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Melt Banana bringing punk, humor to Ybor City

Photo from Melt Banana

“Bambi's Dilemma” is hardly radio-ready, but there's definitely a bit more in the way of recognizable structure, melody and even hooks than in Melt Banana's previous efforts.

By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 11, 2009

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Melt Banana's latest album is titled "Bambi's Dilemma," but the incident which inspired it resulted in Bambi's demise.

It happened a few years back when the Japanese noise rockers were touring the United States.

"I hit a deer — or Bambi — after a Rochester, N.Y., show," singer Yako writes in an e-mail.

"He/she flew to the side of the road and the van broke down," she writes. "I still remember clearly how he/she looked and how I felt at the moment when I hit him/her. I think that's why the word 'Bambi' popped up in my mind when I was thinking about a title when we finished recording."

Yako reckons her band — she, guitarist Agata and a long list of bassists and drummers — has toured the United States 10 times since the band formed in the early '90s. Melt Banana's brand of experimental punk — imagine a hardcore band with imagination and a sense of humor — gets a warmer reception here than in the band's homeland.

"Not many people care about us in Japan. I don't know why," Yako writes. "Not many people even know that we exist. For most Japanese people, it is hard to find out about us and listen to our music."

The band made a few new fans stateside while opening dates for Tool in 2007. They managed to put a few of them off as well.

"We got booing at several shows in the beginning of the set, but mostly it was not so bad," Yako writes. "I felt that most Tool fans are kind of open-minded.

"We received many e-mails from Tool fans during the tour and most of them were nice, from people saying they saw us for the first time," Yako continues.

"But some people wrote us saying 'Your guitar player does not know how to play, he is just making noise and jumping around' or just simply, 'You suck!,'" Yako concludes.

The boo-birds may want to reconsider after hearing 2007's "Bambi's Dilemma." It's hardly radio-ready but there's definitely a bit more in the way of recognizable structure, melody and even hooks than previous efforts.

"We just wanted to do different things from our other records," Yako writes. "We always want to make songs accessible to the listeners, though. I feel it is the most difficult thing to do."