[RH Photos] Melt-Banana Returns to Chicago
Photos by Geoff Henao
On Tuesday, July 14th, Japanese noise-core band Melt-Banana returned to Chicago's Empty Bottle for the first time in 15 years. Touring across the country with them is stoner metal band, and genre-defying Hot Nerds opened the show.
For months since the show was announced, my expectations were extremely high. 2015 marks the 10-year anniversary since my first Melt-Banana show at the Abbey Pub on May 5th, 2005. And considering Melt-Banana only comes to America every other year (their last show at the Double Door back in October 2013), I was ready for my bi-annual ritual. The Empty Bottle is also my favorite venue in the city, thanks to its dive bar aesthetic and acoustics that especially benefit loud, punk rock-esque bands like Melt-Banana.
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Prior to the show, I had never hear nor heard of Hot Nerds. Their eccentric style of hardcore vocals (modified through a vocoder), mixed with noise-core-influenced sampling played through a keyboard and mixer, and backed by metal drums accentuated with a double kick pedal. They were reminiscent of a young Melt-Banana and got the crowd hyped and energized.
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Unfortunately, all of the energy coursing throughout the venue was lost as Torche came on to play. My prior knowledge of the band came from Ruby Hornet's own Travis Marmon's praise of the band's style of slow-burning stoner metal. However, the drastically low tempo and lack of high energy severely lowered the audience's excitement. At one point, I had begun falling asleep... standing up and directly next to one of the stage's main monitors.
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Nearing midnight, Melt-Banana took to the stage, backed by an enormous wall of speakers intended to replicate the duo's loud volume of noise when they originally toured as a band. However, as singer Yako and guitarist Agata grow increasingly comfortable playing as a duo (with Yako controlling a drum machine and samples with a device), so too do their shows share similarities to years past. However, their live performances have changed to reflect their adapted style of power-pop/noise-core, shedding the more extreme hardcore elements that represented their earlier years. Despite some technical difficulties with one of Agata's guitar cables and a crowd that, surprisingly, wasn't as excited for the band that I've seen in years past. Nevertheless, the crowd eventually warmed up to them as their set drew to a close.
Check out my photos from the show below!
[Review] Melt-Banana: "Return of 13 Hedgehogs"
When you're an independent punk-ish band that's been around for 20+ years, a long catalog of splits and singles are amassed over time... especially when a lot of your early catalog features songs that clocked in at an average of 90 seconds. Over their long career, Melt-Banana has entranced (and confused) many an ear, and ahead of their upcoming, two-part North American tour comes their second compilation album, Return of 13 Hedgehogs. Amassed from non-album singles and splits recorded/released from 2000 - 2009, Return of 13 Hedgehogs serves as a fitting swan song to the band's illustrious past.
As alluded to, Return of 13 Hedgehogs is Melt-Banana's sophomore compilation album with the name derived from the band's penchant of calling their singles "hedgehogs." The singles were recorded during a decade in which the band went from a lo-fi grindcore style (Teeny Shiny) to their first foray into a hi-fi, increasingly techno/pop sound (Cell-Scape) to a near-complete transition to their style of pop (Bambi's Dilemma) to the band's unofficial live debut as a duo experimenting with synthesizers and samples (Melt-Banana Lite Live Ver 0.0). As can be imagined, Return of 13 Hedgehogs reflects all of these stylistic changes across the album's 29 songs. What's more interesting are the band's songs that were featured on splits with other bands of varying styles ranging from the ska-punk style of Big D and the Kids Table to notable noisecore band The Locust, to name just a couple.
Melt-Banana is a very unique band, and this couldn't be expressed more clearly than by some of the covers they recorded, such as a tantalizing take on Italian singer Mina's "Tantarella Di Luna," ska standard "Monkey Man" by Toots and the Maytals, goth punk The Damned's "Love Song," and Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge." If 2013's fetch represents Melt-Banana's future, Return of 13 Hedgehogs is the perfect bookend to their past.
[RH Interview] Melt-Banana
Melt-Banana has been creating aggressive noise-core for more than two decades now. However, through the band's career, they've changed their sound a bit, experimenting with electronica and pop instrumentation to complement vocalist Yasuko Onuki's iconic, high-pitched screech and guitarist Ichirou Agata's multi-layered scratch/slide guitar. Their most recent album, fetch, retains the band's signature discordant sound balanced with pop sensibilities that will appeal to new listeners.
Recently, I had the chance to ask Yako and Agata a few questions over email prior to their North American tour, 2 do what 2 fetch. We talked about the album, the future of the band without longtime bassist Rika mm, and the differences between playing in America and Japan. Check it out! If you're interested in catching the Japanese noise-core band, tickets are still on sale for their 21+ show at the Double Door this Sunday. The show will also feature Brain Tentacles, Guzzlemug, and Svlphvrs.
[Album] Melt-Banana: "fetch" + 2 do what 2 fetch North American Tour dates
It's been six years since Melt-Banana's last studio album, Bambi's Dilemma, and a lot has changed for the band in the interim. 2011's Tohoku earthquake stalled fetch's release, then the band's long-standing bassist, the diminutive Rika mm, left the band in 2012. Deciding to continue on as a duo (the band hasn't had a permanent drummer for some time now), guitarist Agata and human machine gun vocalist Yako have pressed forward. Thankfully, too, because fetch is the band's best album since 2003's Cell-Scape.
Bambi's Dilemma was a huge departure from Melt-Banana's noise-core, grimy punk sound; simply put, it sounded too over-produced and poppy. The second half of that album played up to what the band has become known for in their 20+ year history: quick-hitting, messy guitar-addled 30 second quips. With fetch, there are no games played, no punches pulled, and no ear drums left intact. Many words can be used to describe Melt-Banana's sound, but the phrase that fits them best is discordant dissonance.
Take, for example, fetch's intro, "Candy Gun." The album lulls listeners into a false sense of security as the sound of waves lapping are paired with what sounds like a CD skipping as a chiming beats lightly between the ears. The ghost of Rika's heavy bass tones soon come in as Agata's guitar to seemingly dance and skip over the bass lines before the drum machine kicks in, further setting the rhythm of the song. Almost two minutes pass before Agata's frenetic guitar playing rears its head, colliding head-first with Yako's high-pitched yelp (yes, all of Melt-Banana's songs are in English). Suddenly, the third act begins with guitar, bass, and drums exploding into one another while Agata's guitar scratching pairs with laser-like effects that shoot left, Yako's staccato spreading right, and the destruction of the rhythm section simply crashing down beneath the two.
fetch features a Melt-Banana that has eased off of the gas pedal a little bit. This is, after all, a band that recorded a raw, purposely lo-fi debut album (Speak Squeak Creak) in famed Chicago producer/audio engineer Steve Albini's basement back in 1993, but also began exploring a higher fidelity in sound and song structure 10 years later in Cell-Scape. fetch, then, is the combination of their early days' aggressive, grind-core sound with their recent increased focus in melody - discordant dissonance at its finest.
You can stream fetch exclusively on Spin; you can also purchase the album on iTunes.
Melt-Banana will be embarking on their first North American tour since 2011 in support of fetch on the aptly titled "2 do what 2 fetch" North American Tour beginning on October 16th in Vancouver and running from coast to coast until November 16th in Oakland. I'm curious to see how their live performance has changed with the absence of Rika bouncing along on a bass that's 3/4 her size, but considering Melt-Banana's insane fan base, the set shouldn't suffer too much, if at all. Full tour dates and tour poster can be found below. I'll hopefully see some of you guys at their Chicago date on October 27.
2013-10-16 Vancouver, BC at The Biltmore Cabaret
2013-10-17 Seattle, WA at Chop Suey
2013-10-18 Portland, OR at Dante’ s
2013-10-19 Boise, ID at Neurolux
2013-10-20 Salt Lake City, UT at Urban Lounge
2013-10-21 Denver, CO at Laimer Lounge
2013-10-23 Minneapolis,MN at Triple Rock Social Club
2013-10-24 Milwaukee, WI at The Cactus Club
2013-10-25 Grand Rapids, MI at The Pryamid Scheme
2013-10-26 Cleveland, OH at Grog Shop
2013-10-27 Chicago, IL at Double Door
2013-10-28 Pontiac, MI at The Crofoot Ballroom
2013-10-29 Toronto, ON at Lee's Palace
2013-10-31 Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer
2013-11-01 Brooklyn, NY at Saint Vitus
2013-11-02 Providence, RI at AS220
2013-11-03 Boston, MA at The Sinclair
2013-11-04 Washington DC at Black Cat - Backstage
2013-11-05 Chapel Hill, NC at Local 506
2013-11-06 Atlanta, GA at 529
2013-11-08 Dallas,TX at Club Dada
2013-11-09 Austin, TX at FFF Fest
2013-11-11 Albuquerque, NM at Launchpad
2013-11-12 Phoenix, AZ at Last Exit
2013-11-13 Los Angeles, CA at The Troubadour
2013-11-14 San Diego, CA at The Casbah
2013-11-15 Pomona, CA at The Glasshouse
2013-11-16 Oakland,CA at Oakland Metro Opera House