Last year, the super idol Ladybeard was the guest star of Chibicon 7 Surabaya last year, held on 21–22 June 2025 at Tunjungan Plaza 3 and 6 Surabaya. This marked his second appearance in the country, following his debut at Chibicon Jakarta in August 2024. For around one hour, Ladybeard has entertained his fans in Surabaya, performing various songs ranging from original songs like Nippon Kara Konnichiwa and various cover songs like PA PA YA!! from BABYMETAL and Moonlight Densetsu from the Sailor Moon series,
Also read: Exclusive Interview with Ladybeard during Chibicon Jakarta: Part 1 and Part 2
Ladybeard, whose real name is Richard Magarey, is an Australian singer who is active as an idol in Japan. LadyBeard initially started his career as a pro wrestler and stuntman, appearing in various films and wrestling promotions. Ladybeard’s idol career began when he joined the Japanese idol group LadyBaby in 2015 before moving to another idol group, Deadlift Lolita, in 2017. Currently, he’s an active member of BabyBeard, an idol group he created in 2021.
Previously at Chibicon Jakarta, we interviewed Ladybeard about his pro wrestling career and his new group, Babybeard. This time at Chibicon Surabaya, we met him again and asked him various questions about his impressions of the Surabaya crowds. Here is the interview!
Ladybeard has performed twice at Chibicon: first in Jakarta last year and now in Surabaya. What was the difference between performing in Jakarta and Surabaya?
That’s right. I’ve now performed at both Chibicon Jakarta and Chibicon Surabaya. Both events are fantastic. Obviously, both sets of fans are extremely warm and extremely kind.
In general, Indonesians are fantastic to perform for because when I am on stage, they are very warm and very receptive. They give a lot of energy, so that’s the best kind of audience you can have as a performer.
Comparatively, Surabaya is a bigger event than Jakarta. Last year in Jakarta, we had one hall for everything. I was doing my show, and then there were the fans, and right next to them were the vendors. Here, my show was in a totally separate hall dedicated to performances.
I think size is really the biggest difference, but both of them are excellent events. I’m very happy to be back in Indonesia again.
After Chibicon, you will do a Ladybeard DJ show in Hong Kong. Many people know you as a professional wrestler, actor, and idol, but not as a DJ. How long have you been doing this?
My DJ career is quite interesting. One of the things I’ve learned about being Ladybeard is that a bearded white man in a skirt means something different in every culture.
I actually have three careers running in parallel. There’s the career in Japan, the career in China, where I became very famous, and then the career everywhere else. The “everywhere else” version kind of follows Japan, but China is its own specific culture, so Ladybeard means something different there.
I started DJ-ing specifically for the Chinese market back in 2018, and it went very well because I have a lot of fans in China. My fans started as teenagers, and then they grew up. They reached the age where they started going to nightclubs, so it made sense for me to begin DJ-ing at a time when DJ culture was also becoming popular in China.
The DJ career went very well, but then COVID-19 happened, and everything stopped for a while. My show in Hong Kong last year, right after Chibicon Jakarta, was one of my first DJ appearances in the Greater China region after the pandemic.
And hey, if you want me to come and DJ in Indonesia, let me know! Indonesia’s clubs, let’s make it happen!
When we last met in Jakarta, you said you wanted to practise Indonesian martial arts. How is it going?
Yes, I’d love to train in pencak silat. Here’s a piece of Ladybeard trivia you may not know. Before becoming Ladybeard, I actually worked as a voice actor. You guys are probably familiar with the Indonesian action film The Raid, right?
If you get the DVD of The Raid and watch the English dub, I’m the English voice of Iko Uwais. I have a feeling many Indonesian fans don’t know that. One of your biggest stars, Mr. Iko Uwais, was voiced by Ladybeard in the English version.
I wonder how he feels about that. If he saw Ladybeard, would he be proud of being voiced by Ladybeard, or would he say, “I want a new voice”? Actually, I have friends who work with him, so I’ll see if I can find out.
During Chibicon, you also spoke Javanese. How did you learn Javanese?
I have a feeling that “fluent” is a strong word, haha.
It was very impressive for an Australian.
That’s very kind of you. I was given a script and told what to say, and apparently, I did a good job. Before coming to Surabaya, I studied even more. I wanted to greet my beautiful friends in Surabaya, but I messed it up. I’m sorry!
Many of your songs have a metal-style scream. As far as we know, that’s very difficult to do. How do you practise?
First things first: do not have sensitive neighbours. If you have sensitive neighbours, you can’t practise screaming at home.
It actually took me a long time to learn how to scream. I spent eight years sitting at home making strange noises until I finally figured it out.
You know what, we’ll do a quick screaming lesson. We’re going to ignore all the foundations of voice training for a moment. If you make a noise that’s a bit like coughing, you open up your throat, and that becomes the foundation of your scream. As you become more comfortable with it and put more air into it, it develops further.
Alternatively, you can imitate a dog barking. We just skipped about ten years’ worth of voice training, but that’s okay.
As a performer, you choose to mix a masculine look with feminine fashion. What was your reasoning behind creating this persona?
I simply combined all the things that I love. Of course, I love super cute things, but I also love things that are brutal and hardcore. So I put those two things together as best I could.
The cuter I become on the cute side and the more badass I become on the badass side, the wider the gap becomes. That’s what really makes Ladybeard, Ladybeard. The wider the gap, the more impact the whole concept has.
Finally, do you have any message for our readers?
KAORI readers, you guys are amazing. You must keep reading KAORI. If you stop reading KAORI, there will be blizzards, typhoons, and all kinds of disasters the likes of which you don’t want to deal with! So make sure you keep reading and keep supporting KAORI.
And of course, please support Ladybeard as well. You can follow me at @ladybeard_japan, and please support my group Babybeard at @babybeard_japan. Thank you, Indonesia!
Also read:
The Indonesian Anime Times | Interview by Tanto D.
