It's been a while since I've been to a gig.

Actually no, that's not true, I did go to the Amy Wadge gig not too long ago, but that was worlds away from the gig I went to last night.

Chris took me along to see Melt Banana, which is a Japanese Punk Rock outfit.
(here are some pics)

Oh wait, Wikipedia refers to them as "Japanese Noise Rock".

And noisy it was!

DJ Scotch Egg, the support band, wasn't so much a band but just a Japanese dude with a children's keyboard, a gameboy and possibly his iPod. His music was a Marilyn Manson meets Super Mario Brothers type mix of beats, riffs and, well, gameboy sounds.

Being about 5 feet tall, he tried very hard to get a mosh pit going in front of his mixing desk. A few people looked like they had an epileptic fit as a result.

Or wait, that could have been dancing.

With Melt Banana (the main act of the evening) I had a hard time distinguishing the songs because, as old and boring as that might sound, they all sounded (noise-wise) the same.

Ok, the screaming was different from time to time, but as you'll see in the video below, it's not about the lyrics.

My favourite was "7 short songs". Each lasted no more than about 20 seconds and they were all interrupted by a short Japanese accented "Thank You!" from the lead singer.

Thank god they were short. I mean the songs ...

All in all, this one goes down as an "interesting experience", which reminded me of the fact that I live in a city full of subcultures. Something that is easy to forget when you're slaving away in the corporate world.

Here's the video: