People really hate bosozoku, apparently: Biker assaulted by iron bar-wielding Nara innkeeper

Biker assaulted by iron bar-wielding Nara innkeeper

Bosozoku are deliberately annoying people who customize their motorcycles (usually shitty little dirtbikes of some kind) and scooters so they're as noisy as they can possibly be.  Ear-injuring noise levels.  The kind that causes permanent threshold shift the likes of which Pete Townshend has had to adjust to.  They ride these bikes around late at night because that's the best time to piss people off and get noticed for something that makes zero sense to anyone who is not a bosozoku.  Or simply to avoid traffic and the police.  Judging by the comments at the end of this article, few people have sympathy for them or their loud hobby.

We have one or two bosozoku out where we live.  This area has a lot of broad avenues with straightaways and you can probably boom through as many red lights as you want after midnight.  Our local bosozuku don't ride every single night.  Once or twice a month.  Occasionally during the day.  I was waiting to cross a major street so I could get to a pizza restaurant for lunch one day and one of them was waiting at the traffic light.  I had to close my ears with my fingers to avoid hearing damage.  I hope he was wearing some kind of muffler or earplugs.  I have to admit to some interesting thoughts regarding the bososoku late at night when I've lost sleep because of their motorcycle antics.

People seem to grudgingly tolerate them when they appear.  This may have something to do with not wanting to be the one to violate the concept of group harmony while secretly deploring those who do.  Or maybe it's because bosozoku intimidate.  I saw a small group of them cruising slowly through downtown Hamamatsu a few years back.  When traffic became too heavy they simply switched their bikes from the street to the sidewalk and drove on.  People made way for them and no one waved a fist or cared to tell them to stop.

Hitting someone with an iron bar is a bit extreme, though.  I don't know what the best solution to this problem is, but that's definitely a step too far.  Did I receive a vicarious thrill from reading this article?  Of course.  But if we all give into vigilante thoughts we're going to end up with a worse society than one where a few noisy people with a dumb hobby cause us to lose some sleep.

Melt-Banana at Club Heavy Sick, Hatagaya, April 29, 2012

These are pretty awful but they document the last Melt-Banana show I saw with Rika on bass. This was a very nice weekend, everything going extremely well, perhaps even perfectly. Here's Heavy Sick, just a two or three minute walk from my hotel:

Let's see if we've come to the right place.  We have--

Sold out! Oh no!  But what's this?

I bought my ticket the day before because I've never been to a Melt-Banana show that hasn't sold out.  It was nerve-wracking cutting it even that close, but the end result was I got to hang out with some really cool people and experience some music I wouldn't have under other circumstances while buying my ticket to the Melt-Banana show.  So it pays to keep yourself open for new kinds of fun.

But at least one other couple had the good fortune of getting involved in a language mix-up with the door person and having Yako herself come out of Heavy Sick and add them to the audience list.  That made everyone feel good.  Added a positive vibe to an already ultra-smooth evening.

Heavy Sick is very small.

Here are images from the show itself.

And there you have it.  I have no idea what Rika is up to these days, but Melt-Banana is a duo.  We saw them next on Christmas Day the same year.  They played most of the same songs from this set.  Sorry my photos are so lousy this time around.  I'd blame the camera but it was all me.

Two more old Melt-Banana photos...

I took these at Shibuya O-Nest but I can't for the life of me remember when. 2009? That seems about right. There's a blog post on it around here somewhere and maybe some video as well.

Melt-Banana may have a new album this fall.  Well, yes, it turns out they do indeed.  It's called fetch and it's due in in October.  Now that they're officially a duo, I'm anxious to hear if their sound has mutated as a result.  The band will tour North America in support of the album's release.  They're calling it the "2 do what 2 fetch" North American Tour 2013, and I'm sure it will be a soul-changing event for those of you lucky enough to attend. Here's the schedule:

10-16 Vancouver at The Biltmore Cabaret (CANADA)
10-17 Seattle at Chop Suey (WA, USA)
10-18 Portland at Dante’s (OR, USA)
10-19 Boise at Nuerolux (ID, USA)
10-20 Salt Lake City at Urban Lounge (UT, USA)
10-21 Denver at The Larimer Lounge (CO, USA)
10-23 Minneapolis at Triple Rock Social Club (MN, USA)
10-24 Milwaukee at The Cactus Club (WI, USA)
10-25 Grand Rapids at The Pyramid Scheme (MI, USA)
10-26 Cleveland at Grog Shop (OH, USA)
10-27 Chicago at Double Door (IL, USA)
10-28 Pontiac at The Crofoot Ballroom (MI, USA)
10-29 Toronto at Lee's Palace (CANADA)
10-31 Philadelphia at Union Transfer (PA, USA)

11-01 Brooklyn at Saint Vitus (NY, USA)
11-02 Providence at AS220 (RI, USA)
11-03 Boston at The Sinclair (MA, USA)
11-04 Washington, D.C. at Black Cat - Backstage (DC, USA)
11-05 Chapel Hill at Local 506 (NC, USA)
11-06 Atlanta at 529 (GA, USA)
11-08 Dallas at Club Dada (TX, USA)
11-09 Austin at Fun Fun Fun Festival (TX, USA)
11-11 Albuquerque at Launchpad (NM, USA)
11-12 Phoenix at Last Exit (AZ. USA)
11-13 Los Angeles at The Troubadour (CA, USA)
11-14 San Deigo at The Casbah (CA, USA)
11-15 Pomona at The Glasshouse (CA, USA)
11-16 Oakland at The Oakland Metro Operahouse (CA, USA)

Melt-Banana at Heavy Sick, April 29, 2012!

I can't believe it's been a year since this show.  It took place at Heavy Sick in Hatagaya, which was incredibly convenient for me because I could stay at Sakura Hotel with about a 5-minute foot commute to and from the venue.

Let's time travel and see what happened...

Of course it sold out.  Here's a sweet story.  A couple came up while I was waiting to get in and they were disappointed not to be able to buy tickets.  I can't remember how it happened, but they ended up telling the door guy their dilemma and he mistakenly came to believe they were friends with Melt-Banana.  Language barrier.  He popped into the club and a few minutes later came out with Yasuko.  She looked a little confused and the couple were embarrassed and apologetic for the whole mix-up.  While they'd both been perfectly willing to give up and go elsewhere for fun, Yasuko quickly added them to the attendee list.  They paid the ticket price and in they went.  A very cool moment all around.  It made me very happy.

There's no requirement for musicians you like to be nice, but it's always extra sweet if they are.

Yeah, I had a ticket.  I bought mine the night before because I was pretty sure the show was going to sell out.  Awesome bands, small venue, Tokyo.  This usually equals sell out show.  Actually, every Melt-Banana show I've been to has been a sell out.

This might have been their last time with Rika on bass.  Definitely ONE of the last times.  I'm going to miss having her over there on the left pumping out bass and doing that little bouncing move.

Anyway, here are some really lousy photos I took with my iPhone!  Some of them might be duplicates, too!

The next time I saw them was the night of Christmas Day the same year.  That show was in Shibuya where they opened for Guitar Wolf.  While the Heavy Sick show was pretty good, they had more energy in the Shibuya venue even if they were reduced to a duo.  However many people they have in their band, I highly recommend you attend at least one Melt-Banana show if you're here in Japan or if they tour through your country.

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.

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: