In a record store in Nottingham, UK, a shelf holds a worn-out demo among the multitude of records. Sticking out from the edges you can read the word Panchiko. When you lift the CD, a white cover with a drawing of an anime accompanies the word D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A
It didn’t take long for the user who had found the CD to spend a few hours sharing the prodigious album by an obscure pop-shoegaze band on the Internet. First, recordings that sounded like something riddled with musical naivety were posted on file-sharing sites, and then made their way onto YouTube.
A wave of music fans immediately clicked with the album and the only thing left to discover was the members and creators of this sensational work, who only appeared on the album as Owain, Andy, Shaun and John.
Internet music circles quickly mobilized to find the authors of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, even trying the record store in Nottingham. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for music detectives to find Owain, the alleged member of Panchiko.
Discovering the origin of Panchiko
A message in the inbox on his Facebook page piqued Owain’s interest. Upon opening the message he said: “Hi, you’ll probably never read this, but are you the lead singer of Panchiko?”
All Owain could do at that moment was be surprised by the fact that someone had found the album he had recorded with his three teenage friends. All the members were sure that the CD had never reached the Internet, only 30 physical copies had been produced and nothing more.
However, a stroke of luck in a record store led the fleeting band Panchiko to be placed in the number 1 spot of the most outstanding musical mysteries. Once Owain confirmed that he was part of the band, the world was assured of the members of Panchiko.
The most fascinating thing about this story is that the four friends who formed Panchiko worked in their childhood with a couple of cheap teams, without money or any promotional label. Inspired solely by the exchange of genres and with the influence of Radiohead and Super Furry Animals, they assembled what is today D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L.
Although today Panchiko is a musical gem, the members decided that even though music fans discovered the truth, they are not interested in revealing anything beyond their given names.
The truly important thing is that Panchiko transcended as an interesting music CD that several people liked. The album is a creation that took on a life of its own, without promotions or major labels. If you want to enjoy its essence, we leave it here for you.