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Info
There are many descriptions which are trying to say what music style do MELT-BANANA play. Noise rock? Synth grind? Hardcore? The answer should be - come on and listen to them at Obscene Extreme Festival Asia 2015!
But to be honest, after more than twenty years of existence, is there anybody who doesn´t know them? 10 albums, over 20 singles, crazy shows, unorthodox music style. Coming from Japan, one of the well-known and most respected female-fronted underground bands!!!
Biography
In 1991, while attending Tokyo University of Foreign
Studies, Yasuko Onuki started a band called Mizu and, after a short period
rehearsing with another guitarist, recruited Ichirou Agata to play guitar in
the band. Mizu's original drummer and bass player quit six months after Agata
joined, leaving Yasuko to handle the bass and vocal duties until she found
bassist Rika. They briefly performed shows around Tokyo without a drummer.
Toshiaki Sudoh then joined as the new drummer in November 1992, and they
changed their name to Melt-Banana.
In May 1993, Melt-Banana played a show opening for KK Null
of Zeni Geva fame, who was impressed enough to immediately offer them a deal
with his label, and would later introduce them to Mark Fischer of Skin Graft
Records and Steve Albini.
Melt-Banana have released eleven full-length albums and 23
EPs (primarily split releases with other bands, most of which were compiled
onto one disc in 2005). In 1997, they created their own recording company,
A-Zap (formerly Iguana Coax), and re-issued most of their early albums. Around
this time, drummer Toshiaki Sudoh quit. In more recent times, the band has had
different drummers helping them on tours and in making albums. They do massive
US and UK tours yearly and smaller Japanese tours (the reason for this,
according to them, is that travelling in Japan is quite expensive). In 2007
Melt-Banana recorded the song "Hair-Cat (Cause the Wolf Is a Cat!)"
for Perfect Hair Forever on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup. The latest
studio album, Fetch, was released on September 30, 2013.
They have worked with a diverse range of artists, including Merzbow, John Zorn, Agathe Max, Mike Patton, and Discordance Axis.
Discography
Release date | Release name | Media |
---|---|---|
2013 | Fetch | |
2009 | Melt-Banana Lite Live Ver 0.0 | |
2007 | Bambi's Dilemma | |
2005 | 13 Hedgehogs (MxBx Singles 1994–1999) | |
2003 | Cell-Scape | |
2000 | Teeny Shiny | |
1999 | MxBx 1998/13,000 Miles at Light Velocity | |
1999 | MxBx 1998/13,000 Miles at Light Velocity | |
1998 | Charlie | |
1995 | Scratch or Stitch | |
1994 | Cactuses Come in Flocks | LP |
1994 | Speak Squeak Creak |