Melvins


"I've moved ahead musically. We've covered a hell of a lot of ground in the 26 years -- or whatever it is -- and I don't have much of a problem with that," Melvins head Honcho Buzz Osborne tells Noisecreep. The ever-changing band has confounded some. One album will laud electronic trickery, then the next is full of crawling riffs. Are the Melvins punk? Noise rock? Stoner Rock? Grunge? These have all just been accusations, because the Melvins are simply the Melvins; their sound is them and they are their own sound. "I'm not making records for journalist or for people in the business," says Osborne defiantly. "I'm making it for the people that come to see us. So we've concentrated at making records that we would like as fans and take it from there."

'The Bride Screamed Murder' is where we are at now, and the band's third studio long player with the lineup of King Buzzo and drummer Dale Crover joined by the loud twosome of Jared Warren and Coady Willis (of Big Business). Osborne said that relationship is "flowering nicely."

But for this album, the foursome returned with the piece de resistance of the album being a cover of 'My Generation,' Osborne cannot hide his love of the Who. "Far and above one of my favorite bands from the '60s. They were one of the weirdest ones." The vocal harmonies between Osborne and Crover have always had that classic Who vibe, so this all makes sense.

"We did that live a couple of years ago and always wanted to record it," says Osborne of the song, "It's pretty much only 'My Generation' in name, but if you listen to 'The Kids are Alright' soundtrack, the Who do a version that is somewhat similar to that." The Melvins changed the name and added a question mark, which fits as their slow shouted version seems far away from the rebellious declarations of the original.

The entire album was built around the cover song, Osborne admitted, believing most wouldn't hear it, but it's actually hard to miss when the band glues a happy accident of the classic melody and chorus on the tail of another song. "[Crover] was screwing around when he was doing high-pitched vocals. We thought it was funny even though it's not right before 'My Generation.'

"Song wise it covers all the ground I wanted it to," Osborne says of the album. "I don't know what the next record will hold but I've been wanting to do that military cadence thing for a long time and I don't think anyone else had done that, or at least not like that." The album opens with an exhale riff to only hit the floor into a military drum shout. It's infectious and sets the grin and grim for the entire album."

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