Melt-Banana: Being 'stupid' isn't so bad when it comes to touring | The Japan Times

Melt-Banana: Being 'stupid' isn't so bad when it comes to touring | The Japan Times

This is a fantastic interview with Melt-Banana.  As a veteran of playing shows for no people myself, it's fun to read about their early days with four people up front, or playing mostly for the venue's owner and the other bands on the bill.  They've been hardcore tour monsters for so long, I imagine they have thousands of anecdotes stored up about shows large and small.  With their newest album, "Fetch," now available and another North American tour in the offing, it's time to take another look at one of my favorite bands courtesy Yako, Agata and interviewer Ian Martin.

Their dedication, motivations and laser focus come across quite well in this chat.  The 3/11 earthquake/tsunami rattled them, just as it did everyone, but here they come again.  I'm going to miss Rika bouncing away in front of her amp (this interview is the first I've read that actively engages her absence at any length), but we've all come this far together and there's no point in backing out now, with all this challenging new music on the way.  I'm one of those fans in favor of bands evolving their sound and trying new things, and from what I've heard so far, "Fetch" is something special.

Oh, and their basic niceness.  When you feel like you have to play to those four people because they came out specifically to see you, that's nice.  I've seen this in action firsthand in my few, brief interactions with them at shows, although I'm way too shy to ask for a photo or any of that jazz.  Just seeing Yako talk to a couple of late-arriving fans and put them on the list so they could get into a sold-out show even though the entire thing grew out of a misunderstanding with the door guy remains a highlight and all I did was stand nearby and watch as it happened.  They also take the time to "like" even my lame comments on their Facebook feed. 

They are nice.

Usually I spend October blogging about Japanese monsters and ghosts, but this year October features two holidays.  One is the "Fetch" release date-- my copy should be heading my way as I type-- and the other is our more traditional, end-of-the-month horror fest.  We'll be dealing with "Fetch" as soon as it gets here and then we'll visit some haunted houses or invite ghosts into our apartment for a little talk.

I forgot to tell you we saw Melt-Banana for Christmas

Yeah, Christmas Day night saw my fiancee and me at Club Asia in Shibuya, just off of Love Hotel Hill (no, we did not go there and check in, you pervs) for Guitar Wolf's 25th anniversary show, with Melt-Banana as one of the opening acts.

How many times had I already seen Melt-Banana?  There were those six that I knew about for sure, close enough for the amps to blow their last breath in my face.  This time they performed as a duo, just Yasuko and Agata, no Rika.  Their website seems to suggest they've always been a duo, with Rika as more or less a helper, but I remember when she seemed an integral part of the unit.  I remember when they had a regular drummer, too, but Rika, as bassist, was right up front, stage right (the left side of the stage for us audience stooges).

With Yako's powerful, white-hooded charisma holding down the center and Agata whirling around in all his masked glory on the right, we relied on Rika to anchor things.  Smallish woman with the huge bass sound, her hair falling in front of her face like Sadako from Ringu at times (at least that's the comparison my students invariably made whenever I showed them photos), sometimes bouncing in place.  With drums and bass synthesized for my seventh time worshiping at the MxBx altar or noise, Yasuko and Agata seemed at times in danger of flying away.

It was one of their most powerful performances.  The last few times I saw them, they were solid but playing short sets in tiny venues seemed to limit their energy.  This show was more reminiscent of the first couple of times I saw them, when I came away dazed and kind of giddy, knowing I'd found my Thing.  But I did miss Rika.  I'm not inside enough to know what she's up to now, why she split.  I wonder if Melt-Banana Lite, the bass-less version of the band, came about because Rika began scaling back on her participation for her own purposes.  These, however, remain a mystery.

Last year was Melt-Banana's 20th as a band, by the way.

Unfortunately, we didn't stay for Guitar Wolf!  While I'm used to dark, smoky venues and edgy crowds, my fiancee wasn't too keen on the scene.  Even wearing an Agata-style mask didn't help protect her against cigarette smoke, which she really doesn't care for at all.  She liked Speeder-X, the first act, and they were a lot of fun.  Just a bass and drums, completely tearing things up sonically.  But by the time Melt-Banana came on, she'd had it with the smoke and was too uncomfortable to enjoy their performance.

I tried to wait around so I could buy some Melt-Banana t-shirts, but they weren't going to sell any until after the headliners and we just couldn't stay any longer.  So no shirts as souvenirs.  I have to give my fiancee lots of credit for sticking it out for as long as she did.  I'm very proud of her.  Choking on smoke is no way to celebrate Christmas.

And trust me, I will happily do anything she wants even if it's not something I'm usually into.  Fair is fair!

Anyway, if you're interested in the two-person Melt-Banana experience, here's a link to a fine photo essay of another recent Rika-less show in which the photographer/essayist comes to grips with noise and Melt-Banana.  I didn't take any photos because Club Asia doesn't permit photography (a few people violated the rules anyway, but I just wanted to be a participant in the moment rather than take a step back and become an observer/recorder).

As for me, I'm already anticipating MxBx show number eight.

October Is Still Spookey Month: "Three People Are Coming" and a couple more Japanese horror shorts...

That's a pretty lousy elevator. I don't think I'd enjoy riding that one, either. I rode some creepy elevators during my time in Japan, but I was lucky in that I never had that poor girl's experience. Nice job with those English subtitles by "montecristo73returns," though. What else can we find? How about this one?




Lesson learned? Cram school sucks! Again, great job on the subtitles. But if you stay out of elevators and cram schools, you're completely safe, right?



Yikes! That looks a lot like my old apartment! Nice job, KuljeetChauhan. I have no idea where these short films come from. Shown on television? From a DVD? They're pretty cool and there seem to be dozens of them. Now... here's a movie I made. You may have seen it before!

Melt-Banana's new album...

That's right, MxBx has a new album coming out.  They haven't made the street date official, but the aiming point is spring, 2012.  They originally wanted to release it to coincide with their North American tour this fall, but "things [haven't gone] smoothly," according to their newsletter.

Well, that's something to look forward to for those of us who probably won't get to see them live as they swing through the US and Canada.

Melt-Banana's "Lost and Found" US/North America Fall 2011 Tour Dates

Looks like MxBx will be all over the place, possibly even somewhere near you. So you have no excuse for not seeing them. They put on one of the most incredibly kinetic live shows going and you never know what's going to happen. Here are the confirmed dates so far, so mark your calendars:

2011/10/01 Eugene WOW Hall (OR, USA)
2011/10/02 Portland Star Theater (OR, USA)
2011/10/03 Seattle Chop Suey (WA, USA)
2011/10/04 Missoula Badlander (MT, USA)
2011/10/06 Salt Lake City Kilby Court (UT, USA)
2011/10/08 Denver Larimer Lounge (CO, USA)
2011/10/09 Kansas City The Record Bar (MO, USA)
2011/10/10 Omaha The Waiting Room (NE, USA)
2011/10/11 Iowa City The Mill (IA, USA)
2011/10/12 Sioux Falls Boonies Bar (SD, USA)
2011/10/13 Minneapolis Triple Rock Social Club (MN, USA)
2011/10/14 Madison High Noon Saloon (WI, USA)
2011/10/15 Milwaukee The Cactus Club (WI, USA)
2011/10/16 Chicago Subterranean (IL, USA)
2011/10/17 St. Louis Cicero's (MO, USA)
2011/10/18 Bloomington The Bishop (IN, USA)
2011/10/19 Newport The Historic Southgate House (KY, USA)
2011/10/20 Lansing Mac's Bar (MI, USA)
2011/10/22 Cleveland Grog Shop (OH, USA)
2011/10/23 Ithaca The Haunt (NY, USA)
2011/10/25 Toronto Wrongbar (ON, CANADA)
2011/10/26 Montreal Il Motore (QC, CANADA)
2011/10/27 Cambridge TT The Bears (MA, USA)
2011/10/28 Hamden The Space (CT, USA)
2011/10/29 New York City Santos Party House (NY, USA)
2011/10/31 Philadelphia Union Transfer (PA, USA)
2011/11/01 Washington DC The Red Palace (DC, USA)
2011/11/02 Baltimore The Ottobar (MD, USA)
2011/11/04 Chapel Hill Local 506 (NC, USA)
2011/11/05 Atlanta The Earl (GA, USA)
2011/11/06 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/07 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/08 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/09 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/10 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/11 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/12 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/13 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/14 TBA (**, USA)
2011/11/15 Birmingham Bottletree Cafe (AL, USA)
2011/11/16 Mobile Alabama Music Box (AL, USA)
2011/11/17 Houston Fitzgerald's (TX, USA)
2011/11/18 Dallas The Prophet Bar (TX, USA)
2011/11/19 Austin Mohawk (TX, USA)
2011/11/20 San Antonio Jack's (TX, USA)
2011/11/22 Tucson Club Congress (AZ, USA)
2011/11/23 Mesa Hollywood Alley (AZ, USA)
2011/11/24 TBA (CA, USA) 2011/11/25 TBA (CA, USA)
2011/11/26 TBA (CA, USA)
2011/11/27 TBA (CA, USA)
2011/11/28 TBA (CA, USA)
2011/11/29 TBA (CA, USA)
2011/11/30 TBA (CA, USA)

In the meantime, here's a little taste of MxBx to whet your appetites:


And this, too: