05-05-16 Melt Banana and Napalm Death live

Melt-Banana 2016

We delightfully attended the Savage Imperial Death March tour last week featuring the lineup of a lifetime: Melt-Banana and Napalm Death! I have always had a fondness of fast music, I don't know why. Melt-Banana is completely bonkers, you never know what they are going to do next. I bought their album Cactuses Come in Flocks on a hunch in Japan about 15 years ago and was blown away. They are unique.

I shot a quick video from their set at Slim's. Yasuko Onuki was wielding a magic wand that fired blast after blast to the beat of the music, which is what I depicted in the illustration. I think their newest album Fetch is my favorite. People should remember there are good bands out there still putting out their best music, don't fall for the trap of "music ain't what it used to be" and "all the good musicians are dead"... get Fetch! Get Napalm Death's Apex Predator Easy Meat! You'll snap right out of it!

Yasuko was kind enough to compliment my homemade "bats" pants and take a photo with us. She's a real hero of mine and it feels really good to buy vinyl and non sweatshop made shirts directly from the person creating them. Ah!

Jello Biafra

Speaking of heroes: Jello Biafra was in attendance! Either suffering from a migraine or telepathically blowing people's minds: There's always room for Jello! He's another person still making quality work, consider picking up his newest with the Guantanamo School of Medicine: White People and the Damage Done!

Before the show, Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury was carrying food back to the tour bus mumbling "alright, I'mabout ta drop this". He could have been talking about the food, but I think he meant his extreme bass lines...

Napalm Death

I'm constantly surprised by Napalm Death. I adore the early stuff (Scum and From Enslavement) but I'm equally excited by the newer albums "The Code is Red" (which Jello performed on as well) and especially "Apex Predator". I love their intros, they're truly terrifying. The thing that struck me about seeing them live was that they performed like a young band, this was not a bunch of senile old coots that cart themselves out and dial in the performance. The singer Barney Greenway was leaping around the stage with energy and passion. I never thought I'd have the chance to see either of these bands... but together?! It was emotional.