Beberlei at 18:37, 5 August 2008

2008-08-05T18:37:14Z

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*Tony DuShane
*Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Melvins are not the easiest band to describe.

"We're loud, quiet, heavy metal, ambient, experimental music," says the
Melvins' singer Buzz Osborne, a.k.a. King Buzzo, of his band's eclectic
catalog, which spans nearly 25 years.

"We haven't pigeonholed ourselves into one thing as much as lazy journalists
want to pretend that we have," he says. "I could play five albums of ours,
and it wouldn't sound like the exact same band."

The core of the Melvins has been Osborne and drummer Dale Crover. After
kicking out their fifth bass player in 2006, they went metal by bringing on
Big Business' Coady Willis as a second drummer and Jared Warren as bassist.

Osborne says he looks forward to a long-term relationship, "unless they blow
their minds out with drugs or something, then I might have to let them go. I
don't have a whole lot of patience with that stuff."

Osborne says that just because the band is often seen as a stoner metal act
doesn't mean it condones the rampant use of drugs in the music industry.
It's the main reason that so many previous members have been kicked out.

"Playing in a band is the only job where the first thing they do when you
get to your job is offer you alcohol. That would never happen anywhere else.
Get to the office; 'OK, do you guys want a six-pack of beer before you get
to work?' " says Crover of a story Osborne told him.

Having two drummers brings more power to the Melvins' sound. Crover and
Osborne discussed bringing in a second drummer years ago, and when the idea
of collaborating with Big Business was presented, it seemed like a perfect
fit.

"He's left-handed, so it's like looking into a mirror, which is good for me
because when I look in to the mirror I see a handsome young fella over
there," says the right-handed Crover.

What does it take to keep an under-the-radar band going for so long?

"We stay contemporary because we continue working. There's nothing else to
that, but that's as a result of us doing the road work and homework and the
whole thing," Osborne says.

"I've always liked what we were doing. I've always felt other people should
like what we're doing. As far as I'm concerned, I always thought that we'd
have an audience because we have good taste and make good music. I have no
control over any of the rest of it."

- Tony DuShane, 96hours@sfchronicle.com

This article appeared on page G - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle -
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/16/NSN611OT0G.DTL

[[Category: Melvins Articles 2008]]

The Melvins: Contemporary after 25 years - Revision history

Beberlei at 18:37, 5 August 2008