Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover of The Melvins, At The Drive-In’s Omar Rodríguez-López, and Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes have joined forces as Crystal Fairy, and we have another brilliant new song for your listening pleasure today. Continue reading
Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover of The Melvins, At The Drive-In’s Omar Rodríguez-López, and Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes have joined forces as Crystal Fairy, and we have another brilliant new song for your listening pleasure today. Continue reading
Talk about a supergroup! Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover of The Melvins, At The Drive-In’s Omar Rodríguez-López, and Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes have joined forces as Crystal Fairy. Continue reading
The Melvins will be reissuing their 2001 release Electroretard on June 2, 2015 via Ipecac Recordings and will be touring behind it with Le Butcherettes opening on this run. Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover will be joined by JD Pinkus of the Butthole Surfers.
In related news, a Melvins documentary Kickstarter campaign has been launched and go here for more information.
Jun 06: Club Congress – Tucson, AZ
Jun 07: Lowbrow Palace – El Paso, TX
Jun 09: Korova – San Antonio, TX
Jun 10: The Mohawk – Austin, TX
Jun 11: Trees – Dallas, TX
Jun 12: Opolis – Norman, OK
Jun 14: The Bottleneck – Lawrence, KS
Jun 15: The Firebird – St. Louis, MO
Jun 16: The Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI
Jun 17: Shelter – Detroit, MI
Jun 18: A&R Music Bar – Columbus, OH
Jun 18-21: Amnesia Rockfest – Montebello, QC
Jun 22: Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON
Jun 23: Call The Office – London, ON
Jun 25: The Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH
Jun 26: The Westcott Theater – Syracuse, NY
Jun 27: Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
Jun 28: The Ballroom at the Outer Space – Hamden, CT
Jun 29: Santos Party House – New York, NY
Jun 30: Santos Party House – New York, NY
Jul 01: Underground Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Jul 02: Ottobar – Baltimore, MD
Jul 03:Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
Jul 05: Exit In – Nashville, TN
Jul 06: Mercury Ballroom – Louisville, KY
Jul 07: The Vogue Theatre – Indianapolis, IN
Jul 08: Double Door – Chicago, IL
Jul 09: High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI
Jul 11: Grumpy’s – Minneapolis, MN
Jul 12: The Aquarium – Fargo, ND
Jul 13: The District – Sioux Falls, SD
Jul 14: The Waiting Room – Omaha, NE
Jul 16: Aggie Theatre – Ft. Collins, CO
Jul 17: Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
Jul 18: Taos Mesa Brewing – Taos, NM
Jul 19: The Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
Jul 21: Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ
Detroit punk/metallers Child’s Bite is streaming their new EP Strange Waste, out now via Housecore Records. Listen to it here. Watch their video for “Ancestral Ooze,” written and directed by ex-Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Jeff Tuttle and featuring the Melvins’ Buzz Osborne here.
Strange Waste was self produced at Russian Recording in Indianapolis, IN.
Child’s Bite on Bandcamp
Child’s Bite on Facebook
Unearth is currently riding high with the recent release of their new album Watchers of Rule (eOne). The band recently wrapped up the “Hell or High Wattage” tour with Darkest Hour, Origin, Black Crown Initiate and I, The Breather. That tour stopped off last month at The Worcester Palladium for the 11th Annual Rock And Shock Festival, where Unearth played a headline worthy set on the main-stage, being that they are truly a hometown band from nearby Boston. Meg Loyal caught all the chaos with her camera lens and she brings us this photo set.
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Make sure to catch Unearth starting next week on the road with their labelmates Crowbar and once again, Black Crown Initiate.
PHOTO SET BY MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Detroit punk/metallers Child Bite will be releasing their Strange Waste EP via Housecore Records on November 25, 2014. The EP was produced by the band at Russian Recording in Indianapolis, IN. Listen to “Molestation of the Arts” here and watch the Jeff Tuttle (ex-Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist) directed video for “Ancestral Ooze”, featuring The Melvins’ Buzz Osborne here:
11/21/2014 PJ’s Lager House – Detroit, MI record release show w/ Acid Witch
Child Bite Official Site
Child Bite on Bandcamp
Child Bite on Facebook
Housecore Records Official Site
The Melvins new album starts off with a rather ominous question: “What was that shit you sold me?”, from the song the ‘Bride of Crankenstein’. Indeed, it is the question every fan of the long running act can ask freely. Those who love their music heavy, heady, obtuse and downright confounding for over over 30 years can attest that every new album from this band brings different flavors to table. They have never made the same album, or song twice. Buzz Osborne and his first officer on the Federation Starship Melvins NCC 1701-X, Dale Crover have influenced many more bands than admit it. They have evolved from the creative outliers of a budding scene (Seattle, in the 80s), into the elder statesmen of sorts for bands of their ilk. No wonder Hold It In comes from Ipecac Records, a label full of like-minded, talented crazies. Joining Buzz and Dale for this outing are Paul Leary and JD Pinkus from Butthole Surfers. The pairs of musicians are a match in every conceivable way chemistry-wise, creating some unsettling and special tunes.
As you would imagine when these guys get together to create, things get weird, and in a good way. Odd riffs, whimsical songcraft and brave arrangements dot the tracks. From the dismal heaviness and driving riffage of ‘Bride…’, to the bright garage pop of ‘You Can Make Me Wait’, the trippy-proggy ‘Barcelonian Horseshoe Pit’, to the twangy stomp of ‘I Get Along (Hollow Moon)’; the inventiveness of each band is heard. It is definitely a sound and a feel of a Melvins album, with contributions from Paul and JD. You can discern a “Paul riff” here and “a Buzz lick” there and imagine the energy in the room when these four came together. Some of the touchstones here are sick amounts of feed-backing amp fuzz, phantom interludes, a few amazeballs solos traded, Floyd-ian space-rock tone-poems, and a rhythm section like a terrifying monstrous beast at times. All the propensity for weird-assed lyrics, and bizarro vocal deliveries (including ungodly shrieks from JD) all come to the fore as well. A little bit of something for everyone.
When it aims to be heavy, this is one of the heavier albums the band has put out of late, which says a lot considering the Big Business collaborations. ‘Onions Make The Milk Taste Bad’ and ‘Sesame Street Meat’ (two of the better titles this year) are gnarly as hell; true rockers. Another great cut, ‘Piss Pistoferson’ reeks of glam rock greatness, way down to the production value. They are getting their classic Kiss jones out, and frankly a Kiss song hasn’t been this good since 1991 anyway. The angular album closer ‘House of Gasoline’ sounds like it was more fun than should be legally allowed to have when it was birthed. A jam among jams.
The only shame is Leary’s distaste for the road means this lineup will only tour as a trio with Buzz, Dale and JD. Still, in reference to the opening line of the album, whatever shit they were sold, I want to buy some right now and I suspect you will too.
9.0/10
KEITH CHACHKES
The Melvins have announced their new album Hold It In, to be released this fall on Ipecac. The first new album from the group since 2010’s The Bride Screams Murder features a new configuration of the band. Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover are joined now by famed Butthole Surfers Paul Leary and JD Pinkus. Hold it in was recorded between Los Angeles, where Buzz resides and Austin TX.
In an upcoming recent interview conducted with Ghost Cult, Buzz remarked that the yet to be announced Melvins project would be “like nothing anyone has ever heard from us”.
In a further quote from the press release Buzz chimes in further:
“Hold It In is a refreshing piece of fiction in a boring world of fact and bullsh*t,” said Osborne. “Paul is one of the best guitar players I have ever heard and Pinkus has an outside the box type of approach to both guitar and bass that you just have to let it ride. I can’t believe this actually happened. I’m thrilled.”
“It’s very rare you get a chance to work with three folks from the ‘Break A Wish’ foundation, all at the same time,” said Pinkus. “I believe they’ll remember their experience with me forever (or until they finally all lose their fight with S.I.D.S).”
The Melvins kick off a round of U.S. tour dates on Oct. 15 in Sacramento at Assembly, which also includes a performance at this year’s Voodoo Experience in New Orleans. Osborne, Crover and Pinkus will be the touring roster for this run of dates.
Tour dates:
October 15 Sacramento, CA Assembly
October 17 Bellingham, WA Wild Buffalo House of Music
October 18 Seattle, WA The Showbox
October 19 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
October 21 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
October 22 San Luis Obispo, CA SLO Brewing
October 23 Los Angeles, CA The Troubadour
October 24 San Diego, CA The Casbah
October 25 Phoenix, AZ The Crescent Ballroom
October 26 Albuquerque, NM The Launchpad
October 28 Dallas, TX Trees
October 29 Austin, TX Mohawk
October 30 Houston, TX Warehouse Live – Studio
October 31 New Orleans, LA Voodoo Fest
November 1 Pensacola, FL Vinyl Music Hall
November 2 Gainesville, FL The Wooly
November 3 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbit’s
November 4 Orlando, FL The Social
November 5 Ft. Lauderdale, FL The Culture Room
November 6 Tampa, FL Orpheum Theater
November 8 Atlanta, GA The Loft at Center Stage
November 9 Birmingham, AL Zydeco
Tickets are on sale this Friday, Aug. 1 at 10 am local time.
Osborne is currently touring in support of his debut acoustic album, This Machine Kills Artists, performing shows this week in Tucson (July 30 at Club Congress) and Palm Springs (July 31 at Pappy & Harriet’s) before heading to Australia and Europe for an additional six weeks of dates. Crover temporarily joins OFF! for the band’s August tour.
The Melvins on Facebook
There are few true iconoclasts in heavy music like King Buzzo. Of course, if you tell him that personally, he scoffs at the notion, perhaps even poo-pooing the weight of his impact in nearly thirty years of exciting fans, confounding critics and the like with his music. Obviously Buzz Osborne is known for his masterworks with the many incarnations of The Melvins (which he will at least acknowledge begins and ends with him). Arriving at the venue early to interview Buzz, he was mellow and cool as hell. Really humble to the last. Also at the venue early was Tim Bugbee, a concert photo and music journalist I look up to very much. It was cool talking shop, chatting with him and his wife all night. Check out Tim’s work.
Since I got done with the interview early I headed to grab some grub and a brew or three at my local BBQ spot in the neighborhood. By the time I got back in the venue, it was starting to fill up, although that would take some time. Despite The Melvins popularity and cred, its kind of hard to predict how full the crowd would be for a show like this on a weekday. Sauntering over to the merch table I spotted Brian Walsby selling merch and his own hand drawn wares. For those not in the know from graphic novels, Brian is author of Manchild, has done artwork for The Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity among others, played some drums in a few punk bands and has a cute daughter to take care of these days. Brian is a phenomenal artist, and has a unique POV story telling-style, and has done a fair share of music journalism via his work too. Please check him out and buy his stuff, it’s killer!
Showtime was upon us and opener was Boston native Mary Halvorson. Her amazing solo-guitar performance brought out her own fans on this night, including one rabid kid at the front who was basking in her twangy glory. She played it cool, and played a set of interesting covers, mostly Jazz and Americana type track from what I could tell. Using the guitar not just as an instrument, but as an emotional foil for the source material, she is a master. Her between song, self-effacing banter was hysterical. I stood for most of the performance next to her mom, who was totally stoked and entranced as the rest of us were. If you love outside of the box thinking, and great guitar work in general, please do yourself a favor and check Mary out!
After Buzz’s tour manager set up the stage (an incognito Dave from Unsane), Buzzo hit the stage casually with the lights up. Got himself together and ready to play and scanned the audience. Stepping in to his familiar stage walk, a gait akin to how a monster stalks his prey, Buzz started the jam the familiar first notes of ‘Boris”. The crowd immediately picked up on this, let out a whoop, and sang a long. There was even some rigorous headbanging, but no moshing tonight. Lots of bro smiles in the front and confuzzled looking girlfriends. Is Buzz unplugged girlfriend metal? I hope not. Meanwhile the man was up on stage doing his usual thing, just quieter. His playing immaculate, the acoustic holding nothing back as he roamed the stage between verses. I am a massive Alice Cooper fan and so is he, so it was no surprise that ‘The Ballad of Dwight Fry’ was next. He would later joke that we all better have known what that song was, and it seemed like people in the house tonight were fans, and had a clue. Alternating between some Melvins gems from across his career and his new solo album ‘This Machine Kills Artists’ (Ipecac), he constructed a killer set, full of twists and turns.
About a third of the way through the set Buzz took a break to tell a story and he joked with the audience about which story to tell. When he settled on a “Mike Patton” story, he then had to decide which one to tell, since he apparently has many. What followed next was one of the funniest tales I’ve ever heard. I’d relay it here, but I could never do the delivery justice. You will need to see Buzz on tour and maybe you’ll hear it.
Settling back into the music newer tracks like ‘Drunken Baby’ and The Melvins ‘Evil New War God’ meshed well, and in general it was just killer to hear this presentation of these songs. During another break, he made jokes about himself, touring, and imitated his wife picking on him pre-tour about the pretentiousness of doing a solo-acoustic tour. Classic. Ending the night with a spirited closing set of Melvins tunes, ‘We Are Doomed‘,
‘Hooch‘,‘Revolve‘, Buzz closed it out in rousing fashion. It was a really fun time and an interesting look into the mind of a genius, in a way we never have before.
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King Buzzo Set List:
Ballad of Dwight Fry (Alice Cooper cover)
Suicide In Progress (Melvins cover)
Story break #1
Evil New War God (Melvins cover)
Story break #2
We Are Doomed (Melvins cover)