Chaos as Usual split with Le Butcherettes coming out in time for their summer tour

Details

Written by brian

Created: 19 May 2015

AmRep announced that they'll be releasing Chaos as Usual, a Melvins and Le Butcherettes split 10"/CD in time for their summer tour. This release features Jeff Pinkus on bass and they just posted the track "Captain Comedown" from it for your streaming pleasure! Rumor has it the 10" may not be ready in time for the beginning of the tour, but the CD's will and the 10" will definitely be there in time for BASH 15 at Grumpy's in the All-American city of Minneapolis. AmRep is also working on another run of 50 of the Bride Screamed Murder art editions, and they also have an empty box to put all your Sugar Daddy splits in!

Trevor Dunn posted a few photos recently hinting at more Melvins Lite material being recorded!

SPIN featured a couple unreleased Tres Padres songs Dale recorded with Lou Barlow, check those out! Father's Day & A Lot to Maintain

Dale appeared on the Trap Set podcast recently to talk about drumming and life in general, great listen!

 If you're in the market for a new Melvins shirt, look no further than Brian Walsby and Bifocal Media's new parody of Love's "Forever Changes"  album art. It features Buzz, Dale, Jared, Coady, Trevor, and Pinkus!

The band recently announced they'll be playing two nights at the Incubate Fest in Tilburg (The Netherlands) - "1 band, 2 nights: During Incubate 2015, The Melvins will perform two unique shows under the denominator 'Two nights with The Melvins' on Tuesday September 15 and Wednesday September 16 in Midi Tilburg."

Rolling Stone recently shared avid baseball fan Buzz's preview of Los Angeles Dodgers: "Money doesn't buy championships; there's too many millionaire cancers on the team right now." - Buzz

Speaking of sports, Buzz also appeared recently on the Steve Gorman show on Fox Sports radio. His appearance starts about halfway through the link.

The Melvins just released an awesome 88 page picture book of their t-shirt designs, it was a limited edition of 99. 

Buzz & Tom Hazelmeyer of Amphetamine Reptile Records were recently interviewed by Death or Glory

Poster art by HAZE XXL

Melvins return to the road this summer and announce The Bulls & The Bees + Electroretard reissue

Details

Written by brian

Created: 10 March 2015

The Melvins will be returning to the road with the continuation of their Hold It In tour, kicking off June 6 in Tucson, AZ. The tour announcement comes as Ipecac Recordings confirms the June 2nd reissue of the Melvins' 2012 release The Bulls & The Bees and their 2001 release Electroretard all in one package. That June 2nd date will be the CD release, the vinyl will also be coming out through Ipecac on a 2015 date yet to be determined. Buzz, Dale and Jeff Pinkus will be the touring line-up for this run of dates with labelmates Le Butcherettes opening. Le Butcherettes had joined the Melvins on the first leg of the Hold It In tour last year. Void Manes will also be appearing at some dates, those are still to be confirmed. Tickets for all shows, with the exception of the Amnesia Rockfest, which is already on-sale, are available this Friday, March 13 at 10 a.m. local time, check out the dates below! The band was also recently featured on Last Call w/ Carson Daly performing Bride of Crankenstein and The Water Glass, read more to check out the video clips at the end of this article!

(photo credit: Mat Hayward)

AmRep will be releasing the final two installments of the Clown 7" series that they've been doing with tribute songs from Everybody Loves Sausages along with b-sides from those sessions. These will be tributes to The Jam and Throbbing Gristle. The Throbbing Gristle tribute will also include a 7" flexi disc with a third track on it! They were both pressed in a splatter and tri-color vinyl, the tri-color being the more rare variant and is being held for live events exclusively. The first batch should go up for sale on shoxop.com on Monday 3/16 at 2PM Central time. UPDATE: There was a bit of a snafu on AmRep's shopping site so these will be posted again for sale on Tuesday 3/17 at 6PM Central. More will be available during the upcoming tour this summer, so if you miss the online sale you'll have more opportunities later on.

Tour dates:
June 6     Tucson, AZ     Club Congress
June 7     El Paso, TX     Lowbrow Palace
June 9     San Antonio, TX     Korova
June 10     Austin, TX     The Mohawk
June 11     Dallas, TX     Trees
June 12     Norman, OK     Opolis
June 14     Lawrence, KS     The Bottleneck
June 15     St. Louis, MO     The Firebird
June 16     Grand Rapids, MI     The Pyramid Scheme
June 17     Detroit, MI     Shelter
June 18     Columbus, OH     A&R Music Bar
June 18 to 21     Montebello, QC     Amnesia Rockfest
June 22     Toronto, ON     Danforth Music Hall
June 23     London, ON     Call The Office
June 25     Cleveland, OH     The Grog Shop
June 26     Syracuse, NY     The Westcott Theater
June 27     Boston, MA     Paradise Rock Club
June 28     Hamden, CT     The Ballroom at the Outer Space
June 29     New York, NY      Santos Party House
June 30      New York, NY      Santos Party House
July 1     Philadelphia, PA     Underground Arts
July 2     Baltimore, MD     Ottobar
July 3     Carrboro, NC     Cat’s Cradle
July 5     Nashville, TN      Exit In
July 6     Louisville, KY      Mercury Ballroom
July 7     Indianapolis, IN      The Vogue Theatre
July 8     Chicago, IL     Double Door
July 9     Madison, WI     High Noon Saloon
July 10     Rock Island, IL     RIBCO
July 11     Minneapolis, MN     Grumpy’s
July 12     Fargo, ND     The Aquarium
July 13     Sioux Falls, SD      The District
July 14     Omaha, NE      The Waiting Room
July 16     Ft. Collins, CO      Aggie Theatre
July 17     Denver, CO      Summit Music Hall
July 18     Taos, NM     Taos Mesa Brewing
July 19     Albuquerque, NM     The Launchpad
July 21     Phoenix, AZ      Crescent Ballroom

There's news on the Altamont front as well! Valley King Records as you know released Altamont's first two full length's on picture discs last year have put up for pre-order a vinyl picture disc of their third album The Monkees' Uncle. It's been remastered by Dale and Toshi, with new artwork by Alan Forbes and this was never on vinyl before so definitely worth getting your hands on! In more Altamont news they've also just set up a web shop at merchaye-revolve.com/altamont with some new t-shirt designs along with a limited edition bundle which includes all of the recent vinyl releases.

Dale played drums on an album with Conan Neutron entitled The Enemy Of Everyone, check out their BandCamp page for all the info on the release! It was recorded that Melvins HQ "Sound of Sirens" and Toshi Kasai produced/engineered the album.

Dale was also recently interviewed by OCWeekly in which he speaks about what a finely oiled machine the Melvins are. - "There are various different projects we're working on, including something we started 15 years ago that we never finished. But I want to make sure that it happens before I start talking about it." - Dale

What Dale was referring to in that interview quote was the hopeful completion of the Mike & the Melvins project that they had put on hold so many years ago. Mike, of course is Mike Kunka of godheadSilo, Enemymine, Dead Low Tide, Smoke & Smoke fame. Fans have been pining for this to be released for a long time, and with this post from the Melvins facebook page it looks like they're pretty confident it's going to finally come to fruition!

Big Business is touring this spring both on their own and also opening for Mastodon & Clutch. They're also releasing a couple new tracks through their BandCamp page on March 20th.

Coady posted a photo of an upcoming Hew Time 7" release on his Instagram feed, they look amazing and no doubt will sound pretty great too!

The A.V. Club posted a fun/nostalgic article: In 1993, Melvins knocked Primus back into the cheesy seas

Buzz is a known dog lover and he was recently featured on Dogster.com! "If you sit on the couch at our house, then you immediately have a dog sitting next to you. I love that, and as a result I’ve become used to being perpetually covered in dog hair. The drummer in Napalm Death pointed this out to me like it was a bad thing. I’ve tried to ignore that comment." - Buzz

Things are going well with the Kickstarter campaign for the Melvins documentary being worked on by the fine folks at melvinsmovie.com but they need a little more help as their campaign deadline approaches, check out the video above and allow yourself to be convinced to chip in! While we're on the subject of lending them a hand, they're also looking for video footage from the 80's of the band to include in the documentary, so if you have any please contact them through their website!

Read more: Melvins return to the road this summer and announce The Bulls & The Bees + Electroretard reissue

The Colossus Of Destiny - A Melvins Tale crew now have a Kickstarter!

Details

Written by brian

Created: 09 March 2015

Great news, you now have the opportunity to help the highly anticipated documentary The Colossus Of Destiny - A Melvins Tale come to fruition! They're offering tons of great rewards for supporting their Kickstarter, and I can tell you that the folks behind this thing are huge Melvins fans, are incredibly dedicated to this project, and that it's going to be a proper testament to the amazing career that Buzz and Dale along with their collaborators have put together. Check out the details below or at melvinsmovie.com, and please visit their Kickstarter to back the project!

"How comes no one has ever made a film about The Melvins?"

Well, no one has ever tried or thought it even possible.....until now that is. The Colossus Of Destiny - A Melvins Tale is a film about a band who have defied all the rules, for over 32 years and counting, and still managed to succeed and do it their own way. The journey of band members King Buzzo and Dale Crover leads us from the backwards-waters of the Chehalis River in Washington State, down through the Golden Gate of Northern California, and finally settling into the Los Angeles River Basin of Southern California. With the rest of the world thrown in along the way. You will witness first hand the beliefs and attitudes, values and obscenities, slows and fasts, triumphs and toils, loves and hates, wits and giggles of a hugely talented and influential band.  And you will also come away with a lesson in how to survive in the wicked world of the music biz without taking yourself too damn seriously.

Hear what the countless number of peers, collaborators, understudies, admirers, even haters, have to say about their encounters with The Melvins over the past 3 decades and more in our exclusive interviews. And get to feast your eyes on a huge collection of never before seen Live Footage, Photos, Art, Animation and Extracurricular Activities of The Melvins.

 About The Funding
The filmmakers are asking you for help with the funding process to finish this project they both individually started and self-funded over the last 5 years or so, and collectively worked on together the past 13 months. 95% of the filming process has been done over this time. But the major financial tasks at hand are now upon them with costs for - Editing....and the momentous Caffeine Consumption that goes with it - Animation - Picture Quality Mixing - Sound Mixing....in Dobly of course - Music and Video and Image Licensing/Bribery - And a few more really interesting interviews that need to happen.

The final goal is to bring you the best looking and sounding film that is possible to go along with the already amazing story that is in position. The figure of $75,000 is what we feel is the minimum amount we need to achieve that goal. All of the funds made available to us will be spent solely on the production costs of the film making process.                                 

* Please note that this funding process is of the filmmakers doing and nothing to do with the band.

The Rewards  
The Rewards on offer are exclusive to this Kickstarter project.  

They include: specially donated artwork by our good friends Haze XXL, Brian Walsby, Arik Roper, Skinner and the fabulous Mackie Osbourne. Live recordings donated by Vinny Palese. Production help by Revolve Merchandise. And extra special one of a kind products and experiences with the help of the band members themselves.  

It is hoped that there is something for everyone in all different price brackets. And the filmmakers are hugely grateful in any help that you can provide to make this project be completed.

Poster Art by Skinner

Bride Screamed Murder Art Edition released at Permanent Records show

Details

Written by brian

Created: 27 January 2015

Buzz & Dale played an in-store date on Jan. 4th at Permanent Records in Los Angeles, so many people showed up that they actually decided to play two sets to accommodate the overflowing crowd! At the show they released the brand spanking new limited Art edition of Bride Screamed Murder which was limited to 100 copies and sold out quickly between the show and online sales through the AmRep shop, though rumor has it there is another edition of 50 in the works for later this year. These are amazing pieces of art, check out the details on it along with some clips from the show below.

From AmRep: There's an unbelievable amount of printing methods on this one set. Starting off with the cover that has a hand-printed HAZE XXL linocut print on paper with torn edges & methodically glued to the front with rubber stamped text. Next up on the gatefold are a pair of silk screened crow prints also designed by Haze. Now we get to the back of the sleeve with a letterpressed print by Mackie Osborne that's shows the edition number plus a rubber stamped Amphetamine Reptile logo.
But there's more, how does two hand-printed HAZE XXL relief cuts on the b-side to each record sound? That's right, you get 2 x 12"- one-sided records (A & B-sides of "The Bride Screamed Murder"), each hand-printed relief cuts on the blank b-sides of each Coke bottle green clear vinyl. Of course this is still a record set so all the songs from the original Melvins record are on there as well.
We haven't done the math, but we're guessing at this price we'll be likely making below minimum wage per hour when you add up all the carving, printing, stamping, glueing and packing!

While on the topic of AmRep releases, the final piece of the Sugar Daddy split series puzzle will be up for sale on their site within the next couple weeks. This split is with Karp and includes Bacon Industry and Rowdy. It's been a long ride, the series has been trickling out since 2012! Keep an eye on the AmRep Facebook page for all on-sale announcements.

Update 2/13: The band is doing a Friday the 13th sale for the next 13 days. A number of their shirts are on sale for only $13! Check out their store at merchaye-revolve.com/the-melvins

Joyful Noise announced that an unreleased track from Buzz will be a part of their monthly 2015 Flexi Disc Series along with Lee Ranaldo and a host of other bands. You might remember that a Melvins track was a part of their 2013 flexi series.

Speaking of Joyful Noise, they released a highly limited Lathe-Cut Flexi of a Brothers Collateral track with Buzz on vocals last spring. The song is now available to stream: J.R. Richard. Jarred Warren's vocals also appear on an interpretation of the UFO song "Love To Love". The album artwork alone makes it worth the purchase.

• This album was recorded and produced by the nimble fingers and sharp tongue of the brilliant and handsome Toshi Kasai. The dudes in Brothers Collateral were also able to keep King Buzzo of (the) Melvins off tour for long enough to record vocals for their song "J.R. Richard". The next time you see him give him $5 for a real life "King Buzzo Sentence"!

MTVIggy has a great interview with Buzz where he discusses his top 5 film scores, it's a great list!

Melvins visited Chile for the first time in December. Someone posted video of the entire Rockout Festival set, Trevor Dunn on bass! Fantômas was also there!

Gearphoria featured Buzz in their most recent magazine where he details his road gear setup.

You can now stream the Melvins/Hard-Ons split 7" through the We Empty Rooms bandcamp site. Rumor has it this 7" will be released sometime later this year for those of you that might have missed out on a chance to order it!

Boner to reissue classic Melvins albums on vinyl in 2015

Details

Written by brian

Created: 02 December 2014

Boner Records will be reissuing double albums of Ozma/Bullhead & Eggnog/'Lice-All' in all their remastered/gatefold packaging glory on January 20th of next year! (Check out more info on the Boner reissues below)

That's not all the vinyl news trickling out at this moment. Hold It In is now scheduled to be released on vinyl December 15th, and SSGmusic recently did a great interview with the band and among other things they mentioned that Third Man is planning on doing a re-release of the Atlantic era albums on vinyl in 2015 as well. Buzz said: "We’re re-releasing the vinyl [from] Atlantic Records on Third Man. The guy from Third Man got the masters from Atlantic for the Stag record, he goes, “What are these two songs on here that aren’t on the record?” … “I dunno.” He tells us [the names] and I don’t remember what those are." 

In addition to all that, Buzz was also interviewed in October by Highlight Media where at the very end of the interview he talks about re-releasing both Electroretard and the Bulls & the Bees on one record so we'll have to be on the lookout for that as well in 2015!

The LPs have been remastered and are back in print on vinyl for the first time in 15 years. The new gatefold packaging includes never-before-seen vintage photos, as well as the original artwork and insert, all tidied up and ready to meet Mom and Dad.

Ozma/Bullhead
This double-LP package combines two of the earliest releases from the often imitated but never duplicated Melvins. Formed in the early-’80s in the scenic wonderland known as Aberdeen, WA, the band took inspiration from Black Flag, Black Sabbath, Venom, Flipper, Stooges and other floggers of high-energy, low-velocity plod. Today, more than 30 years later, they might be more popular than ever. Slow and steady wins the race.

Disc one is Ozma, from 1989, which was recorded soon after their move from Washington to San Francisco, and was their first release to include the diminutive yet mighty Lorax (Lori Temple Black) on bass. In fact, the first sound one hears at the album’s opening is Lori standing on her tiptoes to switch on her amp, thereby warning the listener of the onslaught to come. Distorted, down-tuned doom riffs start, stop, lurch sideways with no warning, and seem to end before they start. Buzz Osborne adds extraneous guitar static and vocal squeals. Drummer Dale Crover plays as if he’s inside a barrel going over Niagara Falls; the long, slow fall allows the space between beats to grow and grow until he crashes into the water with the vessel blasting apart in an explosion of drum rolls. The classic Melvins heavy grind is set up and broken up by assorted odd sidetracks: “Revulsion / We Reach” flows forward slower and slower until it eventually melts into a gooey feedback drone. “Raise a Paw” is a superball paddled against one’s head by a grinning village idiot. “Love Thing” enlists in the Kiss Army before getting dishonorably discharged. 

Disc two is Bullhead, from 1991. The songs are longer, the mood is calmer, yet more menacing. “Boris” (which gave the Japanese group their name) is a long, slow, low death march of addiction and self-abuse. “Zodiac” is a frantic punk rock machine gun blasting away at Buzz’s demons (both inner and outer). “Cow” is a happy baboon bashing away at the best drum solo of his life. “It’s Shoved” is a groovy beat for the cast of Shindig to bop along to, until their carefree performances of The Pony, The Mashed Potato, and The Watusi are horribly interrupted by the soundstage tilting up and sliding them all into a mangled heap of screaming dancers, broken cameras and flaming electronic equipment at the bottom.

Eggnog/'Lice-All'
Disc one is Eggnog, from 1991. Originally released as a 10-inch, Eggnog is a wild ride into the outer limits of Melvins-dom. The first side cuts loose with three quick blasts. “Wispy” has the Lorax (Lori Temple Black) on bass and Dale Crover on drums, pounding one note in unison while Buzz Osborne bellows and whispers and turns his guitar on and off. “Antitoxidote” is a rabid horse galloping off into the desert, with yet more stops and starts and feedback detonations. “Hog Leg” sounds like a syphillitic Jimmy Swaggert trying to mimic Dio while being backed by a drunken ZZ Top cover band. Side Two features the side-long epic “Charmicarmicat,” with seasick waves of guitar and slow-motion madness bringing communicable disease and poisonous jellyfish ashore, stinging and infecting the unsuspecting sunbathers before gently washing out to sea again. 

Disc two is Lice-All, from 1992, previously known as self-titled, and also previously known as something else we’re all not gonna talk about, thank you very much. This was their last release before signing their Atlantic deal, and features the introduction of new bass player Joe Preston (previously of Earth, currently of Thrones). It’s one long, slow, loud blob of drones, moans and fuzztones. The opening endless power chord shimmer influenced Sleep, Sunn O))), and countless other sludge metal drone freaks for years to come.

Melvins were featured on Last Call w/ Carson Daly for the second time recently, they featured two songs from their new album Hold It in: Sesame Street Meat & Onions Make the Milk Taste Bad both from their October 23rd performance at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. UPDATE: I had to move the two video clips to the "Read More" section of this article due to slow loading times from NBC.

Read More to view the two clips.

SFWeekly talked to Buzz about Hold It In and the experience of collaborating with Jeff & Paul: "I've always been a huge Butthole Surfers fan. The first time I saw them was in the early '80s when all they had out was their first EP. I thought they were amazing. They've always been a huge influence and one of my all-time favorite bands. So from a long time ago, I always thought it would be great to work with Paul Leary. I always thought he was a great guitar player. He's one of my guitar-playing heroes for sure. I loved their sensibility about everything. Then we got to be friends with Jeff and it kind of just went from there. Things fell into place. I don't understand why more people don't hire Paul to play guitar for them." - Buzz

Seattle Passive Aggressive posted an interview and some photos after their show in Seattle last month: While we were recording, the album title came from him(Paul Leary) saying that he stopped taking LSD because it gave him so much gas. He got tired of walking around “holding it in.”  - Buzz

Buzz was recently interviewed by the Broward/Palm Beach New Times: "I was actually on a plane flying home. But I like when people make up stories. In fact, let's say that the moment that GWAR show was going on, I was in a straitjacket because I had gone crazy, and I was being pumped full of Thorazine. I was in a Miami mental institution for about six months. I got out and went to Wisconsin and fed baby ducks for the next two years. Dale did all the recording, and he got a Buzz lookalike to go on tour. So, I've been in and out of mental institutions... Yeah." - Buzz

Brian Walsby has a new Melvins shirt design available for purchase just in time for the holidays, it's a play on Van Halen's Fair Warning album art.

Secret Serpents has a ton of amazing Melvins show posters for sale and right now they are offering free domestic shipping on orders of $50 or more. All poster orders of $100 or more will get an additional poster as a bonus (in the same genre if possible). Offer ends December 20th. Coupon code: FREESHIPPING

Today Is The Day covered Zodiac on their outstanding new album Animal Mother. 

Buzz & Dale will be doing an in-store performance in January at Permanent Records in L.A. Poster Art by HAZE XXL

Here's two new teasers from the crew at melvinsmove.com!

Read more: Boner to reissue classic Melvins albums on vinyl in 2015