Melt-Banana began their activities in 1991, though they didn't decide on their name until 1993. The original line-up was vocalist and bassist Yako, Agata on guitar, bassist Rika mm', and Toshiaki Sudoh on drums, who left in 1997. The band has had a number of support drummers but their current drummer is Oshima.
Their first album was recorded by Steve Albini at his old studio in Chicago. That was the band's real breakthrough in both the Japanese and overseas music scenes. After the recording, they had a show in Chicago at Lounge Ax, which was their first show in USA and was very well-received by audiences there.
The second album was also recorded by Albini and mixed by Jim O'Rourke in Chicago, and afterwards they toured with Mr. Bungle. According to vocalist Yako, that was a great experience for the band as it allowed them to see and talk with talented musicians every night, but also to play in front of large crowds.
The summer of 2003 saw Melt-Banana on their eighth USA tour, MELT-BANANA "cell-scape" US Tour 2003. During that tour on July 3rd the band released their fifth album, cell-scape, on A-ZAP Records. Like the previous two albums, it was recorded in Tokyo and produced by MELT-BANANA themselves.
This was followed by their fourth tour of Europe, MELT-BANANA "cell-scape" Euro tour. During that tour, the band played with one of their favorite drummers, Dave Witte from Burnt by the Sun. Frequently when Melt-Banana tours in Europe they go to the UK and are invited to the Media Vale studio to be on the John Peel show. By that fourth European tour, they had released four albums plus a re-issued album from cassette tape release, one live album, nineteen EPs and they'd also participated in many compilations.
Since then, Melt-Banana has continued to be active in album releases and activities overseas. In May 2005 the band released an impressive 56 track collection of singles called 13 Hedgehogs. That winter they toured Europe, playing in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria during their The 13 Hedgehogs Europe Tour 2005 tour.
2007 was a great year that brought brand new songs to the fans when in April their sixth full album, Bambi's Dilemma, went on sale. From October to December they returned to the US and performed throughout the country on their Bambi's Revenge Tour USA 2007 tour.
This year in April Melt-Banana did a shorter tour of the US again, this time with Lou Reed, and also ventured to Mexico for a solo show in Mexico City. Now the band has just embarked on their Bambi's Dilemma Tour Europe 2008, which will take them to nine European countries. They will be busy touring these countries for the rest of May and throughout June. Fans should look forward to more shows and music from this incredible band, now in their seventeenth year and evidently still moving forward and growing.
Incomparable to other bands, Melt-Banana is in a league of their own. You could probably call them the most complex punk band in the world or simply noisecore.
They continuously tour throughout Europe and the USA. In 2008, they included a performance in Mexico.
