AU: Buzz, thank you so much for your time today.

Buzz: My pleasure.

AU: My first question is, are you looking forward to Soundwave and do you like coming down to Australia?

B: No, I hate everything about Soundwave and I hate everything about Australia.

AU: That’s good. Glad to hear someone who’s honest. Most bands just suck up.

B: No I’m kidding. I’m looking forward to it of course. I’m looking forward to coming down and playing down there and hopefully doing a headlining tour on our own maybe towards the end of the year.

AU: That would be awesome. How do you put together the set lists for your shows, considering you have over twenty studio albums and so much material to choose from?

B: Two thirds new stuff, one third old. That’s how we do it, you know and we are and always have been very heavily influenced about what we’re doing now. We’re also not afraid of our old material.

I mean as a matter of fact I still like playing those songs. That’s how we lay it out essentially. With the new guys (bassist Jared Warren and second drummer Coady Willis), we did three albums with those guys. Two thirds of our show will probably include those records, because we think they are some of our best records and we want to make sure we focus on them.

AU: So you are bringing the full Big Business infused line up down to Australia.

B: Yes we are. First time ever. I’m very exited about it.

AU: You’ve play some of your records in their entirety before. Are you planning to do anything like that on this tour?

B: No. We’re going to do a regular Melvins sets. Soundwave we get about 40, 45 minutes. With Primus we probably get something similar. It’s not really a headlining show. I don’t think it’s fair for us to go down there and just do a set of just one record.

AU: A couple of years back you did the Ipecac Geeks tour with Fantomas and Tomahawk and I’m still kicking myself I missed it because I was out of town. Is there any chance of something like that ever happening again?

B: Well I thought that was a rousing success. I felt we had a really good time on that tour. I would have happily done it again, but I’m not in charge and it never happened since. I can’t explain it.

AU: What about the Fatomas/Melvins Big Band? Any plans to bring that to Australia?

B: No plans whatsoever. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen, you know, but right now I have absolutely no reason to believe something like that will happen, but if it did happen I would be interested in it. Certainly.

AU: The Melvins are currently signed to Mike Patton’s label Ipecac how does the experience compare to when you we signed to a major label like Atlantic back in the mid-nineties?

B: Well we get a lot less money upfront on Ipecac, as you can imagine. It’s funny, I mean some people have this idea that we were somehow manipulated by a major label or told what to do. I think the records we did on the major label stand on their own and should prove to anyone that’s certainly not the case. We did the kind of records that we wanted and I thought we did very strange records on Atlantic and we had a great time doing them. In fact if we had the same contract under the exact same circumstances that we had when we were on Atlantic I would do it again absolutely.

We didn’t have a bad experience, we had a good experience there. Made three records we’re very proud of and took it form there. As far as Ipecac goes, Ipecac is a very tight knit organisation that I’m very happy to be involved with for well over a decade now.

AU: The Melvins have covered literally hundreds of genres and done, what is it now twenty five studio albums…

B: Yeah, something like that. A shitload. Let’s just say a it’s a shitload.

AU: In your opinion, what is the one definitive album, the album you would recommend to someone who’s never heard your music?

B: Well I couldn’t recommend one, but I could recommend probably five. I would say the five albums they should listen to so they can get a really good idea of what we do are ‘Colossus of Destiny’, ‘The Bride Screamed Murder’, ‘Stag’ , ‘Hostile Ambient Takeover’ and ‘Nude With Boots’.

AU: Why those particular ones?

B: I think it pretty much covers just about everything we want to do. Pretty much. That is a really good staring place for people if you wanted in and have a taste of we’re doing.

AU: There are so many bands that just follow the latest musical trends and obviously the Melvins aren’t one of them. You guys just seem to do what you want when you want. How are you able to do that be so successful? What is your secret?

B: I don’t know, I guess the secret is never having tremendous success. That’s the secret. We care very dearly about what we’re doing and I always thought it was a good idea to be as peculiar as we possibly could. I think in fact if there’s any advice I can give young bands, it’s be as peculiar as possible.

AU: This is a Fantomas related question. I read in an interview that with Mike Patton that the next Fantomas album will be entirely electronic. Do you know if that’s true and are you still going to be playing on it if that’s the case?

B: I have no idea. I’ll put out whatever he wants. If he wants me involved. Great. I’m there. But, you know I don’t think I could possibly second guess what’s going through the mind of Mike Patton. I have no idea. As for plans for a new Fantomas record, as far as I know there’s absolutely none.

AU: Yeah, this was a few years back, just before suspended animation came out…

B: You’ve got to remember, when we did those last two records, we did them at the same time in the studio and that was in 2003. Right? That’s the last time we’ve been in the studio. So for me to think that anytime soon it will be happening , well you know, we’ve waited this long. I don’t know when something like that will happen no idea. When it does hopefully I will be involved. I would love to be.

AU: Like I said before you guys have covered so many genres in your career, you even invented some new ones along the way. Why do you think so many bands are afraid to experiment like that and basically keep re-making the same record time and time again?

B: Well I don’t know. Most of those bands that will probably listen to our stuff will have a problem with it. For that very reason. As a matter of fact I’ve heard that from people, that we’re too all over the map and then you hear that and you also hear that oh, all your stuff sound the same. So you can’t win. You really can’t win whatever what you do. I just try not to worry about things of that nature. Just move on. Try to move forward, keep my feet moving. That’s all I can do.

AU: Buzz, that you once again for taking the time to talk to AU Review. One last question, do you put anything in your hair to make it stand up or does it just stay up on its own?

B: I’m actually completely bald. It’s all just trick photography.

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Don't miss The Melvins when they play Soundwave Festival. They also have Sidewaves with Primus. Tickets selling fast!

MONDAY 28 FEBRUARY
SYDNEY, ENMORE THEATRE - LIC AA

THURSDAY 3 MARCH
MELBOURNE, PALAIS THEATRE - ALL AGES