Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

Native from Nagoya, the already seasoned guitarist Makoto Kawabata (Musica Transonic, Mainliner, Toho Sara) created in 1995 a band with the drummer Hajime Koizumi (ex-Mainliner, ex-Seventh Seal), the bassist Keizo Suhara (Arijigoku, Rashinban), and the singer Cotton Casino (Mady Gura Blue Heaven), also on keyboards.

While the group recorded its first songs, a motley crown of dropouts- made of musicians, dancers, artists, farmers, mediums, ex-yakuza, siren hunters, professional hobos – gathered around Kawabata and participated to the musical and spiritual growth of the group. Soon afterwards, the guitarist and keyboard player Hiroshi Higashi (Yumeijin) joined the group. Acid Mother's Temple was born, and with it, the band that would be the most emblematic, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

After the sarin gas attacks perpetrated by the sect Aum in the subway of Tokyo, the social climate was to suspicion and a rumour pretended that Makoto Kawabata and his band of hippies were part of the criminal organization. Forced to move from their original dwelling, the community then grew closer and became a "spiritual group". At the same time, the group auto-produced its first album on audio tape.

In 1997, after the release of two other tapes, the group renamed itself Acid Mothers Temple, and then its first album was re-edited under the label PSF in a CD format. The album obtained a real critical acclaim and was selected by the English magazine The Wire as one of the 50 best albums of the year.

One year later the label Acid Mothers Temple family was created, to promote the works of the bands. Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. made this year its first international tour, in the United States, in Europe, then in Japan. The bassist and guitarist Atsushi Tsuyama (Omoide Hatoba) joined with them for the Japanese shows. He then became the next year a full member of the band.

In March 1999 the second album was released under the label PSF, named Pataphysical Freak Out MU !!, in which appeared the electronic music artist HACO (ex-After Dinner, HOAHIO). Then another world tour occured. The band took part in the "Fête de l'Humanité" in Toulouse.

Releases kept coming, in Japan and abroad. The band made the original soundtrack of the underground Russian movie Wild Gals a Go-Go before recording a traditional Occitan cover songs album, La Novia, for the American label Eclipse Records, and its third album under the label PSF, named Troubadours From Another Heavenly World.

The year 2001 is yet again full of releases under several international labels (Absolutely Freak Out "Zap Your Mind", New Geocentric World of Acid Mothers Temple, Monster Of the Universe, Grateful Head, My Guitar Wants To Kiss Your Mama, and the rendition of the play In C by Terry Riley), and also full of tours, the shows in the United-Kingdom and Ireland ending sold out.

The members of Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. showed no sign of weariness and released no less than thirteen albums and mini-albums between 2002 and 2003, not taking into account singles, reissues of older works and compilations. The French label Fractal also contributed to the success of the band by releasing the album Univers Zen ou de Zero à Zero and the EP Electric Love Machine. Among the guests of their numerous shows, the appearance of Maso Yamazaki (Masonna, Space Machine, Christine 23 Onna) can be noted in December 2003 in Nagoya. In 2004, one of the original members, Cotton Casino, left the band.

While albums from Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. kept being released at a steady pace, the band split up and was joined by several other musicians, ending with several new bands, like Acid Mothers Temple mode HHH which became Acid Mothers Temple SWR in 2005, Acid Mothers Gong, Acid Mothers Afrirampo, Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, Acid Mothers Temple & The Incredible Strange Band, or Acid Gurus Temple which became Acid Mothers Guru Guru in 2006 or Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Cosmic Blues Band. According to Kawabata these different bands were only the manifestation of the many facets of one and unique entity, the collective Acid Mothers Temple.

The concerts and releases of these bands have kept coming in these last years. 2008 was marked by the creation of Acid Mothers Kaidan, and by the live collaboration of Acid Mothers Temple with the noisy band Hijokaidan of Jojo Hiroshige. In November, for a new European tour, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. released three new albums, Glorify Astrological Martyrdom for the United States, Interstellar Guru and Zero for Italia, the CD Cometary Orbital Drive and the LP Episodes of Cometary Orbital Drive under the French label Bam Balam Records.