Panchiko delve into the widely speculated mysteries surrounding the enigmatic band
For years, the story of the Nottingham indie-band Panchiko was an unsolved mystery. Until now, as guitarist Andy revealed to us the band’s perspective on everything that went down.
Photo: Tom Platinum Morley
In the early 2000’s, Panchiko released their debut EP D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L and disbanded shortly afterwards. In 2016, a CD copy of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L was discovered in a Nottingham charity shop. The CD was uploaded online and gained a huge amount of traction in online music communities over the following years. To the disappointment of many, Panchiko had absolutely no media or online presence. To make matters worse – the version of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L that had been discovered and uploaded online was corrupted, distorting the sound and making the hunt to find Panchiko even more pressing.
After 4 years of searching, in 2020 the band members were found. Panchiko uploaded the uncorrupted version of the D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, as well as releasing new music. I got the chance to chat with Andy about the unconventional journey of Panchiko over the past 20 years.
Let’s start from the beginning. What was the process of initially forming the band?
Panchiko formed towards the last years of our time at secondary school, in the late 1990’s, but the timeline gets a bit wonky after such a long time. We were about 16 years old and before that point I think Owain and myself were in different bands. We started recording music together and enjoyed the whole process and kinda just started playing in pubs and organising our own shows with our other friends in bands.
What were the early years of Panchiko like?
We were just having a great time, and we still do! We’d go out to Lincolnshire to our drummer’s place to rehearse. He had a converted cellar and bit of a bigger house, so his parents were a little more tolerant of the “horrendous” amount of noise we’d make. We started recording and producing stuff the best we could with what little understanding of the process we had, and eventually started entering battle of the band competitions and sending demos to record companies…both of which didn’t go quite as we’d hoped!
What originally influenced the decision to split?
I don’t think it was a conscious decision, we all left school to join our various 6th forms, colleges, and I believe John the drummer joined the army so it was unavoidable really that Panchiko would have 20 years off before we became ready for (inevitable) world domination.
Between the original disband and now, were any of you working on solo music or side projects?
Owain and I both worked on our own projects, I was in a band called Swimming and I also had my own project called We Show Up On Radar. I also still work as a mix and mastering engineer, so I’ve sort of stayed involved in the industry. Shaun has been bringing up his lovely kids and doing family stuff, so he hadn’t played for 20 years or more.
What were your reactions to discovering D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L’s online popularity?
At the time we were all beyond confused! We were amazed that such a large and friendly community had built up around finding the band in the first place. We love reading about the various theories people have. I think there’s still plenty of folks who think we’re a hoax or an elaborate marketing campaign.
Initially we all had a few reservations about re-releasing the songs, but it’s been worth it to speak to so many people with such a lot of enthusiasm and love for the music.
Photo: Tom Platinum Morley
The Nottingham show was amazing. How did it feel to perform for the first time in 20 years?
We really loved playing the show, it was better than any of us had hoped and something I don’t think any of us will ever forget. We’re so grateful to everyone who came to see us, some of the people travelled from all over Europe!
It was just amazing to see people singing the lyrics back to songs that were written such a long time ago and until last year only we had ever heard.
Tell me about the rehearsal process. Were there any challenges that arose?
Rehearsing for the show wasn’t without its challenges! Rob and John (the new Panchiko band members) were very patient with us and helpful in arranging the songs for us to perform. We practiced for whole weekends at a time trying to force the songs back into our old man brains, and luckily, it just about came together in time. :)
We’re keen to know what’s coming up in the future of Panchiko. Will you be doing more gigs? Do you have any new releases planned?
We have a show in London on 10th February next year, which we’re really excited about, and we’re performing at SXSW in Texas in March and hopefully sorting some more UK, Europe and US shows towards the end of 2022. There will be lots of new songs and all kinds of fun stuff coming up too!
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