Charlotte Foulkes had the absolute pleasure of attending the first date of Panchiko's most recent UK tour which kicked off in their hometown, Nottingham. The gig did not disappoint, despite coming after their stellar Metronome performance in December 2021; the first performance in two decades since newfound notability. Here are their thoughts on the night...
If you are unfamiliar with Panchiko, their backstory is one to be heard (or read about.) These guys
got discovered 16 years after their original release of their debut D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L. The indie rock four-piece recorded an album in their room as teenagers, burning around 30 copies onto CDs in 2000. These were distributed amongst friends and a few labels, however promotion was
unsuccessful. Members went on to various jobs from music producer to tree surgeon, though their
trajectory changed when one Nottingham resident found the CD in an Oxfam charity shop in
Sherwood. The CD was full of disc rot, unintentionally adding a distorted low-fi, shoegaze-y effect to
their alt-rock EP. The listener uploaded it online, curious to see if anyone recognised the album,
which sparked a cult fanbase in online forums such as 4chan and Reddit, fascinated by Panchiko's
obscurity. In turn, a witch-hunt commenced for any of the members. The lead singer Owain awoke
one day in 2016 to a curious Facebook message about his old high school band, which he assumed to
be a joke. After realising their accidental fame, they regrouped and performed to a group of friends
and internet music nerds - like myself - at Metronome (the live album has been uploaded to Spotify.)
Since then, they have been touring the US and have just begun a UK tour, setting off to Manchester,
Glasgow, Bath and London after their Nottingham headline.
Their gig was supported by Tongg - an acoustic pop set by one of Panchiko's newer members
Robert Harris - joined by a separate vocalist. This was a very chill start to ease you into the gig on a
Sunday evening. They are usually a 3-piece playing alt rock with 'fuzzy-pop' elements, which you'd find listening to their 2021 EP Karate in the Dark. Their set was short but sweet and I found myself
listening back to the videos I took afterwards, my favourite song of theirs being Pass Go.
"It felt like they had been playing together for years, rather than having restarted music a couple years ago."
Then came the highly anticipated Panchiko. I was very excited to see how they have improved since their last gig, having played 20 US dates since. I love Rescue Rooms as a venue, and having a sold-out gig there is quite an achievement. The stage is great, as is the layout and the sound, so I was pleased to be seeing Panchiko there. The crowd was packed, with people of all ages of course donning band-tees. You can tell their fans love them. They opened with tracks; Stuck, All They Wanted, and Think That's Too Wise, from their Ferric Oxide Demos release. This was similar to the opening of their first gig at Metronome, however all much more polished than before and the quality of the demos
are, well, demos so it was great to hear the songs more developed, and with much better audio
quality. After that came Sodium Chloride, and my personal favourite Stabilisers For Big Boys, from
their D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L release.
There was a stand-in bassist who did a brilliant job, following an accident by their usual one. They
mentioned he had only had the chance to practice a couple times with them, so I was thoroughly
impressed by the way he managed to bring the songs together like he had practiced those songs for
years. I personally liked Owain and Andy's interjections in-between tracks, which made it feel like they were chatting to us like friends. They mentioned that it was a much smaller venue than the types
they had been playing on their US tour, as their online fame centred around America. They seemed
pleased to be playing to a more intimate crowd, and I assume it was scattered with family and
friends, it being their hometown. I can only imagine they felt more comfortable here, and it felt like they had been playing together for years, rather than having restarted music a couple years ago. They seemed very well practiced and prepared.
After Laputa, the song about the Studio Ghibli film Castle in the Sky, they covered Race for the Prize by the Flaming Lips. They jokingly mentioned ‘if you liked this song more than the rest, you’ve come to see the wrong band’. However, I preferred their cover to the original. It also made me
draw a parallel between Panchiko and The Flaming Lips that I had never before drawn, but the similarity now makes sense.
Before their last two songs, they mentioned that they do not partake in superficial ‘walk off, walk on’
encores, and that these would be the last we get from them, unsurprisingly it was their title track of
the album, D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, and Kicking Cars. I love the use of sampling on D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L and this song transported me to my 17-year-old self, listening to the EP on repeat, having discovered their Spotify release in 2020, especially over lockdown. Kicking Cars was a brilliant end to the night which left me wanting to watch it all over again (which I pretty much did on my phone when I returned home.) I am eager to see what Panchiko do next, and I highly recommend checking out D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, as well as the original ‘disc rot’ versions at the end of the album.
Charlotte Foulkes
Edited by: Izzy Morris
Image taken by Charlotte Foulkes. Video courtesy of Panchiko on Youtube
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