MELVINS - The Crybaby 2000 (Ipecac: US) cd : IPC-6 MELVINS - Colossus of Destiny 2001 (Ipecac: US) cd : IPC-14 MELVINS - Hostile Ambient Takeover 2002 (Ipecac: US) cd : IPC-20

This month's feature is Melvins.
Using this link, you can listen to audio files and purchase this artist's recordings.

Melvins:
lead vocals and guitar - Buzz "King Buzzo" Osborne
bass - Kevin Rutmanis
drums and vocals - Dale Crover

When asked to describe their sound, Tool would often say they were a perfect mix of King Crimson and Melvins. Why then are the latter, Tool's perennial opening band, still not sitting well with Tool fans? Such has been the cunundrum of Melvins: lauded by some of the most influential and successful artists of the past 20 years and yet, still not getting their due from the record buying public.

Formed in Aberdeen, Washington in 1985, Melvins have become most (in)famous as the band that got Nirvana, if not the whole "Northwest Rock Explosion" (aka "The Seattle Scene") of the late 80s-mid 90s, off the ground. Osborne took Nirvana's Kurt Cobain to his first punk show. After a stint as the band's roadie, Cobain went on to namedrop Melvins in order to get studio time in the late 80s. Crover played on Nirvana - Bleach (1989) and some of 7" singles that make up Nirvana - Incesticide (1992). Cobain returned the favour by mixing, producing, and performing on Melvins - Houdini (1993), the band's major label debut. Always the bridesmaid, the band never had the commercial success of many of their local peers and were painted as the "godfathers of grunge", a term they despised, especially as risk-takers who, like Led Zeppelin, have explored many forms of music: punk, avant guarde, hard rock, psychedelic, country, funk, and others (often on the same recording).

As was (and still is) customary with Tool fans, Melvins were received with indifference and spite by Tool fans when they started opening for the band on the 1996 Ænema tour. Things became significantly better for the band when Osborne began guesting with Tool on live covers of Ted Nugent - "Stranglehold" and Peach - "You Lied". The latter can be heard on Tool - Salival (2000). During the 1998 Ozzfest tour, Tool's Adam Jones played synthesizer with the band on off-days in a project called Noiseland Arcade. In 1999, there was brief mention of a full-blown recording by that band however other Melvins side projects has kept the collaboration inert.

Instead, Melvins included "Divorced", an almost 15-minute long collaboration between both bands (all members included) on their second of a trilogy of CDs, Melvins - The Crybaby (2000). The song also appears (albeit edited) on Melvins - The Trilogy. Jones also appeared on Melvins - Colossus of Destiny (2001), an album-long live version of Melvins - "Eye Flys" and on "The Fool, The Meddling Idiot", a track on Melvins - Hostile Ambient Takeover (2002), the band's 7th release in 3 years (!) on Ipecac Records.

The band still continues to open for Tool when they can. All of the band's members joined Tool (on separate songs) onstage during the 2001 Lateralus tour. Osborne is also a member of Fantômas lynchpinning both bands as one, producing The Fantômas Melvins Big Band - Millennium Monsterwork (2002), a joint live recording. Rutmanis, a former member of The Cows (another ill-received Tool opener) is also a member of supergroup Tomahawk. Crover has come from behind the drumkit to front Altamont.

Melvins efforts with Tool and Adam Jones are available on Ipecac Records and are still in print.

Artists mentioned in this feature: Altamont, The Cows, Fantômas, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Melvins, Nirvana, Tomahawk, and Tool.

Credits: Band photo by Sadie Shaw. Source material from All Music Guide, Ipecac Records, themelvins.net, CDNow, Hype!, VH1, and tdn.