Melt Banana
Last week I was lucky enough to hear one of the most energetic, unique
and exciting rock bands on the planet perform what can be inadequately
described as experimental hardcore punk at the three best gigs I've
been to this year. Melt Banana of Tokyo are on tour in Europe and
making an exhilarating manic noise everywhere they go. Their surgically
masked guitarist Agata, sends all kinds of unlikely sounds roaring from
his six strings via his big rack of effects pedals; breaking glass,
machine gun fire and emergency sirens all augment his frantic slide
antics. Singer Yako sounds utterly unlike any other singer, yelping
like a small puppy or letting loose a helium barrage of unintelligible
invectice as she does a surf dance through the thick waves of Banana
mosh fodder. Tiny bassist Rika and American drummer Dave, formerly of
Discordance Axis and now of internet noisemongers Atomsmasher, keep up
the breathtakingly fast rhythm. The band have been playing and touring
long enough to perfect their art attack and show everyone else how rock
music can still blast ecstatically into the future. They played mostly
songs from their recent and best albums 'Charlie' and 'Teeny Shiny',
and as usual did one of their legendary cover songs, this time a
traditional Italian tune 'Tintarella di Luna'. The Liverpool gig was
especially sweaty and chaotic, with Agata grabbing a table a few songs
in to keep people from falling on his pedals.
In Leeds and Liverpool, support bands John Holmes, Narcosis and
Voorhees were of the angry hardcore variety. Dave likened John Holmes
to Prong although they seemed slower. Manchester supports were
experimental noisemongers Magic City and Triclops and the comedy laptop
processed shouting swearing racket of Speedranch^Jansky Noise.
Speedranch was gutted not to be able to hire a bouncy Castle for the
occasion, so made do with jumping off the PA into the crowd where
someone emptied a beer can over his head. If you're in France, Germany,
Austria, Switzerland or Italy over the next two months or so, you might
be able to catch Melt Banana before they go back to Japan. Check out
the tour dates at www.splatterpromotion.com.