 4 January 1983) is a British-Japanese bass guitarist, best known as the bassist of the Bradford-based death-doom metal band My Dying Bride. She joined the band in 2007, replacing bassist Adrian Jackson, and has appeared on all of the band's studio albums since For Lies I Sire (2009).

Early life

Abé was born on 4 January 1983 in Tokyo, Japan, to a British mother and a Japanese father.[1] She moved to England with her family as an infant and was raised in Yorkshire.[1] Her father is a lifelong musician — her parents met through music, her father being a musician and her mother working in a bar — and she grew up watching him play bass, keyboards, and guitar.[2] She has described being transfixed by his white Washburn bass, recalling: "to me it was just magic." Coming from this musical household, she began playing guitar at around the age of ten after asking her father to teach her, receiving a guitar as a Christmas gift.[2] She subsequently developed an interest in bass guitar and began playing in local metal bands during her teenage years.[3]

Career

Joining My Dying Bride

Abé became aware of My Dying Bride around 2004 after hearing their album Songs of Darkness, Words of Light (2004) and seeing the band perform live.[1] She had personal connections with the band's founding guitarist Andrew Craighan — the two lived in close proximity to each other in Yorkshire and had mutual acquaintances — which eventually led to her being invited to audition for the band in 2007 when former bassist Adrian Jackson departed.[3] She was approximately 24 or 25 years old when she joined, having previously played only in local bands, which she later described as a significant step up.[2] She joined at the same time as drummer Dan Mullins, who replaced John Bennett.

Reflecting on her early years with the band, Abé has said that she initially lacked confidence and held back creatively, deferring to the more established musicians around her. She has noted that it took several years for her to settle into her role and contribute more fully to the band's musical direction.[2]

Recordings with My Dying Bride

Since joining the band, Abé has been featured on all My Dying Bride studio releases, which are issued through Nuclear Blast Records.[4] Her debut studio recording with the band was For Lies I Sire (2009). She appeared on the subsequent studio albums A Map of All Our Failures (2012),[5] Feel the Misery (2015), The Ghost of Orion (2020) and A Mortal Binding (2024).[6]

Reviewers of The Ghost of Orion noted her contribution to the album's atmosphere, with Ghost Cult Magazine observing that she "returned to the fray" on the track "The Long Black Land".[7] RIFF Magazine noted that Abé had been on maternity leave during part of the recording process.[8] A Mortal Binding (2024) drew particular attention to her bass work, with Metal Insider highlighting the prominence of her playing in the mix,[9] and Metal Planet Music noting that the album maintains "an intense, constant, and deep bass through the hands of the Japanese-British Lena Abé."[10] Ever Metal similarly praised the complementary nature of her bass playing in the context of the album's production.[11]

She also contributed to the live album An Ode to Woe (2008) and to the extended plays Bring Me Victory (2009), The Barghest o' Whitby (2011), and The Manuscript (2013), as well as the 2015 single Hollow Cathedra.[12]

Spiine

Outside of My Dying Bride, Abé contributed bass to Spiine, a collaborative project featuring Sesca Scaarba, guitarist and founding member of the Australian band Virgin Black, and vocalist Marc "Xenoyr" Campbell, formerly of Ne Obliviscaris. She has described the project as the hardest musical undertaking of her career, citing the length and emotional complexity of the compositions, which run to approximately 15 minutes each. She noted that, unlike her work with My Dying Bride — where she is involved in the writing process — the music for Spiine was already written when she came to record her parts, presenting a different creative challenge.[2] Abé has said she effectively invited herself onto the project after hearing a demo version, describing the experience as both difficult and deeply satisfying.[2]

Musical style and influences

Abé has cited Cliff Burton of Metallica as a major influence, praising his use of melody and distortion. She has also named Les Claypool of Primus, Bill Gould of Faith No More, and Justin Chancellor of Tool as significant influences on her playing.[3] In a feature for Louder Sound, she selected eleven songs she considers among the most emotionally devastating in music, including Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" and Portishead's "Roads" — the latter of which My Dying Bride covered in 1998.[13]

Playing slow, heavy music places particular demands on timing and technique; Abé has noted that imprecision in timing is more noticeable in doom metal than in faster genres.[14]

Abé has spoken about the importance of women's participation in heavy metal, stating that she would rather see more women in bands because they are skilled than for the sake of representation alone. She has encouraged aspiring female musicians to practise and pursue their ambitions regardless of the genre's historically male-dominated character.[2] At meet-and-greet events, fans have told her that she has been an inspiration to them.[2]

Equipment

Abé's primary instrument is a Mayones Gothic BE Exotic bass guitar, which she has described as having a distinctive tonal quality that cannot be replicated through effects pedals or equalisation alone.[15] The instrument features EMG pickups: a 40CS in the neck position and a 40DC in the bridge position, complemented by an EMG BQS preamp system.[16] She also uses a Gibson Thunderbird five-string bass.[17] For the recording of A Mortal Binding (2024), she used a Trondheim SkarBassOne pedal to achieve the overdriven tone required for the album.[15]

Discography

With My Dying Bride

YearTitleType
2008An Ode to WoeLive album
2009For Lies I SireStudio album
2009Bring Me VictoryExtended play
2011The Barghest o' WhitbyExtended play
2012A Map of All Our FailuresStudio album
2013The ManuscriptExtended play
2015Feel the MiseryStudio album
2015Hollow CathedraSingle
2020The Ghost of OrionStudio album
2024A Mortal BindingStudio album

Other projects

YearTitleArtistType
TBASpiineSesca Scaarba & Marc "Xenoyr" CampbellStudio album

References

  1. "Metal Chick of the Month – Lena Abé". The Headbanging Moose. 3 January 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  2. "Interview with Lena Abé". YouTube. HZ Brazil. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  3. "The Lena Abé Story: Bollocks-Free Edition (An NCS Interview)". No Clean Singing. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  4. "My Dying Bride". Nuclear Blast. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  5. "Interview: Aaron Stainthorpe & Lena Abé – My Dying Bride". Femme Metal Webzine. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  6. "Album of the Week 19-2024: My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding". Kevy Metal. 12 May 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  7. "Album Review: My Dying Bride – The Ghost of Orion". Ghost Cult Magazine. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  8. "My Dying Bride overcomes adversity with 'The Ghost of Orion'". RIFF Magazine. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  9. "Album Review: My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding". Metal Insider. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  10. "Album Review: My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding". Metal Planet Music. 18 April 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  11. "My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding". Ever Metal. 22 April 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  12. ""The sound you get from the Mayones Gothic BE Exotic is unreal": Lena Abé discusses recording 'A Mortal Binding' with My Dying Bride". Bass Empire. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  13. "The 11 most miserable songs according to My Dying Bride's Lena Abé". Louder Sound. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  14. "My Dying Bride's Lena Abe: "When you're playing slow, it's even more noticeable if your timing's not bang-on"". Guitar World. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  15. ""The sound you get from the Mayones Gothic BE Exotic is unreal": Lena Abé discusses recording 'A Mortal Binding' with My Dying Bride". Bass Empire. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  16. "Lena Abe / My Dying Bride". EMG Pickups. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  17. "My Dying Bride's Lena Abe: "When you're playing slow, it's even more noticeable if your timing's not bang-on"". Guitar World. Retrieved 9 April 2026.

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:British bass guitarists Category:British women bass guitarists Category:British people of Japanese descent Category:Death-doom metal musicians Category:Gothic metal musicians Category:My Dying Bride members Category:Musicians from Bradford Category:People from Tokyo