Imagine forming a band in high school before disbanding and moving on with your lives after gaining little to no attraction. Then almost two decades later, you get a Facebook message asking if you are the lead singer of that band.
Well that is what happened to Owain Davies, the lead singer of Panchiko. Panchiko was formed in 1997 in Nottingham, England, by a group of high schoolers; Owain Davies who is a guitarist and lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Andy Wright, bassist Shaun Ferreday, and drummer John. They’re an alternative rock band but started as a cover band. The band performed in local pubs and festivals, covering artists such as Nirvana. One of their biggest moments at the time was when they performed at Battle of the Bands, which is a music competition in the United Kingdom, where bands compete for the title “Best Band.” They never won and rarely received any positive feedback.
They started making their first EP in the late 90s, and released it in 2000. The EP titled it, “D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L” and had their first names on it; The picture on the EP was one of an anime girl ripped from a manga. During the creation of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, Panchiko did not expect it to be listened to by an audience, so they didn’t restrict themself to a single genre while making it. Once finished, roughly 30 copies were made. They were sent to families, friends, a few journalists, reviewers, and labels. All that Panchiko got was negative reviews but one label took interest in them; The thing was they were all the way in London and Panchiko believed that “no A&R would travel to Nottingham to see one band,” so nothing was signed.
Panchiko created another EP called, “Kicking Cars,” which will go unreleased. They performed at a small festival in Sutton-in-Ashfield. The band quickly disbanded after that festival in 2001, gaining no attraction to a wider public.
In 2016, a copy of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L was found and purchased at a charity shop. This was not disclosed to the public at the time. That person posted anonymously on 4chan, asking if anyone recognized the EP. That anonymous user posted three images of the CD before ripping and sharing the EP audio to the forum.
With an EP called “D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L,” users expected something heavy metal or heavy rock. Instead, what to listen to was described by some as psychedelic shoegaze music. Others described it as eerie and creepy because the track was distorted and rotted, almost as if the track was lost in time. Some users thought of this as some kind of hoax, while others were captivated by it. It was debated whether it was an artistic choice to have the tracks distorted or not. Panchiko gained a cult following among people who wanted to search for the band members . The only clues they had was when the EP was published, the name of the band, and only the first names of the members on the CD. Those names were Owain, Andy, Shaun, and John. It seemed impossible to find the members and its band because they were long gone, with no trace of where they went, no traces of anything about Panchiko itself on the internet. It seems like another case of lost media that will never be solved. The anonymous user disappeared and the post was deleted a few months later, but this didn’t discourage people to stop searching. The EP was spread across the internet, gaining more popularity over time.
In 2019, participants of the search noticed a blurry but readable barcode on the image of the CD. It can be traced back to a charity shop in Nottingham. So they got the location but they couldn’t find who donated the EP due to the United Kingdom’s privacy laws. The next year on January 20th, 2020, someone found a Facebook profile of an Owain living in Nottingham, in his 30s, with a background in music. They sent him a message saying, “Hello, you’ll probably never read this, but are you the lead singer of Panchiko?” The following morning, Owain replied back with a “Yeah.” Owain Davies found it strange and apprehensive about the message at first, because they never posted any of Panchiko’s songs onto the internet. That person explained to Owain about Panchiko’s rise of popularity on the internet. Owain contacted Andy Wright and told him about the situation; Andy then contacted Shaun Ferreday. None of the members knew about the band’s newfound popularity. The CD of the EP that was uploaded onto the internet in 2016 rotted overtime. Making the tracks sound like it was lost in time in a long gone era.
All of the members of Panchiko were in their 30s to 40s now. John, who was the original drummer of Panchiko, lost contact with everyone years ago. No one knows where he is or if he knows about Panchiko’s current success. Shaun has not spoken to Owain in over a decade. Everyone seemed to have moved on with their lives and had full time jobs.
Owain kept in touch with Panchiko’s community as Andy looked for a clean version of the EP. Eventually, Andy found a clean version and another EP, “Kicking Cars.” Andy remastered the EP and included tracks from the other EP, “Kicking Cars” as well. He also included the rotted versions of the songs into the album. Through 2020 and 2021, Panchiko continued to issue unreleased songs that were recorded between 1997 and 2001. The original members vowed to restore the band although without their original drummer, who was never seen again. In 2020, Panchiko recruited Rob Harris who is a guitarist and John Schofield who replaced the drummer.
Panchiko had their first performance in over two decades on December 5th, 2021. Since then, they have gained even more popularity. They were able to tour the United States in 2022. They started making new songs, releasing an album called, “Failed at Math(s)” which would be their debut album since the band’s reformation.
The story of Panchiko is honestly inspiring. A band that split apart years only to be discovered later in time. A band that got nothing but negative reviews when it first appeared. Panchiko’s music sounds like something that would come out now rather than decades ago. A lot of fans described Panchiko as too ahead of its time. It really makes you think that there’s probably many other bands like Panchiko that might make the best music of all time, but never got discovered.
