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...

from the Melvins Myspace: "The Melvins celebrate their Silver Anniversary this year! Lots of fun and surprises are coming! To kick off the festivities, the boys are doing some select shows performing the Houdini record in it’s entirety. One Mr. Trevor Dunn will be handling the bass duties while the Big Business boys are touring their new album “Mind The Drift”. Also along for the ride is original drummer Mike Dillard. The boys will play songs from the Mangled Demos record with Dale Crover playing the role of Matt Lukin! The Melvins will also play two special shows with old pals Green River in Seattle, WA."

• May 15, 2009 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
• May 16, 2009 - Boston, MA - Paradise
• May 18, 2009 - Chicago, IL - Double Door
• May 20, 2009 - Austin, TX - Emo's
• May 22, 2009 - Seattle, WA - Showbox
• May 23, 2009 - Seattle, WA - Showbox
• May 24, 2009 - Portland, OR - Roseland
  

The Melvins have been announced as part of the lineup for the Flaming Lips/ATP curated New York All Tomorrow Parties Festival this year on Saturday September 12th.

It looks like they will also be playing some festivals this summer overseas, including this years Fuji Rock Festival in Japan on July 25th.

Burlesque of North America is selling the 3 item's that were on sale during the Grumpy's dates in Minneapolis this past December. Check out their store for details!

BUZZO'S T-SHIRT
We received several emails from you asking to purchase individual items from the sets, so here they are! Get 'em while they're hot!
$15 + $5 shipping

MELVINS vs MPLS 3CD SET
3-disc set of live Melvins performances in Minneapolis. 2 audio discs, one data disc, 11 live shows total! Brand new artwork designed by Wes Winship and screenprinted right here at Burlesque.
$40 + $5 shipping.

MELVINS BUZZO PACKAGE 1
This package contains all three of the following:
- BuzzO's t-shirt, designed by Wes Winship
- Melvins VS MPLS 3CD set with all new artwork by Wes Winship and screenprinted here at Burlesque
- Star Spangled Banner 7"
$72 includes shipping.

MELVINS BUZZO PACKAGE 2
This package contains both of the following:
- BuzzO's t-shirt, designed by Wes Winship
- Melvins VS MPLS 3CD set with all new artwork by Wes Winship and screenprinted here at Burlesque
$62 includes shipping.

Word on the street is that Melvins will be playing a couple shows in Australia in January '09 while Fantomas is down under doing the Big Day Out 2009 festival dates. Be sure to check Ipecac's calendar for up to date info on Fantomas shows. These Melvins dates will be the lineup of Buzz, Dale, & Trevor Dunn on bass. The dates:

• January, 22 2009 - Sydney, Australia - The Annandale Hotel
  
• January, 27 2009 - Melbourne, Australia - Ding Dong Lounge

Melvins will also be playing a show at the Great American Music Hall on Dec. 27th. Poster designed by Dirty Donny.

Hydra Head has begun selling the a Senile Animal 4 LP sets on their webstore again. Specifically they have the Peach/Olive/Yellow/Dark Blue & Dark Blue/Yellow Haze ones for sale. The comic book by Tom Neely "Your Disease Spread Quick" is also available from their webstore but appears to be sold out currently.

The Star Spangled Banner 7" and the second edition Melvins vs MPLS cd's have sold out according to amrep. No word yet on whether or not Burlesque has any more of the cd sets or t-shirts left.

Brian Walsby is doing another book and will be releasing another Melvins CD along with it on Bifocal Media, most likely on sale date is April 4th, 2009. Here is what Mr. Walsby had to say about the release: We still havent completely decided the order of the cd but it will be the Gilman St. recording and some of a recent show from the last tour. There will be some old photos and liner notes in the cd as well. You can count on these songs at least:
Oven
Koolegged
Green Honey
Raise A Paw
Your Blessened

and from the recent stuff:
Boris
Eye Flys
maybe the trilogy of songs off of A Senile Animal

 The Melvins also made an apperance on the children's show Pancake Mountain back in November, the clip has been posted on the youtube.

UPDATE 12/19/08 from the amrep bored: "You folks from out of town, thank the snow gods, as we had a semi blizzard with -10 temps the night of the show. Being true Minnesotans we still had a great turnout at the guest bartending things and the Sun. show itself. Likely we were the only bar in town with a couple hundred folks hanging out! But it wasn't quite a sellout, and as a result we have some extra stock left over. I Never announced the re-issue of the CD set, as it came up pretty last minute. Burlesque Crew (well Wes) did a bang up job."

MELVINS • STAR SPANGLED BANNER 7" - SOLD OUT
$10 - Scale 114
Newest Melvins / AmRep collaboration. 2 studio songs. The acapella  version of Star Spangled Banner they performed during their 2008 tour, and another studio track, this being a ripping version of Kiss' "Detroit Rock City". Limited Edition of 666, on vinyl only.

UPDATE 12/14/08 from the bbs: Hello everybody, There's some new limited stuff showing up at the Buzz's bar tending shift at Grumpy's in downtown Minneapolis tonight as well as at the Melvins show at Grumpy's Roseville later. Along with the new 7" I'm sure most of you know about, I put together a second and final edition of the Melvins vs. Minneapolis 3 CD set. This is an edition of 333 and has revamped artwork by yours truly. I had fun on this just working over my original art and generally Grump-a-fying it. The CDs are the same as the first edition, we just did it for people that missed out the first time and since we had to screen print it all over again, thought a change up was in order. They are priced at $40 each. (hey, there's over 10 hours of music on there!)

The second item goes with Buzz's takeover of Grumpy's, or as it will soon be known, BuzzO's. They are available in white and grey, complete with Buzz's gold tooth. These were made for this weekend and tonight might be the only chance to get them. Unless you were one of the awesome people that picked one up last night of course. Shirts are $15 each

from the amrep bored: Holy smokes, the weekend to promote the new Melvins single has gone ballistic. Events all over.
Buzz just called me late last week and wants to do a Melvins set. Here's the itinerary for that weekend.

• Buzz guest bartending Grumpy's Roseville Sat. Dec 13 - 9pm

• Big Business playing live at the Triple Rock Sat. Dec 13 - 11pm

• Buzz guest bartending Grumpy's Downtown Sun. Dec 14 - 9pm

• Melvins playing live Grumpy's ROSEVILLE Sun. Dec 14 - 10pm

Tickets for both the Sat. Big Business show at Triple Rock, and the Sun. Melvins show at Grumpy's available at Indietickets.com
    (Big Business WILL NOT be playing on the Melvins set that Sun. Night though there's been some talk of the Melvins joining them at the Triple Rock, as of yet unconfirmed, so get down to the Triple Rock!)

directions / info at www.grumpys-bar.com

From grumpysbar.com: MELVINS AND BASTARD SAINT LIVE AND LOUD AT GRUMPY'S ROSEVILLE.

December 14th (interestingly, day two of King Buzzo as a guest bartender), Grumpy's Roseville will see a live performance from the Melvins and Bastard Saint. Or if you want to really live it up that night, get access to the VIP room for free food, beer, records and conversation. It's like being part of the hipster crowd, but you don't have to deal with hipsters.

More from grumpysbar.com: KING BUZZO OF THE MELVINS WILL BE SLINGING DRINKS AT GRUMPY'S.

Grumpy's X-Mas Present to our Rocker crowd comes early!

Guest bartending indeed. Buzz will be in the house, behind the bar, and serving up his own concoctions for those brave enough to drink 'em. Sat Dec 13 at Grumpy's Roseville, and Sun Dec. 14th at Grumpy's Downtown. Both nights will be from 9pm-10:30 pm. In conjunction with the Guest Star Bartender appearance, AmRep will be making a limited edition 7" available at the bar during this. The 7" is limited to 666 copies, and has 2 unreleased studio tracks. - The Melvins version of Star Spangled Banner, and a cover of Kiss's Detroit Rock City.

UPDATE 12/2/08 grumpysbar.com: A while back, we made the announcement that Melvins singer King Buzzo would be guest bartending at Grumpy's Roseville and Downtown locations. Well, now he's got help. Melvin's collaborator and Tool guitarist Adam Jones (video director, Rolling Stone's #75 top guitarist, and Ronnie Dobbs supporter) will also be slinging drinks for you. So if you prefer your rock celebrities subservient, your time is coming.

The (a) Senile Animal 4xLP is set to be released by the end of the month on the great Hydra Head Records. This thing is a monster and will indeed prove to be worth the wait. Side A of each LP is audio at 45rpm with color labels, Side B has different etchings on the vinyl. Each LP has a heavyweight inner sleeve, all kept inside a custom designed 4xLP gatefold jacket. This thing is as thick as a book and limited to a one time pressing of 3,000 with over 5 sets of colors in varying numbers of each within that 3,000 pressing, most limited is 100, most available is 1000.

A super limited edition silkscreened and numbered box set version of 300 will be available of this which will also include a signed copy of Tom Neely's Melvins inspired comic book "Your Disease Spread Quickly" as well as a die-cast metal belt buckle based on a design the band provided, around 3-400 of these were made.

The box set will be made available first,exclusively through Secret Headquarters on Sunset Blvd in Sliverlake/Los Feliz, CA. These should be available very soon, and are limited to 300 on a color exclusive to the box.  A wider release for the release can be expected by the end of the month, exact release date is TBA.  Check hydraheadlines.blogspot.com for updates.

1. Sacrifice
2. Page 27
3. Night Goat
4. Page 28
5. Page3
6. Electric Long Thin Wire
7. The Bit
8. Page 14
9. Pigs of the Roman Empire
10. The Omen
11. Hooch
12. Mombius Hibachi
13. Page 23
14. Skin Horse
15. Cape Fear
16. Let It All Be
17. Lowrider
18. 04/02/05 Saturday
19. Page 29
20. 04/08/05 Friday
21. Spider Baby

Other items on the horizon:

"(A) Senile Animal" 4xLP on Hydra Head

• "we've been hollerin' about this melvins "(a) senile animal" project for a while, but it's really, finally, truly nearing completion.  in the next 2-3 weeks it will also be available as part of "(a) senile animal" box set, which will also include a 4 x LP vinyl version of the album of the same name and a fancy-schmancy melvins belt buckle. this shit is gonna be amazing - which sort of goes without saying since it involves the unholy trinity of hydra head, the melvins, and tom neely. we'll be doing some sort of party for the release of the box set with our friends in LA at the highly esteemed  secret headquarters comic shop. more details on that and the exact release of the box set soon. the 4 x LP, belt buckle, and comic book will be available individually through the HHR webstore (and select retail outlets) for those of you that somehow mistakenly believe you don't need the super-deluxe-totally-fucking-awesome box set."

• 12 tracks, 48 minutes. A split album between Porn and Merzbow which blends seamlessly to create a beast of no equal.

(The) Melvins have done it again, out now, Nude With Boots, a not so gentle reminder to that fixed income of yours that there are indeed two kinds of fixes, both Melvins approved!

The tour dates are coming together as nicely as you'd expect. Once the masses have been whipped into shape, much to all of our astonishment, the Melvins have uncovered various primitive tribes beyond the vast seas, whom, despite their many deficiencies, will also be provided the privilege later on in 2008. Check the TOUR DATES Grégoire.

Last.fm is streaming the entire album.

Synthesis radio has posted an interview with Buzz where he discusses the new album and other things on the horizon.

(The) Melvins
Nude With Boots

It's 2008 and The Melvins are still called 'family entertainment on another level.' Almost 25 years, over 25 albums and still counting. Maybe they're just too dumb to quit.

AND? Some people STILL think the Melvins should be called "The Fucks" because they're so fucked.

The band still includes founding member King Buzzo and almost founding member Dale Crover, and they STILL have the Big Business guys Jared Warren and Coady Willis playing with them. This is extraordinary considering how hard it is for bass players and others to stick around the Melvins camp for more than two minutes. Everyone always loses their minds with or without drugs, but mostly with. They can't explain why, but the list of former members is about 40 and counting. Well, 40 might be a bit of an exaggeration but not by much.

The Melvins have been a band for a long, long, long, long time... A long, long, long time. They're somewhere in between a novelty act and yesterdays news. It's a strange place for a band with a Peter Pan complex to be in but there it is!

What the hell right?

We ALL want to just get on a space ship and watch the earth explode, don't we?

As hard as it might be to believe, The Melvins have a NEW album in the can! It's called Nude With Boots and is scheduled for a July 8 release. This is good news because it means the boys will be hitting the road again in the United States AND in Europe! The rest of the world could follow, but who knows? Hell, that would be like eight months from now and it's hard to plan that far ahead.

Nude With Boots was recorded in Hollywood in a couple of weeks give or take a day or two and the boys seem to be extremely happy with the outcome. It's good? Groovy good! They played it for their wives and girlfriends and they seemed to like it so HERE WE GO! No shit Sherlock!

Let's see?

JESUS! The Melvins will be celebrating 24 years in the business this year and have absolutely NOTHING planned for it, maybe next year when they turn 25?

However, along with their new album, Nude With Boots, they do have a shit load of things happening THIS year that include:

1. A lot of touring
2. The vinyl releases of (A) Senile Animal, which will be in a super deluxe quadruple gate fold sleeve with four etched, one-sided 12 inch records
3. Two more 12 inchers with double surprises
4. A secret 7 inch (so secret that not even the band is aware of it)
5. More fun with Haze XXL
6. A split 7 inch with Rancid Vat
7. The Fantomas Melvins Big Band DVD
8. A huge limited edition Ipecac box set of everything the Melvins have done with the label as well as stuff you haven't heard at all
**Plus other stuff we forgot all about or don't know about or something

It's a big world out there and nothing is ever as hopeless as it seems. Dig?

Well...
The Melvins have put out a ton of albums and done a shit-load of touring in their vast 24 year musical career but nobody is offering them a TV show, and I don't mean a bogus "reality" show I mean a show like Sha-Na-Na had in the late 70's. It's REALLY bogus. A Melvins show seems like a no brainer, but the world is not a right place. If you don't pay attention to TV then you can't realize just how bad it really is.

The Melvins' influence is vast and incomparable. It's global baby, and AND King Buzzo has even been accused of attempted murder! What the fuck is that? You know it HAS to be bullshit because when the King starts something, he finishes it. He's never ATTEMPTED anything in his life. He gets the job done, and so do the Melvins.

When does the man get here with all the candy?