Ichiro Agata

Agata is known for consistently wearing a surgical mask on stage during performances and in promotional photos, which has been attributed to a "blood condition"[4] or a "bone disease" that can cause sudden nose bleeds, with the mask hiding the tissues used to stem the blood.

[4] He has also released a solo guitar album, entitled Spike, on John Zorn's Tzadik Records.

Agata often gets inspiration for his guitar riffs from his experience playing video games: "If I get excited about a clever move I’ve made in the game then I might try to interpret that move musically.

But if I’m killing a lot of people in a game and there’s a quiet soundtrack to it I might then go to the studio and think of that game and make a noisy blast-beat song and add some quiet pretty sounds to it.

"[5] Games he has cited as an inspiration include Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Ecco the Dolphin,[5] Demon's Souls and Shadow of the Colossus.

Ichiro Agata (with his effect pedals) performing with Melt-Banana in Hamburg, Germany (2010)