Greg Wood: Don't hurt me
Of course, I originally heard the show was $6 and it turned out to cost $15, but I really needed to see the band.
You could say part of me wanted to see them for the novelty of it. A friend of mine always said that seeing older, classic bands is like going to a history museum. “There’s the Rolling Stones exhibit!” he would say, jokingly acting as if he were pointing to a stage that has the Stones rocking-out on it. These legendary acts we don’t see for their talent or their ability to maintain their youthful attitude. We don’t expect to be blown away. We see it to say we have. Like Ruby Falls.
Early in the evening, The Melvins had already taken the stage, even though there were three acts on the bill. It was hard to tell which band was playing when a lot of the time, because they’re mostly permutations of each other. They’d come out during each other’s sets and pick up random instruments. They follow Queens of the Stone Age in this regard—another metal band known for their collaborations.
Buzz Osbourne (or King Buzzo, as fans call him) took this opportunity to inform the crowd of the show they were going to witness, talk a little bit about his past and the band’s past (“I was quarterback of the football team. It was a small school”) and play the same three chords over and over in between his comedic ramblings. They played a brief jam, and Buzzo told the crowd to expect surprises and collaborations for the rest of the evening.
There was another band, Big Business, that was supposed to play, but it’s hard to tell when they started or stopped, seeing as how they contained members of both bands. A jam broke out between the bassist and drummer (who was Dale Crover, an ex-Nirvana drummer and the majority of the reason I wanted to see the show) and before too long Buzzo returned and a second drummer (who looked to be about 17) joined. They went into “The Bloated Pope,” from their album “Pigs of the Roman Empire” released in 2004. As far as I can tell, this is when the Melvins started.
The band played a genre-defying set. Sometimes they played dark, spacey, distorted jams that sounded like Pink Floyd from hell. Sometimes they sounded like Black Sabbath if Ozzy’s voice had been less nasal. Frequently it was obvious that they were a huge influence on Nirvana, especially Nirvana’s first album “Bleach.”
The energy stayed high the whole time. Buzzo pounded his black Gibson guitar and through his gigantic, black-and-gray fro forward on the downbeat of most songs. The bassist played through at least one distortion pedal, sounding like Lemmy (of Motorhead)’s infamous bass sound. Dale Crover beat his drums mercilessly, highlighting intense moments of the songs with his gigantic, explosive crash cymbols.
I only recognized a few songs (they have quite a discography) but it didn’t matter. I was legitimately impressed by everything about their performance, which I honestly was not expecting. I feel bad that I ever doubted them.
The dark intensity that metal brings (and that the Melvins brought), assures that everyone will have a heightened or cathartic experience. It’s not a genre I listen to regularly at home or in my car, but going to the shows (ranging from larger theatres like New Daisy in Memphis or the Tabernacle in Atlanta down to smaller house parties with 15 people there) will always have a special place in my cold, dark, heavy-metal heart.
ps...the photo on front page is by Sadie Shaw.