Ask The Band: Buzz Osbourne

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In the liner notes for the Mangled Demos, you mentioned 'Dan Raymond.' Specifically, you wrote 'We can't forget Dan Raymond.' Why? What did he do? A) Thanks for reading the liner notes! Dan is one of my oldest friends, in fact we've been friends for about 30 years which means he's known me since way before I ever played guitar or thought at all about being in a band. He still lives in the same town we grew up in and has traveled a lot with us on various tours just to hang out. Dan is a strange guy.

What is your favorite book? A) "Wise Blood" probably.

What Band Do you Admire most? A) I admire a lot of bands. I've always been a HUGE Who fan from the time I was a teenager and Hendrix. I'd say also on the list would be: Throbbing Gristle, Black Flag, The Stones, MC5, The Fugs, Alice Cooper, Dylan, Birthday Party, Trevor Dunn, The Ramones, The Stooges, Sex Pistols, Captain Beefheart, Poison Idea, The Gun Club, Venom, Killing Joke, Black Heart Procession, Big Business, Jim Foetus, Halo of Flies, Motorhead and Buck Owens.

You guys are teaming up with Big Business this year. Can you describe what your live shows will be like with them? Will it be similar to the Fantomas Melvins Big band by playing versions of eachothers songs? Will it be an experience for someone who hasnt heard of Big Business? What does DSS have in his bag of tricks? A) Big Business will be playing first then they will play with us as the Melvins.. Unless we change our minds and then do who knows what. All of the things that you asked could happen. I think our fans will like Big Business on their own, if they don't they should.

What is your favorite Simpsons Episode? A) King Sized Homer.

Will you ever release a box set with all your un-released songs on it? Or maybe a new DVD? A) We have almost no unreleased material at this point. As for a DVD, we need to come up with a good angle on that not unlike our book idea.

The atp festival in minehead in december will feature the new super delux melvins line up (well that's what Jared told me at a big business gig in this cardboard box of a building in digbeth in england). Will the new album have been released by then, and if not when do you expect to have sent it to all the good cd shops and some of the rubbish ones as well? A) All of the "good" CD shops? I guess but who knows really? We will have our new album out at the beginning of October. It will be finished by the time you read this. So far so good. We all think it's a great record and Dale and I are really glad we asked these guys to join.

Will you ever do an extensive european tour, where you visit cities and places, that aren`t the usual ones to visit? A) Europe is always a mystery to me. Every place is unusual. I'm guessing you mean will we do a tour that includes every wide spot in the road all over Europe. I'm guessing again that we won't but a tour of Europe may happen for us before you know it. My question is why would us playing in a "usual" city annoy you?

What do you guys eat on your bread? There must be a secret of making such correct music. A) I've never had our music described to me as correct. Thank you for that! bread rules no matter what you put on it, but if I had to say just one I'd say my favorite thing to spread on it would be $100 bills.

Is the painting on the cover of Lysol the same one you speak of in the lyrics to Koollegged? A) Actually THAT picture was of a ship captain with Jesus helping him pilot his boat through a storm. I never went to church as a child at all so I thought the long haired guy was an indian. It still sort of makes sense.

Melvins + Meshuggah + Lustmord collaborationfiltered= awesome, right? A) Sure.. I guess, but we already did a collaboration with Lustmord. About two years ago.

During the recording process, how do you know when a song is done, when to walk away? A) You never know. What sounds done now may not in a few years but by then you are on to something else. Hopefully. I figure if I like it now it's fine. You kind of have to keep out of the way sometimes. It's easy to complicate things that are already good and that is NOT good.

Will the Mike (Kunka) and the Melvins record ever be released? A) Maybe.

Would you consider giving Stoner Witch and Stag the same treatment Houdini got with A Live History of Gluttony and Lust? A) I'd consider it but I don't know if it will really happen. It's a lot of trouble to go to when we could just be working on new stuff. I really liked the end result of and doing the Houdini live album so you never know. I'd say we will more likely just do a live record of some sort that includes lot's of songs from lots of different records.

Are you a white panther? A) Why not? I'm a white panther except I won't end up in the joint for selling blow to an undercover cop. I like the idea of the white panthers but I hate the hippie shit also involved. It seems to go hand in hand. Blow up the munitions factory for peace and let's all get high and vote! Who gives a shit?

Are you really going to appear on the next Napalm Death record? A) I think so.

At Disneyland, I read a sign that said ÒToadi Acceleratio.Ó Is this a Melvins reference? A) Very good! You are the first person to point that out. It only took two years! You must be a Disney fan. We are WAY into the whole Disney experience. Don't trust anyone who isn't.

What made you play so slowly?? Was it flipper? Sabbath? Opiates? A) Opiates for sure. Lot's and lot's of downer drugs. We are all drug fiends. Drugs are our central focus as they should be for everyone. We dig hard, adult level drugs and none of the "gateway" bullshit teenager crap like pot. Fuck that candy ass nonsense in fact, our advice to young bands and to young people in general is that they should shoot up heroin early and often. Get strung out to the eyeballs. Why not? It will make you seem cool. Or just pathetic.. Which is cool. What could be more cool than being a crybaby junkie thief? Actually do we play slow? I suppose we do to some degree but it seems like a very small point in what we have done. But whatever, sure, we play slow, we play slower than anyone ever. Snore....

Do you consider yourself exclusively a musician or have you ever dabbled in other areas like visual art. A) I've dabbled but that's about it. I consider myself lucky to be alive really. Alive and not in jail and not working at Home Cheap-o.

What was the best gig you've ever played and why- or gigs- A) Best gig? The best ones are the ones I don't remember. The worst ones are the ones that seem to go on forever because nothing is going right. Let's see, we played a castle in Austria once that was pretty cool and we did a show at a college in Saskatoon where kids had driven down from the Arctic Circle to see us. I think I gave them all tee shirts.

Have you guys played Black Bock live? A) We did once at an in store in Baltimore. We were for some reason taking requests and we tried it without ever practicing and it didn't go well. I really like that song and maybe we will play it live at some point for real. Thanks for reminding me.

I'm 24 right now. I'm saving up to pay you guys to play at my 30th birthday. How much is that gonna run me? A) Just keep saving. You have almost six more years.

When is the acoustic song about mighty buzz getting his heart broken coming out? A) Heart broken? Jaw broken maybe.

What was it like working with Jello Biafra? A) My interest in Biafra stems from his battles with the PMRC. I think the whole industry owes him a great deal. He's a trip for sure to work with and I like the records we did with him a ton. It was different than anything else we had done and probably will do in the future. For that I'm very proud. Someone like Pearl Jam SHOULD do a record with him but I won't hold my breath.

Does your wife like your music? Does she ever give any input when you're writing songs? A) She does for the most part but she's very honest about what she thinks and I usually only play things for her once I get it more figured out. Her input in our music is on the art end. We talk over art stuff all the time. It's great. Our record covers are VERY planned out to the smallest detail. They are perfect for what we are doing even if most people don't even notice. It's the same with our music. Lot's of planning for things no one except us notices. Oh well. I think that's half the fun.