by Flack » Wed Aug 26, 2009 6:37 am
I saw the Melvins for the second time live last night.
The first time I saw them, they opened for Reverend Horton Heat, who was opening up for White Zombie. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say I wanted to see White Zombie a 10, the Melvins a 7, and Reverend Horton Heat a 2. The Melvins took the stage and people started chanting "White, Zombie, White Zombie" and after one or two songs they said, "OK assholes, here's a new song called "30 minutes of feedback", at which point they laid their instruments up against the amplifiers and walked off the stage. They cut the house sound about two minutes later, and that was my first exposure to the Melvins live.
Last night went much better. The show was scheduled at the Diamond Ballroom but was moved at the last minute to The Observatory. That's a bad sign because the Diamond Ballroom holds ~1,000 people and the Observatory holds around 150. I guess ticket sales weren't too good, but the good news was I stood 10 feet away from the band all night.
For those of you unfamiliar with the band, the Melvins are considered to be "one of the godfathers of grunge music" (Wikipedia), although their sound isn't what most people think of when they think of "grunge". The band is infamously connected to Nirvana; Kurt Cobain tried out for the bass position in the Melvins, but wasn't accepted. Kurt was a roadie for the band for a bit. Also, Melvins lead singer/guitarist King Buzzo played in Kurt Cobain's first band (Fecal Matter), and Melvins drummer Dale Crover drummed for Nirvana on their 1990 tour.
My problem with the Melvins has always been their experimental music. When they rock, they rock. They play a tuned down, sludge rock that has inspired a lot of bands. When they do that, it's great. It's their experimental stuff that I'm not into -- they're well known for releasing hour-long records of "noise" and I've never got that.
I saw the Melvins for the second time live last night.
The first time I saw them, they opened for Reverend Horton Heat, who was opening up for White Zombie. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say I wanted to see White Zombie a 10, the Melvins a 7, and Reverend Horton Heat a 2. The Melvins took the stage and people started chanting "White, Zombie, White Zombie" and after one or two songs they said, "OK assholes, here's a new song called "30 minutes of feedback", at which point they laid their instruments up against the amplifiers and walked off the stage. They cut the house sound about two minutes later, and that was my first exposure to the Melvins live.
Last night went much better. The show was scheduled at the Diamond Ballroom but was moved at the last minute to The Observatory. That's a bad sign because the Diamond Ballroom holds ~1,000 people and the Observatory holds around 150. I guess ticket sales weren't too good, but the good news was I stood 10 feet away from the band all night.
For those of you unfamiliar with the band, the Melvins are considered to be "one of the godfathers of grunge music" (Wikipedia), although their sound isn't what most people think of when they think of "grunge". The band is infamously connected to Nirvana; Kurt Cobain tried out for the bass position in the Melvins, but wasn't accepted. Kurt was a roadie for the band for a bit. Also, Melvins lead singer/guitarist King Buzzo played in Kurt Cobain's first band (Fecal Matter), and Melvins drummer Dale Crover drummed for Nirvana on their 1990 tour.
My problem with the Melvins has always been their experimental music. When they rock, they rock. They play a tuned down, sludge rock that has inspired a lot of bands. When they do that, it's great. It's their experimental stuff that I'm not into -- they're well known for releasing hour-long records of "noise" and I've never got that.