Panchiko

Panchiko is a British indie rock band originating from Nottingham, England. Formed sometime between 1997 and 1998, it originally consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Owain Davies, guitarist/keyboardist Andrew "Andy" Wright, bassist Shaun Ferreday, and a drummer named John. A year after the revival of Panchiko in 2020, the band was joined by two new members, guitarist Robert "Rob" Harris and John Schofield, who replaced their original drummer.

The band first received public attention in 2016 when their 2000 demo EP D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L was discovered by a 4chan user in a charity shop in Sherwood, Nottingham and shared online through the music discussion section of the messageboard; the disc was notably distorted due to disc rot, lending further mystery to the EP. Its brief status as lostwave media led to a dedicated cult following and a community devoted to tracking down its band members. This was unbeknownst to the band until 2020, when Davies was found and contacted by a fan through Facebook.

Panchiko has since released two compilation albums remastering their older music: a reissue of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L combining their first two EPs and Ferric Oxide (Demos 1997-2001). In December 2021, the band performed their first show in over twenty years in their hometown of Nottingham, after which they embarked on their first tour in the United States. In November 2021, they amassed over ten million streams on Spotify. As of March 2024, they have over one million monthly listeners.

The band's debut album Failed at Math(s) was released on 5 May 2023, followed by their second full tour in the United States.

1997–2001: Formation, D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, and disbanding
Panchiko was founded between 1997 and 1998 when their members were 16–17 years old and nearing the end of secondary school. The band consisted of childhood friends from Nottingham—Owain Davies, Andy Wright, Shaun Ferreday, and John. Panchiko's band name is derived from a misspelling of pachinko. Davies has stated that otaku culture had an influence on the band's lyrics and image, describing himself to be a fan of anime soundtracks, JRPGs and Studio Ghibli. The music they made was primarily influenced by Radiohead, Super Furry Animals, Ultrasound, Air, The Beatles, DJ Shadow, Joy Division, New Order, Nirvana, and Kid Loco.

The band initially performed live covers in local pubs despite being underage. They also performed in Battle of the Bands competitions, but never won and rarely received positive feedback. After an unsuccessful visit to a studio, Panchiko eventually began to produce music in their basements and bedrooms using cheap equipment. Davies has stated that their first extended play, D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, was recorded between 1999 and 2000, with Wright serving as the group's producer. The EP was completed in June 2000.

The cover artwork was taken from a panel of Mint na Bokura, a Japanese manga series by Wataru Yoshizumi spanning from 1997 to 1999. Notably, the EP's liner notes only credit the band members by their first names. The music on the EP has been described as emo, industrial, dream pop, psychedelic, shoegaze, trip hop, and vaporwave.

Roughly 30 self-produced copies were burned on CD-Rs and shared among friends, with a few copies being sent to reviewers and labels. Aside from some "not very positive" reviews, Panchiko only received one response from a label they had sent their EP to, London-based record label Fierce Panda. Label owner Simon Williams made the following note in his demo logs documenting his impressions of the EP:

"''Death Metal', of course, is anything but death metal. Hahaha!! Lovely sweet vocals, then some wiggy wiggy stuff. Needs a bit of va-va-va-voom on the vocals front. I really like this. It would make my ears stand on end if I heard it on the radio. 'Stabilizers For Big Boys' = great. Swearing + ranting in a very familiar stylee. 'Laputa' is lovely and slow. Bugger knows what they remind me of.'"

Despite Fierce Panda showing some interest, the band ultimately remained unsigned. Davies stated that they did not have the means to perform in London at the time, and speculated that "no A&R would travel to Nottingham to see one band."

Between 2000 and 2001, Panchiko recorded three more songs for an EP called Kicking Cars, which would go unreleased. In 2001, the band members were in sixth form and college. Ferreday said that he was balancing college, studying classical guitar, and working different part-time jobs. Their second EP has been described as "art rock".

Wright remembers performing at a small festival in Sutton-in-Ashfield in mid-2001 after which Panchiko disbanded. Davies recalls that this decision was not entirely conscious because he, Wright, and Ferreday were already enrolled in college, while John was enlisted into the military.

In between the time of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L and the band's resurgence, Wright was the only original member to remain involved in music. After college, he performed with the Nottingham-based art rock band Swimming. Afterward, he began his own musical project called We Show Up on RadaR. Wright has mixed, mastered, and produced for the aforementioned groups and other bands as a professional sound engineer.

Davies briefly produced electronic music and served as a video jockey at live events in the gaming industry, but he eventually pursued a career in the field of education. Ferreday sold his guitars and had not played music until Panchiko's future reunion. He now works as a tree surgeon. The original drummer John was enlisted into the military soon after Panchiko disbanded. Afterward, the other three members lost contact with him completely.

2016–2020: Resurgence and search effort
On 21 July 2016, a copy of Panchiko's EP D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L was discovered in an Oxfam charity shop by an anonymous user of the online message board 4chan. The user shared an image of the CD on the music board /mu/ and requested assistance in uncovering more information about the band. The liner notes contained only the band members' first names and the EP's year of release, making further investigation difficult. Shortly after the initial post, multiple requests were made by other board members for the user to upload a ripped copy of the CD. Subsequently, the user complied, eventually sharing the tracks from the EP. However, due to the CD-R's age and deterioration, disc rot had corrupted and heavily distorted the audio. Many maintained the EP to be a hoax, speculating that the initial 4chan post was a publicity stunt, but the band had nonetheless gained a significant cult following without their knowledge. Despite generating considerable interest, no information was uncovered regarding the band.

In 2017, D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L was further popularized when the rip was uploaded to YouTube, garnering around two hundred thousand views and sparking renewed interest in the band, ultimately leading to the formation of a dedicated search effort by fans to gather, compile, and discuss new findings. On 19 January 2020, researchers took note of a bar code on the EP's cover which directed them to an Oxfam shop in Sherwood, Nottingham, leading users to search for musicians in the area named "Owain."

On 21 January 2020, a member of the search team successfully located a Facebook profile belonging to Panchiko's lead singer and messaged them, "Hello, you’ll probably never read this, but are you the lead singer of Panchiko?" To which Davies replied, "Yeah." Davies, now in his late 30s, had been completely unaware of the EP's circulation online. He immediately contacted Wright, who was in South Korea; Wright then contacted Ferreday, who was in Cambridge. Neither of them were aware of the band's newfound popularity either.

The original drummer John was no longer in contact with the band, and his whereabouts are currently unknown. It is also unclear if he is aware of Panchiko's current status or success.

2020–present: Reformation, reissues, and touring
Wright, after being contacted by Davies, tasked himself with recovering and remastering Panchiko's past works. During Wright's restoration efforts, Davies was quoted saying the following:

"'What I find interesting is after listening to many videos on YouTube about the EP, I feel that the degradation of the CD is part of the music now. It is a part of why people enjoy the music. And whilst I try to look for an original copy, I feel like it may take something away from what people found in the music. Maybe it's best left how people found it, as this interesting half-destroyed piece of music from a far-gone era... I think it's what makes it charming today, and that's what people should hold onto and enjoy about the CD.'"

Wright initially struggled to restore the audio because he did not have access to the original masters. However, a friend of Wright's in possession of the original EP reached out, their copy in significantly better condition and without the disc rot. Using this copy, Wright managed to remaster the four tracks found on the D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L CD. They were subsequently released two weeks later, offering listeners clearer versions for the first time.

On 16 February 2020, Panchiko reissued D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L through Bandcamp, expanding it into a full-length compilation album. The reissue also includes tracks from their unreleased EP Kicking Cars from 2001, as well as the original "rotted" versions of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L's four tracks. It became one of the best-selling albums on Bandcamp on the day it was released. The compilation album was released on Spotify two months later.

From there, Davies, Wright, and Ferreday worked together to revamp their band. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Panchiko issued more unreleased music recorded between 1997 and 2001, as well as new original music. This music was released to streaming services and sold in a variety of physical formats through Bandcamp, including vinyl and cassettes. In July 2020, Panchiko released Ferric Oxide (Demos 1997-2001), which contains 18 previously unreleased demo tracks. In May 2020, they released "R>O>B>O>T>S>R>E>P>R>I>S>E," a rerecording of their song "Laputa". In June 2020, they released "Machine Gun Drum," their first original song since disbanding. In February 2021, the band released The Death Of, which contains "Infinite Pieces," a track they had stumbled upon by accident after discovering a CD with no label. This was the final track the band recorded before disbanding in 2001.

In November 2020, Panchiko released a collection of remixes of their song "D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L." One of the artists Panchiko collaborated with was Tongg. In the past, Wright had regularly contributed keys and produced for Tongg under the name We Show Up on RadaR. Among other members, Tongg consists of members Rob Harris (who performs vocals, guitar, and keys) and John Schofield (who performs drums and percussion).

In late 2021, Panchiko recruited Harris and Schofield as guitarist and drummer, respectively. On 31 August 2021, the band reconvened for their first practice session in 20 years. On 6 December 2021, they performed their first live show since disbanding at the Metronome venue in their hometown of Nottingham, playing in front of a crowd of around 400 attendees.

On 13 May 2022, they performed their next major gig in Hackney, London. Later that year, the band embarked on their first tour, set in the United States and including a performance at the South by Southwest festival in Texas. During their tour, they released a deluxe pressing called D>E>L>U>X>E>M>E>T>A>L, which rose to the number two spot on Bandcamp's alternative chart on 20 October 2022.

On 13 February 2023, the band announced the release of their debut album Failed at Math(s), which was released on 5 May of the same year. On 7 March 2023, Panchiko released "Failed at Math(s)," the titular track from their upcoming album. It is the second original song to be released that was recorded after their reformation. In May 2023, Panchiko embarked on their second full tour in the United States. In December 2023, Panchiko announced their third tour across North America.

Band members
On many of their releases, the band members are credited with "Panchiko" as a surname, i.e. "Andy Panchiko."

Current members
 * Owain Davies – vocals, guitar, sampling, production, lyrics (1997–2001, 2020–present), piano, artwork (2020–present)
 * Andrew "Andy" Wright – guitar, keyboard, sampling, sequencing, engineering, production, lyrics (1997–2001, 2020–present), artwork (2020–present)
 * Shaun Ferreday – bass, bass programming, effects (1997–2001, 2020–present)
 * Robert "Rob" Harris – guitar (2021–present)
 * John Schofield – drums, percussion (2021–present)

Past members
 * John – drums, sequencing (1997–2001)