Stub Stories #8

MR. BUNGLE / MELT BANANA

1995.  It was a cold night in Raleigh, NC and Mr. Bungle was playing at The Brewery, a local landmark rock club that holds maybe 300 people and is located just blocks from the campus of NC State University. I went with several friends who I can't remember. Maybe Mike Nickels was with me. Anyway, Mr. Bungle is a schitzo genre jumping rock band headed by Mike Patton who was also the lead singer of Faith No More. I loved their first album and they were touring in support of their second album which I hadn't heard yet. And to honest with you, I don't remember a lot about Mr. Bungle's set except they all wore mask. 

The highlight of the night was the opening band Melt Banana. I had no idea who they were except I had heard they were from Japan. It was their first time touring in America. The band consist of a female singer, a female bassist, a male drummer, and a male guitarist who wore a surgical mask. They looked cute when they took the stage with giant smiles on their faces. The bass players bass was almost as tall as her. The singer said with a big smile "It's so nice to be here in...", she looks back to the band for confirmation of where they are and says "Rawree". They then began this assault on their instruments and blew my mind. They transformed in seconds from lovable Japanese tourist to manic hardcore metal gods. The guitarist was making noises and doing things on a guitar that I had never seen (see the second video). I had such a big smile on my face during their whole set because I was so happy to be there watching this unknown band Melt Banana do their thing. Mr. Bungle had the show stolen from them by their opening act. 

After the show we went to IHOP and just before we finished Melt Banana showed up. The guitarist still wearing his surgical mask. I love walking into the unknown and walking out with a treasure.