Melvins mastermind Buzz Osborne usually keeps a stoic looked plastered onto his face during Melvins performances, and sometimes he even scowls or frowns. One gets the impression that this is a combination of his focus and also that it generates a sort of menacing atmosphere to match the Melvins’ mean mashing music. Well, at the gang’s October 3 show in Lancaster, PA, King Buzzo had a giant… SMILE… welded into his face for almost the entire show.
Maybe it was because the band was locking in so well. Maybe it was because the band had sold out a so-called “b market.” Or maybe it was because the current lineup of the band is a dream lineup. Melvins are always in a state of flux, ala David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and King Crimson, but right now, the lineup is Buzz on guitar, Dale Crover on drums, Steve McDonald on bass (now the band’s longest serving bassist even though it still seems like he’s the “new” guy), and the returning Cody Willis on SECOND drums.
The crew came to rumble. The setlist was spread fairly equally throughout their entire massive discography, with new LPs Tarantula Heart and Bad Mood Rising getting about equal weight as mid-period stuff (Nude with Boots) and the low-n-heavy early classics Bullhead and Houdini. “The Bloated Pope”, from the Pigs of the Roman Empire was a nice little early rarity.
As a four piece with both Willis and Mcdonald, the band is now balancing the Centurion stomp of their early ’00 recordings with their more rock centric.. and even glam centric… most recent era. Yet again, Melvins have evolved and now they have the hard bash of two drummers, but also have the flight and fancy of their most recent, dare I say, whimsical era? Long time fans usually appreciate the band for the weird-n-heavy-n-mean aspect, which I love. But, I also love it when the Melvins are there to have fun. And it definitely seemed like they were having fun in Lancaster.
They played songs fast an almost punky, as opposed to a lumbering metal approach, and throughout the show, perhaps because things were kicking so swiftly, it seemed like Buzz had to turn around to hide the joy on his face. I should also point out the obvious. Buzz really is a guitar God that can make the guitar absolutely roar. Steve, the ham of the band (and I mean that as a very high compliment), was strutting around and jump kicking, with moves borrowed from Kiss, Slade, and the Sweet. He loves to do that thing where he widens his eyes and has a look of surprise on his face while dropping a heavy line as if to say, “can you believe this?” I love when he does that too.
The two-drummer lineup is always special. The current set seems to focus on this aspect and has a few segments that allows the dual crack attack to really kick it out. Dale anmd Cody are right and left-handed, respectively, so when they paly there is a fantastic mirror image. During the drum focused sections, it’s a lot of fun to see them both playing in tandem, and then breaking the chain and playing against each other. It’s a massive strike that really gave the band a massive WHOMP.
They closed the set with a massive 20 minute rendition of “Your Blessened” that melted into “Night Goat.” The rendition felt like a massive wave of raw power. And it was all over in what felt like 15 minutes, even though it was a 65 minute set. There’s no higher compliment than that.
Redd Kross opened the show with their own full 60 minute set. Redd Kross’ current lineup is of course Jeff McDonald with brother Steven, along with Dale of the Melvins and guitarist Jason Shapiro. The band focused on their great new double LP Redd Kross with hitters “Candy Coloured Catastrophe” and “I’ll take your word for it” getting play along with three other new tunes. Dressed in sort of Beatles-go-to-India neru suits, the band celebrated their own history as much as they played up the excess, and perhaps innocence, of 60s and 70s rock, as they are wont to do.
Redd kross is always a lot of fun since they appreciate and pay homage to rock hallmarks as much as they lovingly nudge the genre. That is, they make smart references and specific strikes, but never dwell on them to the point where it feels like they are looking for a pat on the back. To the contrary, at the Lancaster show, they whipped through their tunes super fast and you really had look around the room to keep up. At one point, Jeff sang with a towel over his head, resembling a ghost or zombie.
The band was energetic, melodic, smart, and a lot of fun. Redd Kross might be the most musically knowledgeable people in the state at any given time, but they let you figure that out without making it obvious. That’s why they are forever a cult band, but the cult is a dedicated one, indeed.