Buzz Osborne doesn’t sugarcoat his opinions.
According to the Melvins' vocalist/guitarist/songwriter, if you’re a hardcore liberal or devoted Republican, you’re an idiot either way. I also learned he has little patience for spiders in his home: "Get a wad of toilet paper, grab it, throw it in the toilet and flush it. F---ing kill that little bastard."
I spoke with the sludge-metal icon over the phone early one morning ahead of the Melvins' July 5 show at the Casbah. The 45-minute conversation mostly consisted of political views and, yeah, mostly political views but we did manage to talk about the band's upcoming album, his new supergroup Crystal Fairy (which also consists of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Teri Bender and Dale Crover) and the future of the Melvins.
The about-to-be-released "A Walk With Love and Death" marks the Melvins' first double-LP, which also serves as the musical score for a short film of the same name -- "Death" being the the proper LP and "Love" being the film score. Both were made to be eerie and painfully enjoyable to listen to.
"That's why I love it," Osborne said. "I think it came out really good. The whole thing together is a really cool thing. Nobody else has done anything quite like it. When you're thinking of it in terms of film, what do you want it to do? We basically made one the way we want to do one -- it's nothing to be comfortable. If you add weirdness to it, it's going to be even more weird. We're big fans of stuff like Holy Mountain and David Lynch -- I’m a big movie fan, so I like all kinds of stuff."
King Buzzo and Co. have been busy: The new double-album drops on July 7 and follows the debut record from Crystal Fairy earlier this year. Of course, you can add nonstop touring to all that, too. After 30-plus years of the Melvins, they've got no signs of slowing down with plans for more music to be released.
Local
"We already have another one done," Osborne said. "I'm not exactly sure when -- we never make sense. It's not mixed yet, but we've finished tracking it.”
After 30 minutes of political talk, Osborne needed to get to band practice.
"Anyways, you can leave that political stuff out -- I think it’s boring," Osborne said. "Generally, people misunderstand me."
The Melvins play the Casbah on Wednesday, July 5. Tickets are available here.
Musician, people-pleaser, lover, fighter and writer Matthew Craig Burke has been spewing musical words of wisdom since never. He lives off of peanut butter sandwiches, beer and Beck Hansen. Follow his updates on Facebook or contact him directly.
