The Melvins are Awesome

Over 20 years into their career, the Melvins are still one of the most idiosyncratic bands in rock. Too sludgy for most people checking in on Blabbermouth religiously, and too aggressive for most people who'll buy whatever Pitchfork gives a 9, The Melvins have never really found the audience that they deserve, despite being vital to the greatest rock movement of the past 20 years and earning Kurt Cobain's most enthusiastic endorsement. Led by iconoclastic guitarist Buzz "King Buzzo" Osbourne and grunge drum legend Dale Crover, the Melvins have run through a slew of bassists, record labels, side projects, and stylistic changes to get to where they are today--unleashing some of the best music being made today and featuring bass and extra drumming from one of metal's most exciting new bands--the monolothic Seattle duo Big Business. As proven last week at the Irving Plaza, now is as great a time as ever to see the Melvins.


As with last year's Melvins tour, Big Business served as both openers and rhythm section for the headliners, going far beyond the call of duty in both jobs. Playing almost all of their 2007 thrash fest Here Come the Waterworks, bassist Jarred Warren and drummer Coady Willis thoroughly rocked the house, with the addition of a talented if semi-superfluous guitarist. Perhaps the band just wanted to show that their powerhouse can overwhelm just about anything that comes in their way. Overwhelm they did--"Hands Up" and "Just as the Day was Dawning" hit like a cinder block to the head, while "Grounds for Divorce" and "Start Your Digging" sounded like catchy rock songs buried in relentless drumming and fuzz-heavy bass. Amidst the noisy barrage, it was always clear that Big Business have some really rockin' songs. "I'll Give You Something to Cry About" sounded like the result of a brawl between Lemmy and Shane McGowan (coincidentally the two ugliest guys in music history?), and the masterful "Another Fourth of July Ruined" boasts a Jimmy Chamberlain-esque drum buildup and one of Big Business' most memorable tunes. Dale Crover added some guitar parts near the end of their set, but by then it was already obvious that Ween and Local H have some serious competition for the 'best duo in rock' title.

Big Business returned to the stage, flanked by Crover and King Buzzo, and the Melvins tore through a set that was utterly devoid of any breaks between songs, stage banter, lulls, or predictability. A few minutes into the show, they had already rendered one of the best known songs of all time almost unrecognizable and subjected the crowd to lesser-known Bullhead standout 'It's Shoved,' getting progressively louder and weirder as the show went on. The two drummers created a blaring wall of noise that nearly stole the show from King Buzzo, whose Sideshow Bob-meets-Eraserhead hairdo makes him a particularly awesome headbanger.

Houdini, a standout record from the Melvins' almost inexplicable (and unsurprisingly brief) major-label run in the mid-'90s, was recently recognized by All Tomorrow's Parties as a classic in their 'Don't Look Back' series. Now that Houdini has been given its overdue canonization, the Melvins played only one song from it, which was also the only number played from their entire run on Atlantic Records. Instead, they chose to play almost all of last year's (A) Senile Animal. Playing their latest release instead of their best-known material is a well-known taboo for veteran acts, and artists ranging from Neil Young to Iron Maiden have come under fire for doing so. Never ones to play by the rules, the Melvins tore through Senile Animal almost in its entirety, bringing the album's distorted, percussion-heavy onslaught of noise to full life.

The risk paid off--the new album sounded as grimy as their noisiest experiments, and even more unpredictable ('A History of Bad Men' may feature the first three-part harmony in the band's history). Few rock acts can claim to be making such great music so far into their career, but with A Senile Animal the Melvins released one of their best records, and one of the very best over all to be released in the past few years. With both drummers fully utilized and more time signature changes in the two-minute songs than the six-minute ones, the Melvins are either the least-punk punk band or the least-metal metal band, and they're still kicking the asses of almost every punk or metal band in the world today.

There are not many bands who could make an early classic from hard rock's original shock king sound like an old standard, but the Melvins did just that when they left the audience with an almost subdued take on Alice Cooper's 'The Ballad of Dwight Fry.' Coming from King Buzzo's unforgettable mug, it sounded like the last testament of a madman, and it was--there was no encore. But who would expect something as conventional as an encore at a Melvins show?

King Buzzo also rocks out in Fantomas, alongside fellow mavericks Mike Patton (Faith No More), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle), and Dave Lombardo (Slayer). Here they are, assaulting one of the greatest albums of all time.