"Fish fingers all in a line. The milk bottles stand empty."
In honor of the release of the latest Melvins record, this special edition of Hunt and Gather (in three parts) will celebrate all things Melvins-related - or most, anyhow.
Buzz's description of the band as "Captain Beefheart playing heavy metal," is quite accurate. The band often seem like a group of mad scientists determined to try new and unusual things and challenge the way we think about records and the album format itself. Early influences included Swans, Flipper (abrasive, confrontational and slooooow) and Black Flag's brand of "My War, side 2," sludge.
In the process The band has become iconic, torchbearers for bands who are bizarre, noisy, non-conformist eclectic and strange. A slew of drone, doom, sludge bands like Boris, Sunn O))), Earth, and Sleep, cite the band as influences. They inspired the "heavier than heavy," and "slower than slow," style and then, at times abandoned it in favor of whatever else they felt like doing at the moment, setting more trends and inspiring more movements as they went. Mike Patton eventually gave them a home and free reign artistically, with his Ipecac label and is a frequent collaborator.
Buzz Osbourne ("King Buzzo," to the faithful, "Roger," to ... the taxman and census taker, presumably) started the band in Montesano Washington ,with fellow 19 year-old Matt Lukin on bass and Mike Dillard on drums, taking their name from Buzz's hated supervisor at his job as a grocery clerk. With the addition of powerhouse drummer Dale Crover, they changed their style from fast hardcore punk to what came to be known by some as "sludge," earning a reputation as one of the heaviest bands of all time.
(Above) Matt Lukin
(Below)Dale and Buzz, yearbook photos.
(Below)Dale and Buzz, yearbook photos.
Buzz, Lori (background)
26 Songs (1986)
This recording eventually mutated from 6 to 8 to 10 to 26 songs, incorporating bonus demo and comp. material. The full 26 song version, with the cover pictured, is actually an Ipecac release from 2003.
Super raw early material, complete with vinyl hisses and pops. 26 songs may seem a bit like overkill, especially since many tracks are recordings of the same songs from different sessions.
Anyone up to making comparisons may even prefer the rawer demos to the album versions.
Buzz hadn't settled into his early vocal style, yet and "Operation Blessing," is actually a super fast "punk," tune, which is weird. I find that there aren't as many standout tracks on this early stuff and the "Lukin period," isn't as interesting to me as the band's later material, but die-hard fans will want to check it out just the same. I was surprised to hear that the song "Set Me Straight," which was re-recorded for the "Houdini," album, dated this far back, until I heard, "Mangled Demos From 1983," which shows them playing it even before Dale was in the band.
Gluey Porch Treatments (1987)
The band had been together for about three years leading up to this first record. It is the last recording to feature Matt Lukin, who went on to play in Mudhoney after he became frustrated with increasingly complex arrangements.
The band has established it's unique sound already, the riffs slow and sludgy but with very complex and unusual changes, which often centre around Dale's drumming. Dale's playing often revolves less around him keeping a tempo for the rest of the band to follow than it does playing parts completely in sync. the seeming randomness of the riffs is actually the result of extremely tight and disciplined playing and the chaotic arrangements actually the result of extreme structure. Without much knowledge of their writing style, songs seem to be written around drum riffs. The are droning sludgefests "Eye Flys," re-recordings of tracks featured on the "6-26 Songs," - "As It Was," (formerly "Easy As It Was,") and "Steve Instant Newman," formerly "Disinvite." The record sounds like it was recorded live off the floor, with not a lot of obvious production. It is the final culmination of all the preceding demo material.
Ozma (1989)
The debut of Lori "Lorax," Black, daughter of actress Shirley Temple, as the band's new bass player, "Ozma," continues in much the same vein as "Gluey Porch Treatments." They leave behind the murky guitar sound that their many imitators would still retain. It sounds like when I swapped out my pickups. The production is cleaner with more sonic variation. Covers of the slightly modified "Love Theme From Kiss," and The Cars' "Candy-O," as well as experimentation with percussion and vocals add different textures. Complex, chugging, grinding, heavy riffs are still the order of the day but also slow, leaden bursts of sludge (usually under 2 or 3 minutes). "Kool Legged," "Creepy Smell," "Oven," and "Raise a Paw," are all standouts. "Let God Be Your Gardener," features a bit of a change up in style and variations in tempo at various points during songs instead of just lurching back and forth with odd starts and stops jerky stops. "Revulsion," breaks down into weird noisy bits before breaking down to just vocals over drums as it segues into "We Reach." Overall, the improvement quality in material and in sound from Gluey Porch Treatments," is equal to the difference between the Six Songs/demos and "Gluey."
Bullhead (1991)
Opening with the epic "Boris," one of the heaviest songs ever, the pace has been slowed down to a glacial, grinding trudge, tuning down to emit frequencies, capable of jarring fillings loose. "Ligature," is another gargantuan Brontosaurus of a tune. Buzz debuts a different vocal style, unique to this album, contorting his voice from an anguished wail, to a menacing snarl, like he's frothing at the mouth.It's often difficult to understand what he's saying but he seems to really mean it. The weird grunting thing he does at the beginning of "If I Had an Exorcism," sounds like he may have been trying to channel David Yow during this period.Elsewhere, the riff from "It's Shoved," sort of reminds me of a Pixies tune, whose name escapes me. "Anaconda," is another awesome burst of chaotic time changes. The bludgeoning "Zodiac," one of the most aggressive tunes in their repertoire. The band sounds absolutely rabid.
"Bullhead," is a good midway point between the sound they had come to perfect from their earlier records and the different directions they were starting to branch out into as they continued to carve out their niche as the heaviest on the planet.
It is regarded by many as the peak of this early part of their career and as simply their best by others.
Eggnog (1991)
Eggnog (1991)
One of the most brutal listening experiences committed to tape, I always remember "Eggnog," for the ear-drum splitting blasts of feedback framing the almost straight-ahead punk of "Antioxidote," and un-hinged falsetto metal of "Hog Leg." (The sound is also sampled by Beck in "Beercan.") The influence of this record can especially be heard in bands like Eyehategod, who also make albums you can't listen to on headphones long periods of time. Bands like this make me believe that the "brown note," doesn't actually exist or they'd be using it. "Dude! Check out this new Melvins record. It actually made me shit my pants!" The churning monolith "Charmicarmicat," rumbles and grinds the album to a finish, with the sound of tidal waves of sonic vibrations peaking and then collapsing under their sheer weight. "Eggnog," marks the starting point for the bands experimentation with unusual and sometimes grating sounds which highly influenced the genre of noise in general. It is the Melvins at their most irreverent and maniacal.
Lysol (1992)
This release got the boys into a "Carbona Not Glue," lawsuit type situation with the company that makes Lysol, leading to an ordeal, where the album had to be released with a sticker covering up the name, before they pressed it again under the name "Melvins." Hey, giant chemical and solvent manufacturing corporations - people use your products to get high! From turpentine to airplane glue to Mop N Glo, someone somewhere will figure out a way to drink, huff or otherwise ingest it, to give themselves a buzz. That's actually really sad, but threatening to sue bands who make reference to this on albums will not make a difference. Rant over. This album is Joe Preston's introduction to the band - and his grand finale all wrapped into one, as the only "proper," full band release (he is also featured on one of their three Kiss homage solo albums.)
The juggernaut of "Hung Bunny," slowly builds, led by Dale's sparse, deliberate drumming and
hypnotic chanting. It continues to build and rumble, Joe's bass thundering with speaker-destroying weight. I can imagine idiots who paid to see Primus, throwing garbage at them when they were opened for them on a tour during their major-label fiasco and played this album in it's entirety, much to the chagrin of the guy getting over-anxious to hear "Winona's Big Brown Beaver,"
Just as the song begins to peak it moves into "Roman Bird Dog," as slow as where "Eggnog," left off but fully realized; a lumbering giant of a song, more than a droning soundscape.
Alice Cooper's "Second Coming/The Ballad of Dwight Frye," demonstrates their uncanny ability to play covers that are exactly the same, yet sound completely different from the originals. No messing with arrangements, or changing lyrics, The Melvins completely deconstruct a cover song, simply by playing it.
In their hands, Flippers, "Sacrifice," turns from snotty and angry to a chilling, ominous masterpiece, courtesy of the hugeness of their sound and Buzz's "God of Thunder," vocals.
"Lysol," is probably the album that most inspired the drone/doom metal genre, a style the band would come to be most be identified with, but would quickly abandon on their next recordings.
This record also marks one their first experiments in screwing around with the compact disc format. The CD plays as one gargantuan track, making it tough if you like to use the "shuffle," feature a lot.
This record is essential, a high point for this period and one of their over-all best.
Dale Crover (1992)
The idea of these Kiss-inspired novelty EPs is a lot cooler than the records themselves, as far as I'm concerned. They mostly serve to let die-hard fans of the band endlessly debate which one they like better Dale's album is often picked as the "Ace Frehley," of the bunch ie; the sleeper pic and over-all favorite. I dunno, it's catchy song-writing but this kind of alternative-pop," sounds a bit dated. The guitars are still light-years heavier than any of the Sub Pop bands, especially on "Hex Me," while "Dead Wipe," is probably the most hooky. Dale, plays all the instruments showing that he's more than just a great drummer. Really, I could fill up an entire sub-section here of Dale Crover side-projects, from Porn, to Altamont, to Shrinebuilder. The guy is incredibly prolific, whether on guitar, vocals or as just one of the best drummers of all time . One also might want to take into account that the record maybe hasn't aged as well as everything else the Melvins have done. Dale would surpass this record many times over on future solo/side projects.
King Buzzo (1992)
Buzz's solo EP gets the nod from me as the best of the three. It also sounds the most like the Melvins. Buzz made the good choice to recruit Dave Grohl to play drums. "Isabella," is crushingly heavy, with Dave earning his keep on the intro alone. "Porg," sounds like some sort of weird machinery clanging (a lazy Joe Preston-esque recording perhaps) and "Annum," is another really cool tune on the opposite side of the coin. It's interesting that Dale's pop songs sound like grunge, while Buzz's stab at something more melodic sounds very similar to songs he'd record with the full band, many years later. At the time, it was the only song in their catalog like it. Dave also contributes a story about Scream bass-player, Skeeter Thompson, whipping out his dick to ask Dave if he thinks there's pus coming out of it. Dave's all, like, y'know reading Maximum Rocknroll or some "punk," think. Ah, Dave. You're funny.
Joe Preston (1992)
Joe enjoyed one of the shortest tenures of the band's bass players but gets a lot of attention partially because he just happened to be around during the solo-record period. It's funny to me that Buzz has slammed Joe for not putting any effort into his album and just being lazy, recording whatever crap at the last minute. "The Eagle Has Landed," gives credence to this suggestion as it appears to be a recording of muzak over the sound of a kid having a tantrum, probably from a mall somewhere.Bricklebrit has more going for it, a preview of his one-man band w/ programmed drums and samples
The last track is an epic drone-fest, which actually sounds a lot like music he continued to make for years after with Earth, Sunn O))), etc. It's sort of weird for someone to call that kind of music "lazy," even if it's not their taste. I mean, some could say the same about "Lysol." I'm not huge into Joe's EP, but I'm not super stoked on listening to Earth letting their instruments feedback and vibrate for an hour and a half. That doesn't mean that their music is somehow not legitimate.
Mangled Demos From 1983 (2005)
For lack of a better place to stick this one, (it doesn't fit with 1983 because it only came out fairly recently but 2005 isn't the right place for it, because it's so damn old). So here it is. The "original," line-up, of The Melvins, before Dale even joined the band, was buzz, Matt Lukin and a guy named Mike Dillard on drums. the first part of this recording is excerpts from a live "Elks Lodge," radio broadcast from something called the "Sunshine kids," telethon. Holy shit. It's super painful hearing the squarest, dorkiest announcers do the intros, interview the band, who sound pre-pubescent, all the while making lame jokes about how the music is going to "clear their sinuses." If you've heard the audio track from the Stooges "peanut butter," show, you get the idea.
One of the announcers actually calls Mike Dillard "the drum-player," before correcting himself and saying "drummer."
Goofy, priceless recordings of humble, humble beginnings.
Onto the music itself, I already mentioned the early, early version of "Set Me Straight," which sounds very similar to the version recorded about 10 years later. Mike Dillard plays well, but pretty much uses the same fast punk beat throughout. Most of the songs are really unremarkable punk stuff, much like the band most of us had at the age of 18. Many of the songs sound exactly the same. There are occasionally very faint glimpses into the glorious future, such as when "Flowers," breaks down into a slow "mosh part," as they used to call them, and it finally starts to sound like the Melvins before a quick four count on the drumsticks and top speed again. Buzz also plays a nice lead somewhere in there.
Onto the music itself, I already mentioned the early, early version of "Set Me Straight," which sounds very similar to the version recorded about 10 years later. Mike Dillard plays well, but pretty much uses the same fast punk beat throughout. Most of the songs are really unremarkable punk stuff, much like the band most of us had at the age of 18. Many of the songs sound exactly the same. There are occasionally very faint glimpses into the glorious future, such as when "Flowers," breaks down into a slow "mosh part," as they used to call them, and it finally starts to sound like the Melvins before a quick four count on the drumsticks and top speed again. Buzz also plays a nice lead somewhere in there.
When it does slow down like on "Matt-Alec," it doesn't really work with Dillard's limiting straightforward rock beat. Then during the studio banter part, as on the track "Hugh," from 26 songs, the listener is reminded that they're actually young children.
Stay tuned for Part 2 : The Atlantic Years!
