There is only one King Buzzo, a man with legendary hair and the ability to play the guitar like you wouldn’t believe. Buzz Osborne has been shredding with his Melvins for 30 years now, and in that time they’ve produced an abundance of recordings and built a reputation for delivering incredible live shows.
In truth, despite their influence on modern rock and their vast catalog, the Melvins have never really gotten their due. Somehow, they have remained on the fringe, contributing to the sonic landscape for what seems like an eternity without ever dominating it. Is that because they have worked so hard to carve out their own niche and make the music they want to make? Is it because they’ve never really wanted to sign up with a big label so some calculating studio exec could steer them in a different direction? Perhaps, but in the end, they wouldn’t want it any other way, and there are legions of fans who embrace each recording and line up for their shows.
The Melvins are set to play the 9:30 Club in D.C. on August 3, and with that show less than a week away, I got to chat with King Buzzo about his beloved band and their tireless efforts to break new ground and invigorate their fanbase.
First off, thanks for taking the time to speak with me today.
I am always interested in anyone who is interested in what we’re doing.
So, you guys are touring right now to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary, correct?
That is true.
30 years is a long time, but with the Melvins, one has to consider output as well as longevity. I mean, not only have you guys been doing this for a while, but you’ve been ridiculously productive.
We work very hard.
When you look back, are you surprised that you’ve been able to make so many albums and play so many shows over the years?
Yeah, I suppose so. I guess I’m typically more like “What have you done lately?” I never really thought about it when I was in the middle of it. It’s always more about what we’re doing now, and it just turned into 30 years. It wasn’t a 30-year plan, you know?
True, but it certainly adds up. I’m a fan, and until I started getting ready for this interview, I really didn’t realize just how many albums you guys have churned out.
We’ve churned out all kinds of things. 12”es, albums, 7”es, everything demanded, it’s never-ending. As far as I can tell, until the day I drop, it’s never going to end.
You certainly aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. How hard is it to sustain that type of productivity?
We don’t work any harder on this than most people work on their careers. Doctors, lawyers, any kind of professional, a baseball player, whoever it is, they spend the vast majority of their life—I’d say 70% of their waking hours—working on their craft. So, if you put it in that perspective, compared to most people who work, we’re not hyper-active. But compared to musicians, we are. [Laughs] That might be the key.
I don’t think it’s particularly crazy when you think of it in terms of someone’s career, but it is crazy if you compare to people who are in our world. It’s a lot.
Frequently, when musicians do have lengthy careers, it’s really hard for them to produce an abundance of material without becoming redundant or derivative, or doing something drastic to try and reinvent themselves, but you guys have avoided that.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that we do a wide variety of things musically, and we have no problems with taking chances. Our fans have come to expect a lot from us, and they haven’t suffered as a result. I hold myself to a higher standard.
Considering how many albums and songs you have to choose from, is it hard to pick favorites?
Favorites? Oh God, I don’t know. I can listen to the stuff I just did, but the stuff from 20 years ago, that’s longer. It’s not fun for me.
Say someone isn’t all that familiar with the band and you were going to start them out with one album. Which one would you pick? For the record, I used to think Stoner Witch was the best choice, but I think I would recommend Nude With Boots now.
I couldn’t pick one. I’d have to pick 5. I’d say Colossus of Destiny, The Bride Screamed Murder, Freak Puke, and maybe Stoner Witch and Bullhead. There. Those five would give someone a good idea of what we do.
That definitely gives you a nice idea of the range you guys have.
Yeah, and let’s add The Bootlicker in there as well. That’s six. Those are all different albums, each one completely different.
With all that music, it seems like songs that you really enjoy might get lost in the mix at times. Does that happen?
Well, sometimes you go, “Eh, I don’t want to play that one anymore.” At least not for a while. We hadn’t played “Let It All Be” for a long time until this tour, and now we’re very excited to play that again. It’s like playing a new song. Other ones, though, you just put them aside, or maybe you try something new with them. Some songs were never written to be played live. We knew that from the beginning.
We have a shitload of songs to pick from. There’s really not much we couldn’t do, though—if it can’t be exactly like the record, we can do something different with it.
Yes, you guys tend to tweak things. “Let It All Be” is a great example of a song that I love to see the Melvins play live because there’s always room for variations.
Absolutely. I’m not afraid of that kind of stuff. The record is simply a suggestion of what could be, that’s it. It’s not written in stone.
On a similar note, you’ve got all these diehard fans, each with their own favorites, and all of them are looking forward to the next show. How hard is it to put together a set list with something for everybody, or is that something you think about?
You can’t make everybody happy, you just do the best you can. There’s always someone who will be disappointed in one form or another with whatever we’re doing. I can’t be concerned about that. I’ve always assumed that I have good taste, that if I do something that I like, everyone else will like it, or at least the majority will like it.
How does that process work?
We write it out. Let’s say we’re going to play seventy-five minutes. We’ll put together a list of seventy-five minutes worth of material. Every single aspect of that seventy-five minutes of material is important, even the stuff between songs.
There’s a certain way that stuff should all go together.
I’m talking a lot about longevity and output, but I should also note that the Melvins have also had a significant influence on the industry at large. Most of us have heard about Kurt Cobain’s feelings for your music and it’s also frequently noted that you introduced Dave Grohl to Nirvana. Aside from that, I think it’s safe to say that a multitude of acts have been influenced by your sound over the years. Is that something you take pride in?
I’m happy about all that. Great! It means we weren’t wrong. I’m glad people like what we’re doing, and I’m glad when we influence anyone, in any fashion.
Now, Dale (Crover) wasn’t a founding member of the band, but it wasn’t long before he hit the scene. How much does he mean to the Melvins?
I couldn’t do it without him. It just wouldn’t happen. There’s no way.
When people talk about drummers, do you think he gets his due?
Who knows? I couldn’t say, but I know I love playing with him.
Ipecac is such a diverse label and it seems very accommodating; what’s it like being with Ipecac, and how has that shaped your output since you guys signed on, if at all?
Ipecac lets us do whatever we want, but that would have been the case anyway. We wouldn’t really be involved with somebody who wouldn’t let us do whatever we wanted. So it’s all good. I’m not going to take orders from anybody, never have. I don’t do real well with that.
In addition to dropping several Melvins albums on Ipecac, you’re also the guitarist for Fantômas.
Yes, indeed.
I dig Fantômas, but I think it would be fair to describe that sound as more than a little strange. What’s it like playing guitar in that outfit?
It’s definitely Mike’s baby, but I’m happy to do it. Of course, I have my own things going on. I don’t approach it the same way I do the Melvins, but it’s nice to do it, it’s really fun. But I hardly ever get to do it. I haven’t done it since 2008, and we haven’t made a record since 2003.
Fantômas has been dormant for a while now. Any news on when we may hear more on that front?
No. No idea.
These days, a lot can be accomplished within the studio walls so far as cleaning up a performance is concerned, and with some acts, you can tell just how much polish went into the recording when they play a gig. However, the Melvins have a well-deserved reputation for being a stellar live act. How much value do you place on the ability to take the stage and deliver a blistering performance?
Without that, we have nothing. Not every show is going to be good, but if we don’t play good shows, we’re finished.
Melvins Lite
Now, before this tour, you guys were doing a Melvins Lite tour with Trevor Dunn on bass. Tell us a little about how that came about.
I played with Trevor in Fantômas. I knew he was a good stand-up bass player and I thought it would be a good idea for us. That was it, really, and it worked out great. I couldn’t be happier. It’s still the Melvins, but it’s a completely different kind of thing. Thank God!
And you guys [Melvins Lite] just did 51 shows in 51 days, canvassing the country, right?
Yeah, we did it.
That was massive. Was it as cool as it was exhausting?
It was a great to do. It was a monstrous achievement. It was like jumping the Grand Canyon for Evel Knievel, except we made it. It was a big publicity stunt and it worked out perfectly. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. It was awesome, just really fun to do. We got down to the last few shows and I was like, “God, we have to finish this.” It would have sucked if we didn’t.
You guys also recently released a really neat album, Everybody Loves Sausages, which is composed of a curious mix of covers. What made you want to do that, and how did you go about picking the songs?
We picked out songs that we thought were influences of ours that other people might not realize were influences. That’s why we avoided Captain Beefheart, Black Sabbath, and Black Flag, you know what I mean? That was the point, to let people see another side of where this stuff comes from. Plus, it’s fun, we love doing that kind of stuff.
There were a lot of different collaborators on that album as well. How did you go about picking the different artists and deciding which songs to utilize them on?
Some of the songs were just us, some weren’t. Some of them came to us. Some of it was by accident, some of it was just for fun. Some of it, we were like, “Why not?”
What’s the current line-up? I heard someone was on maternity leave, or something like that.
Jared, our normal bass player, his fiancée is having a baby, so we thought it was a good idea for him to be able to stay home just in case that happens while we’re gone. So we got Jeff Pinkus from the Butthole Surfers and Honky playing bass with us.
How’s that working out?
Great. Jeff’s a great bass player. He’s got really good sensibilities. We’ve known him for a long time and we’ve always been big fans of what he did. It’s all good. Plus, he’s got good stories.
There have been a lot of different musicians in the band over the years, and you guys have always been willing to engage in collaborations, yet the identity of the band has never suffered. How have you managed to pull that off?
Oh, I don’t know. Fortunately, I’ve been able to play with people that are good musicians. That’s a plus, but other than that, I don’t really know. It just seems to work. I let people do their thing.
What type of gear are you working with these days? For years, you were a Gibson Les Paul guy, but I understand you’re rocking something different these days.
Right now, I’m playing these guitars from The Electrical Guitar Company, made by this guy in Florida. They’re aluminum--they have aluminum ones and plastic ones. They’re really great, I love them. He custom-makes them and there’s nothing like it.
I think it’s safe to say that when people examine your legacy, it’s important to look beyond the albums and the shows. To me, one of the most impressive things about the Melvins is that you’ve been able to make music for so long and it doesn’t seem like you’ve ever allowed anyone to shape your output or change your approach. It really feels like you guys have always managed to stay in the game and make the music that you want to make. Is that accurate?
Yes.
How have you managed to pull that off?
Well, we just do it. If some people are willing to let someone else tell them what to do, good luck. Maybe it will work. I have no idea and I don’t want to try it.
What’s next?
We have an album called Tres Cabrones that’s coming out in November. It’s a line-up with Mike Dillard, our original drummer, playing drums, and Dale switches over to bass. It’s like Melvins 1983 with all new songs. Everything came out great.
How did that come about?
Well, we’ve been friends with Mike ever since he was in the band. We decided at one point when we did our 25th anniversary that we would have him come and play some songs in the same spirit as we did them in ’83. So we did a couple of live shows like that, and then we decided to write some new songs. So we wrote enough new material for a whole album. It’s as close as we’ll get to the 1983 line-up.
When you put that together, was it a “Wow, look how much we’ve changed” vibe, or was it more of a “The more things change, the more they stay the same” feel?
No, it’s a completely different vibe than we would have had in 1983. It definitely sounds like us, but I wrote songs with this particular thing in mind, songs that this line-up could play and play well.
Well, you guys are on tour now, celebrating 30 years of rock and roll glory, and on Saturday you’ll be playing the 9:30 Club. I would like to thank you for your time once more, and we’re looking forward to the show.
Thanks. Take it easy.
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King Buzzo and those mighty Melvins will take the stage at the 9:30 Club on Saturday night. The opening act is Honky, tickets are only $20, and the show starts at 8:00. If you have never seen the Melvins perform live, make sure you’re there. If you have seen the Melvins perform live, you don’t need us to tell you to make sure you’re there. You already know. They’re only getting better, and a thunderous good time awaits.