MELT-BANANA is a two-piece band based in Tokyo, Japan. The members are YAKO (vo.) and AGATA (g.). To date, the band has released seven studio albums, two live albums, and two singles collections. They have been performing together for more than 25 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 or hard-core scene, and at the same time, they also played shows as support act for the Wire, Mr.Bungle, Fantomas, Tool, MGMT, Napalm Death etc. , or, they took part in a festival curated by the late Lou Reed at Opera 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. They are currently finishing up track down for a new album and hope to release it by the end of the year, MELT-BANANA did not have time to wait and decided to start the "3 + 5" tour. They are scheduled to tour in the U.S. starting in May, as well as in Europe and the U.K. by the end of the year. New album release schedule will be announced shortly, and I am looking forward to it to see the next step of their world. (text by R.F. / Feb. 2024)