MELT-BANANA is a band based in Tokyo Japan, by YAKO (vo.) and AGATA (g.).So far, they released 7 studio recording albums, 2 live albums, and 2 single compilation albums.They have been performing together for about 20 years, and their range of work is pretty wide.They seem to be in so called underground scene in japan such as noise music scene orhard-core scene, and at the same time, they also played shows as support act for the Wire, Mr.Bungle, Fantomas, Tool, MGMT etc. , or, they took part in a festival curated by Mr.Lou Reed atOpera House in Sydney, or they have friendship with various artists like Mike Patton, Shellac,Wire, Mogwai, Karl Hyde of Underworld etc ... it is almost kind of unidentified and quite bizarre for me.

Once they had been performing shows as 4 piece band, now they are performing as 2 piece band using PC, and they are keeping energetic activities not only in Japan but also abroad. Last year, they released a single compilation album "Return of 13 Hedgehogs" which contains their 13 singles from 2000 to 2009, and they toured in USA for
5 months as they released it. During the tour, they took part in Eaux Claires Fes (USA) curated by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, and Maryland Death Fest (USA). In Japan, they wrote a song for a Japanese animation called "Ninja Slayer". It seems that they are still expanding their range. This year, they are planning to tour in USA in spring with Napalm Death and the Melvins, and also they have a plan to participate in several festivals in Europe, such as Raw Power Festival (UK) and Obscene Extreme Festival (Czech). It is always interesting and fun for me to watch what kind of world they will show us, and where they are heading, like a roller-coaster.
They are going forward and taking next step again this year.