November 24, 2009 Madrid, Spain - Caracol w/ Porn
November 25, 2009 Barcelona, Spain - Apolo2 w/ Porn
November 27, 2009 Conegliano, Italy - Zion Rock Club w/ Porn
November 29, 2009 Athens, Greece - Rodeo w/ Porn
November 30, 2009 Athens, Greece - Rodeo w/ Porn
December 1, 2009 Bologna, Italy - Estragon w/ Porn
December 2, 2009 Segrate, Milan, Italy - Circolo Magnolia w/ Porn
December 3, 2009 Geneva, Switzerland - L'Usine w/ Big Business, Porn
December 4, 2009 Munich, Germany - Feierwerk / Hansa 39 w/ Porn
December 5, 2009 Schorndorf, Germany - Manufaktur w/ Porn
December 6, 2009 Berlin, Germany - Maria am Ufer w/ Porn
December 7, 2009 Paris, France - Glazart w/ Porn
December 8, 2009 London, United Kingdom - Garage w/ Witch, Porn
December 9, 2009 Luxembourg, Belgium - Kulturfabrik w/ Porn
December 10, 2009 Kortrijk, Belgium - De Kreun w/ Porn
December 11, 2009 Den Haag, Netherlands - Paard van Troje - State X New Forms Festival
December 12, 2009 - Minehead, United Kingdom - Butlins Holiday Resort - TEN YEARS OF ATP

Shrinebuilder, the latest project of Dale Crover along with Scott "Wino" Weinrich of Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, and The Hidden Hand on guitar; Al Cisneros of Om and Sleep on bass; and Scott Kelly of Neurosis on guitar is out now on Neurot Recordings. The double vinyl pressing is due out on November 24th.

There are moments [as they are and as we configure them] strung together amidst all of our other moments of slow growing awareness, when the tectonic shifting of who we think we are gets overcome and overwhelmed by who we really are. And IF we are lucky, it happens without too much bloodshed.

It births, it dies, it lives without bloodshed for the rare and sainted few.

For the rest of us it happens to us [and not for us]. And it is accompanied by a quickening purpose and transcendent understanding of our goddamned place in space: we build our places of worship up on high for a reason, and SHRINEBUILDER -- created by Al Cisneros, Scott "Wino" Weinrich, Dale Crover and Scott Kelly - shares the season and the reason: because it is closer to the gods.

So it was that the calling was answered as simply as a phone call could have been and was made. Cisneros called Weinrich, Kelly, and later Crover and decided, in full-blown ex nihilo fashion to make some music beyond the summed parts of all what had been done before and in doing so rediscover why it had been done in the first place. Beyond the parts, beyond beyond, and here descriptors that you will read every OTHER place but that go without saying here...crushing, killing and heavy, heavy, heavy...seem somehow too much and not enough.

It is Wagnerian. It is Iommic. It is simply: SHRINEBUILDER.

Now Manson [Charles, not Marilyn] once said to us, "there are only two ways to get to the cross...you get dragged...or you go along."

And here, in the spirit of the contrary, is a third: SHRINEBUILDER.

You're goddamned right.

----Eugene S. Robinson

Tour Dates:
Nov 11 2009     8:00P    Viper Room     Los Angeles, California
Nov 13 2009     8:00P    Sonar     Baltimore, Maryland
Nov 14 2009     7:00P    Empty Bottle     Chicago, Illinois
Nov 15 2009     8:00P    Le Poisson Rouge     NY, New York
Nov 16 2009     8:00P    Emo’s Outdoor     Austin, Texas
Apr 17 2010     8:00P    Roadburn Festival     Tilburg, The Netherlands

ipecac.com: What’s a “Chicken Switch”?

How can the US reform it’s health care system?

Does David Hasselhof have a drinking problem?

What’s with the weather?

Is there anything better on TV than “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”?

When is a new Melvins record not a new Melvins record?

Well, we can’t figure out the Kardashians for you, but we can tell you this, there is a “new” Melvins record out, and it’s called “Chicken Switch”. It includes some of the Melvins coolest songs from the past, but the twist is, these songs have been remixed by some of the leading purveyors of underground, noise music. You got your Speedranch, Matmos, Eye from the Boredoms, Lee Ranaldo, Merzbow and more reinterpreting songs you’ve cherished since childhood. Hard to call most of these remixes as they stand on their own as new tunes. This project was spearheaded by you the Melvins fans at the Melvins website with the Melvins stamp of approval. So it’s gotta be good, right?

This will keep you satisfied until the new Melvins studio record is unleashed in mid 2010.

So, what’s a “Chicken Switch”?

The press release:

Remember, anything worth doing, is worth overdoing!
Well, it's 2009 and the seemingly tireless Melvins have yet ANOTHER record ready for release...
What is this, their 50th record?
Maybe?
Anyway, the "newest" Melvins release is called "CHICKEN SWITCH" and it's a "re-mix" record... of sorts...
Each of the artists on this thing were given an entire album to work with and pull things from, however none of them were given individual tracks from the albums! So the outcome HAD to be left of center from the "norm."

Some highlights from CHICKEN SWITCH:

As part of japanese noise/epic rock band Boredoms' 23 year mission, leader Eye Yamatsuka has done the impossible and made the drum circle cool for the first time, ever. Filthy hippies will have to find something else to do, which will predictably involve combining two lame sedentary "sports" into one.

Matmos famously lent their precision-sampling wizardry to Bjork. They took their name from the movie 'Barbarella' - featuring a nubile, scantily-clad Jane Fonda. Given their intense fondness for weird, sexy women, it's no wonder they were totally into working with the Melvins.

Lee Ranaldo has had a long solo career making quite pleasant warped midnight music. He's also in this band that you might have heard of called Sonic Youth.

Japanese NOISE GOD Merzbow is not the only guy to wrap 50 CDs of audio steel wool in a kinky leather fetish boxset or release a cassette "packaged" in an automobile, but -- Wait. Yeah, he is.

Sunroof! is the more psychedelic, meditative alter-ego of Matthew Bower (Skullflower, Hototogisu, Total, etc.), who is responsible for upwards of 50% of tinnitus cases reported in England.

Kawabata Makoto, as leader/guitarist of the cultish Japanese band Acid Mothers Temple, has perfected the art of making rock music that sounds like freight trains. His remix lovingly recreates the Monon BL2 diesel locomotive (pulling an estimated 60 cars).

No one knows what Void Manes is. I think it has something to do with EVP -- it was on the CD after it was mastered, and we sure as hell weren't going to pay to do it over.

Sounds good to me!

For those who don't know:
The Melvins have been a band for over 25 years...

The Melvins have done a shit load of albums.... How many is a shit load? No one really knows.

The Melvins live in Los Angeles and it's understood in hip circles that the United States tilts left and anything covered in slime tends to slide straight out to California. If your sliding too fast when you slide into San Francisco you tend to glance off south and the real scum bags end up in Los Angeles where their skin dries into a Malibu Ken tan which most hipsters have to painstakingly remove with Easy Off oven cleaner.

We all love porn right? And with the intern
et we've all become totally bored with porn. Bored out of our minds with easy access day and night internet porn.

The Melvins have four members.
King Buzzo... Longest surviving and only original member left. When they get around to replacing him there will be no original members!
Dale Crover... Long standing drummer and part time guitar player. Dale likes his booze in a High Ball glass.
Jared Warren... Bass player, singer and part time drama geek. Jared also plays in the band Big Business.
Coady Willis... Drummer. Coady has a funny story about trying to play a gig in leather pants. Ask him, it's funny as shit! Coady also plays drums in Big Business.

So there you have it!
You can find other interesting bits and bobs about the Melvins on line and some of it is even true! Well, it's at least as true as what the band would tell you in person.

White Shit is the latest project of the Big Biz boys, "Sculpted Beef" is their debut LP and it was released by Post Present Medium. An assault on your ears and mental clarity. A solid slab of brutal and well written hardcore with Jarred's distinct vocal howl we all have come to know and love.

Vice Magazine has a write-up on the phenomena including a song sample.

FIRST PRESSING OF 1000. BLACK VINYL. 9 SONGS. ONE SIDED. FULL COLOR POSTER INSERT.

The Melvins will release Chicken Switch, the long rumored(since 2003) remix cd with a twist, on Sept. 29 via Ipecac Recordings. Unlike usual remix cds where the remixer is given a single track to work with, for Chicken Switch each remixer was given a full album to work with and pull from to create their track (and in some cases, more than one full album was used as source material). The song names were also newly selected by their remixer.

It has been reported and verified, Mind The Drift is officially out today on Hydra Head Records!!!

Big Business is pleased to announce the completion of their new full length album, entitled MIND THE DRIFT. Big Business are also pleased to announce that they think it turned out great. Quite a few of those millennial types on the internet have been asking the band things like: "What's up with the new album? Why's it taking so long? How come you guys don't play that one song anymore or have merchandise at your shows?" While Big Business don't have time to answer all of those types of questions directly, we at Hydra Head would like to take this opportunity to present you with some True Facts about MIND THE DRIFT.
FACT #1: Producer Phil Ek (insert famous bands like the Shins here) has again evolved the band's grandiose sound and taken the Biz into new sonic territories!
FACT #2: Guitarist and newest band member Toshi Kasai adds new voice and dimension, and looks good doing it. You can actually hear the handsome.
FACT #3: Most of the instrumental tracks were recorded at AVAST! 2 studios in Seattle, WA. in June and July of 2008.
FACT #4: Due to the busy touring schedule of Big Biz and the Melvins, most of the vocals, as well as some overdubs and mixing, had to be postponed until late November of 2008. The album was completed in Los Angeles (well, actually, Burbank to be precise). (That's a two-fer.)
FACT #5: While recording Jared's vocals, Phil Ek kept a loaded sawed-off shotgun in the control room.

You can stream the album at mindthedrift.com

Q: Is snacking allowed in the studio or are you all business (no pun intended)?
A: It’s allowed, but we do try to keep things as professional as possible in the studio. We might have some popcorn or carrot sticks to loosen up, but we try to steer clear of gateway snacks like cheese puffs or anything with a lot of flavor dust. These snacks can lead to hard snacking like pizza and other grease-based foods. This can really gum up the works both figuratively and literally. Believe me, I’ve seen a lot of bands go down that road, thinking they can just dabble in hard snacking, but they get hooked and just never come back. Sure, it’s a lot of fun at first, but pretty soon, they’re selling each other’s gear for a slice. It’s really quite sad.

Read more for upcoming tour dates...

Once again, Mr. Brian Walsby has compiled a collection of edgy, biting comic art and bad assed, rare tunes from the Melvins. MANCHILD 4 is 100 pages of illustrations and stories from a comic artist who's been poking fun at subversive youth culture, pop culture, your favorite band, and himself since the early ë80s. You'll laugh. You'll cringe. You just might get angry and start a message board war. Contents of Brian's new book include "No! I Don't Want To Play Your Effing House Party", "Frisky's Beaver Hut", "We Were All Assholes", "My First Orgasm", "Emo Rock Revival", and tons of others. There's also an in depth Melvins 2008 tour diary that's sure to break a few eggs. BATABING! There are 3000 of these on earth. How many do you have?

Pick Your Battles is a 15 song CD of live Melvins tunes recorded in 1989 at the 924 Gilman St. Project in Berkeley, Ca. and in 2008 at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. The track list is as follows:

1. Koolegged
2. Oven
3. Cranky Messiah
4. Raise a Paw
5. Ever Since My Accident
6. Green Honey
7. Claude
8. You're Blessened
9. Nude With Boots
10. The Kicking Machine
11. Eye Flys
12. Rat Faced Granny
13. The Hawk
14. You've Never Been Right
15. Boris

Tracks 1-9 from Gilman St./Tracks 10-15 at the Paradise.

read more for a sample page...