The Melvins

Back to back musical blogs, due to ever more persistent writers block.   But this band merits attention and is not as well-known as Sammy Hagar.

They started in the late 80s, with Buzz Osborne as the only consistent member.    I call him Sideshow Buzz because of his frizzy hair, which is distinctive.  He’s kind of portly but not excessively so.   He plays guitar and sings.  It’s a raspy growl similar to – but distinguishable from – Lemmy.

The Melvins could be considered grunge.   They’re from Washington State, and Buzz is frequently credited with introducing Kurt Cobain to Krist Novoselic and thereby forming Nirvana.  Musically, Black Sabbath are clearly a major influence, but Buzz takes it in a stranger and more oddball, and highly irreverent, direction, more so than Soundgarden or Alice in Chains.

They have 25 studio albums, of which I have Gluey Porch Treatments, Ozma, Bullhead, Houdini, Tres Cabrones, Hold It In, and Basses Loaded.  So far I like what I’ve heard, and I’ll eventually acquire the rest.  Lori Temple Black, Shirley Temple’s daughter, was on the earlier material. 

I don’t have any Fantomas, which is Buzz’ side project with Mike Patton of Faith No More.   Patton’s non FNM stuff – especially Mr. Bungle – is particularly avante garde and experimental, so much so it seems like an elaborate joke on people, like we’re actually not supposed to like it. 

I managed to catch them recently at the Otto Bar in northeast Baltimore.  Entertaining, but not my favorite band.  I guess I’m getting jaded these days and am less impressed with bands than I used to – with Clutch consistently being the most consistently satisfying, mostly because they tour and put out new material at a furious pace.  If you’re willing to see them, you can probably wind up doing so at least once a year.  Anyhow.