Melt Banana will be with us in just over two weeks! They play May 27th at Rainbow Warehouse, Digbeth… get your advance tickets here.

With drum and bass sections now replaced by sequenced samples, the band’s live sound is more left-field than ever. There aren’t really any bands to compare Melt Banana to, that’s how unique, weird and, frankly, ‘out-there’ they are. The best we can do is attempt to describe their sound. Imagine Tommy-gun style drum beats, ear-piercing riffs and sound effects that range from the chaotic to the hyper-catchy. Ichirou Agata emits sounds from his guitar that seem to defy logic, whilst Yasuko Onuki’s energy and vocal style is something to observe in awe.

Get the idea? Well if not here’s some really recent footage of the Japanese noise-rock duo blasting through 8 songs in the space of  3 minutes!

Supporting Melt Banana are these local noisemakers:

Glatze  – Glatze is all about attention grabbing, energetic live performances so draws influences from the likes of Henry Rollins, Afrirampo, rave DJs such as Sy and Slipmatt, and of course Melt Banana!

Thrilling Headgear – Thrilling Headgear is all about libidinous acts of creation, getting hyped off of hype stoked off of stoke.

Buy Tickets

Melt Banana Official

Capsule’s April playlist is now ready for you to enjoy and features artists performing in our fast approaching upcoming shows. Here’s a round-up of what we’ve got coming up prior to our calender biggie, Supersonic Festival. Scroll down for our playlist.

April 18th, Hare & Hounds (1 ticket gains you entry to watch 7 bands across 2 stages):

THE EX plus supports Health & Efficiency and Rattle (Stage 1). Stage 2 curated by Milque + Muhle features Ghold, Mob Rules, Sump and Bayonnebleeder. The Ex may have started as a punk band but their numerous collaborations and sonic explorations over a 30+ year career has seen them experiment with the exotic and unexpected, making their hefty musical back catalogue now difficult to confine to any one genre.

May 27th, Rainbow Warehouse:

Melt Banana plus supports Glatze and Thrilling Headgear. Melt Banana are a well respected Japanese noise rock band championed by the likes of John Peel who was an avid fan. The band incorporate elements of punk and psycho-pop into their fast and furious performances.

Tickets for both these events can be purchased at advance pricing here.

Liked that? For more tunes listen to our previous playlist. Tickets to either of these shows go here.

Image: Caffaknitted, Flikr

MELT BANANA return to Birmingham’s Rainbow Warehouse on May 27th. Don’t forget to pick up your advance price tickets from here, tickets will be more on the door.

Now those of you unfamiliar with Melt Banana might want to peruse the highly entertaining FAQ section of the band’s website here. We picked out a few Qs for the newly initiated:

Q. Who is MELT BANANA?

“Answer: Main factors of MELT-BANANA are YAKO, who is a singer of the band and write all lyrics and write some of the songs, and AGATA who plays the guitar and write most of the backtracks of the songs.”

Q. What type of music?

Q. Is Yako singing in Japanese?

Q: What is your motto/philosophy?

 
For tickets to see Melt Banana supported by Glatze & Thrilling Headgear go here. To learn more about the band visit Melt Banana Official

The stars have aligned once again to bring back a pairing we last saw together in 2009. Yes that’s right folks, GLATZE return to support the one and only MELT BANANA this May 27th at the Rainbow Warehouse, in what can only be described as sweet, sweet déjà vu. Back then this was the first time Sam Underwood (the musical man/loon behind Glatze) had performed at a Capsule event. Since then Sam’s been involved with numerous other Capsule events through his other projects which include Ore, MortonUnderwood &

also If Wet which will be brought along to Supersonic Festival this May.

We caught up with Sam to talk about his upcoming performance with Glatze. See our mini Q & A below. Tickets for this event can be purchased here.

5 years on, what’s it like knowing you’ll be back sharing the stage at a Capsule gig with Melt Banana all over again?

It means a lot to me. I have warm memories of my first encounter as an artist with Capsule and I have been a Melt Banana fan for many moons. Capsule have continued to support me since that day and I can’t wait to dust Glatze off for another outing alongside Melt Banana; for old times’ sake.

Sam, you’re a busy man…you build instruments (MortonUnderwood), play in Ore and also run your own monthly event, If Wet, which will be transported to Supersonic Festival later this May. How do you balance all of these different projects and where does Glatze fit in?

Off the back of my sabbatical I had all these amazing strands I could pursue. For a while I did just that; I just kept throwing them against the wall to see what stuck. That’s hard work though, as I was essentially saying YES to everything. Now I have a clearer idea of what aspects really appeal to me I have started saying NO to some stuff, in order to concentrate my efforts. This makes my life easier and my output more focussed. Glatze is quite distinct in all this, he just lurks on the side-lines waiting for fun opportunities to

play. He’s my light relief.

Image courtesy of Pete Ashton: Taken in 2009 during Glatze’s last performance alongside Melt Banana.

Who are some of your musical (or otherwise) influences?

Glatze is all about attention grabbing, energetic live performances so draws influences from the likes of Henry Rollins, Afrirampo, rave DJs such as Sy and Slipmatt, and of course Melt Banana!

How do you go about writing a song? Do you jam and figure stuff out that way or is the writing process much more structured?

As Glatze, my music always has half an eye on what the live aspects of it will be. It mainly starts with studio production, although tunes range from fully improvised pieces that are constructed entirely live to heavily produced dancefloor vibes with me just twatting about over the top!

What can people expect from Glatze live?

Glatze is older and wiser now so expect more madcap inventions and theatricalities than ever before, and the usual fun-at-all-costs mentality!

For tickets to see MELT BANANA plus GLATZE and THRILLING HEADGEAR go here.

March’s playlist brings together tracks from some of the artists performing at Capsule’s upcoming events this Spring.

On April 18^th Capsule partners up with purveyors of fine records and good buddies MILQUE & MUHLE to curate an evening of musical activity held across two stages at Hare & Hounds. Topping the main stage are Dutch punk rock legends, THE EX, who are supported by percussion heavy RATTLE & rock experimentalists HEALTH & EFFICIENCY.

The second stage programmed by M+M takes things on a doomier route with GHOLD tipping their hat to the godfathers of sludge whilst continuing to forge their own unique sound. Hardcore will also be well represented on the bill with MOB RULES and BAYONNEBLEEDER both promising to punish ears and minds. Lastly SUMP will deliver their own hybrid of black metal and punk.

Tickets for THE EX on April 18^th are available now & grant access to both stages making this one all-nighter you don’t want to miss out on. Buy tickets HERE.

Later on May 27^th we welcome back Japan’s unequivocal answer to grindcore-noise rock, MELT BANANA, who are

touring in support of their latest album Fetch. Support comes from sound artist and instrument maker Sam Underwood who returns with GLATZE, his solo outlet for his broader musical endeavours. The line-up is completed with local sonic deviants THRILLING HEADGEAR, born out of the ashes of Stinky Wizzleteat and ready to pummel with their bleeted, transcendent take on punk-rock. Tickets for MELT BANANA can be purchased HERE.

Capsule welcome back high-speed Japanese noise rock act MELT BANANA to Birmingham this May 27^th [Tickets here]. The band will tour in support of their latest offering and 7^th studio album, the well-received ‘Fetch’. With this in mind, we thought we’d look back at the band’s friendship with legendary radio presenter and record producer John Peel.

An early supporter of the band, Peel witnessed Melt Banana’s live performance at Maida Vale in September 1999 and declared it: “Simply one of the most extraordinary performances I have ever seen and ever heard … just mesmerizing, absolutely astonishing.”

Peel also described MB as “one of the world’s great bands” and would go on to feature the band regularly on his radio show. This appreciation resulted in several live Melt Banana recordings for The Peel Sessions. You can listen to one of these extraordinary live sets below in the 2001 Melt Banana Peel Session:

Admiration between the band and Peel was clearly mutual, and after Peel’s death in October 2004 Melt Banana issued the following statement:

“Today is the funeral of Mr.John Peel. For us, he was like Santa Clause. We feel so maybe because of his beard and his big round eyes, but not only because of that, of course. He gave us many things and did many thing for us, and it is difficult for us to express how much we thank him. We don’t know how and when he first found us, but it seemed that he knew about us from the very beginning, like, from our 1st album. He played our music many times on his radio show, and it helped spreading our music all over the world, which is amazing. Every time when we visited U.K. to tour, he had some special events for us. He gave us a opportunity to play real-time-on-air live show at BBC, and another time, he invited audience to the studio for our peel session. Last time when we saw him was when we played a show for the radio one show case in Brighton in 2003. He was smiling. Thanks, Mr.John Peel, for your love to our music. We miss you. MELT-BANANA”

Now performing as a duo, MELT BANANA will be supported by GLATZE and THRILLING HEADGEAR at the Rainbow Warehouse in Digbeth, May 27^th. Tickets for this not-to-miss show can be purchased now

from here.

Click through to hear our August playlist, with a Bring To Light focus, it features Kogumaza, Shangaan Electro, Sleaford Mods, Josephine Foster, High Wolf and more.

soundcloud.com/supersonic-festival/sets/capsule-playlist-august-2013

Full line up :

Dinos Chapman / Shangaan Electro / Josephine Foster / Clipping / Deafheaven / Masaki Batoh / Robedoor / Zomes / High Wolf / Kogumaza / Richard Dawson / Sleaford Mods / Sarah Angliss / Delia Darlings / Laurence Hunt / Hordes

Weekend tickets are limited make

sure you get them in advance from theticketsellers.co.uk

An incredible line up hits Birmingham on Wednesday 4th July. Call it an American Independence celebration – Unsane and Big Business will play The Rainbow Warehouse.

Unsane’s long awaited new album is complete and will be released in May, so here is your chance to hear new material from the NYC noise rock powerhouse. They’re joined by the ever brilliant Big Business.

Tickets are £10 and available here