Line-up

Venue

Sonic City Festival

Kortrijk, Belgium

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Melt-Banana biography

Melt-Banana (formed in 1991) is a Japanese avant-garde noise rock band that is best known for their soaring, screeching vocals and dissonant room-filling guitar fuzz, hailing from Tokyo, Japan.

During her studies at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, vocalist Yasuko Onuki formed the band Mizu in 1991 and later enlisted the services of guitarist Ichirou Agata. The two began honing their skills as a duo before the arrival of drummer Sudoh Toshiaki. Three years later with the name changed to Melt-Banana, the band signed with the British label Chocolate Monk and issued their debut cassette album “Cactuses Come in Flocks”. Due to the success of the release, Melt-Banana subsequently signed with Skin Graft on which the band released the albums “Speak Squeak Creak” and “Scratch or Stitch”. The records proved popular in the U.S. and the UK despite performing poorly in Japan, aided by the mysterious noise-rock, almost cult aesthetic of Melt-Banana.

The band’s full-length “Charlie” arrived in October 1998, originally released on their own label A-Zap. Live recorded in the studio, Melt-Banana’s subsequent album “MxBx 1998/13,000 Miles at Light Velocity” was recorded for John Zorn’s label Tzadik Records. Following the release, the band toured in support of the Melvins, having previously toured alongside Jim O’Rourke and Zeni Geva in 1994 and Mr. Bungle in 1995. The studio album “Teeny Shiny” appeared in 2000 following in a similar vein to “Charlie” and is still marked by the group’s lo-fi affiliation.

Three years later, with the departure of drummer Sudoh, Melt-Banana issued the studio album “Cell-Scape”, another shuddering release. A compilation of EPs and split releases arrived in 2005 entitled “13 Hedgehogs”, featuring a whopping 56 tracks. Following which, Melt-Banana returned to the studio to record and subsequently released “Bambi’s Dilemma” marked by its unusually hi-fi sound. At various times in their career Melt-Banana would perform as Melt-Banana Lite, which would see the group swap fuzzy guitars for samplers and synths. In November 2009 the band released the live album “Melt-Banana Lite Live Ver 0.0” which was their first to be release with the alternative setup. The full-length “Fetch” was released in 2013, a highly-charged and impassioned punk-rock record, followed by the anthological compilation “Return of 13 Hedgehogs” in 2015.

Live reviews

Watching the Dirty three live is an experience that will rock, vibrate, and touch you to your souls. Founded in Australia, with three members, the band has a huge international calling and fanbase. Their sound is instrumental rock, and the undertones of their australian roots abound in their songs.Watching the Dirty three do a live performance reminds you that for them, it’s all about the music. No frills at these shows, just three men and their instruments. You won’t find fancy lights, smoke, or any other over the top stage props. The band members themselves are very casual , and often face each other instead of the audience. That’s how you know that they truly have love for the music, not just the fame.The audience is super loyal to the band, and seems to feel the music with their souls, and you cannot help dancing or swaying along, as the band plays fan favorites.The best part about the band is that they are all instrumental, with no singer . This allows the essence of the music,and the emotion of the sounds to shine through. They tour all over the world , and have a huge US fanbase, as well as Europe and Australia. I would recommend spending time and enjoying the melodic sounds of the Dirty Three.

Anonymous

I'd been a fan of Melt-Banana ever since I heard them on John Peel's show in the mid-1990s. I'd always regarded them as a sort of joke band, so I'm so glad I finally decided to go and see them in 2005 (partly because it was the year after John's death and I wanted to keep his legacy alive by going to see as many of his favourite bands as possible. Yes, he really did mean that much to me).
Simply put, they utterly blew me away and now, every time they tour the UK, I will go and see them. Without fail. And because they tour every three or four years, I will try and go and see them two or three times. Why? Because the noise they produce is breathtaking. They're super-heavy but not in a durgey, grindy way. They're playful and fun. They're also super-fast.
Going to see Melt-Banana is like being on a musical rollercoaster - you come out feeling elated, wearing a mesmerised expression on your face and with your hair standing on end. If you're into this sort of thing the band is also supremely innovative. Yasuko and Agata (an incredible guitarist with just about the most complicated effects set-up I've ever seen) use and 'play' pedals and 'chaos balls' (I can't remember what these things are actually called) and flashing consoles that look like they're from a Nintendo games machine. They're just incredible.

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