I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 27, 2026] Melvins

Despite everything in the world indicating that I should be a Melvins fan, for whatever reason, I just never followed them.

And I’d never wanted to see them live.  Then in 2023, they did a coheadlining tour with Boris (which I wasn’t going to miss).  During that show, Dale Crover had an injury so Coady Willis played drums.   But this time, Dale was back and BOTH drummers were up on stage.

Recent bassist (they have had many bassists) Steven Shane McDonald (who was one of the main dudes in Redd Kross, a band I have never gotten into) was on bass and is a lot of fun.  Despite Melvins being a heavy punk band, McDonald acts like a massive hippie.  He has long hair, was wearing a jump suit with eyes all over it and is very chill (except when he’s screaming).   He also plays his bass in a great way–lots of reverb and pedals and often playing high on the neck creating a sound that doesn’t seem to fit what I think of the Melvins’ sound, but which worked really well.

And then there is Buzz Osbourne (King Buzzo).  Last time he was on the far side of the stage, but this time i Was right in front of him.  Like last time he was wearing a caftan with a giant eyeball on it and of course, his legendary hair.  I didn’t realize he was a “good” guitar player.  I assumed the band played sludgy slow songs with just a few chords.  I kind of assumed that they didn’t care about the music.  But that’s wrong.  Buzz played solos and clearly does give a shit.

Last time, it took a couple of songs to win me over, but tonight I was fully into it.  As were most of the audience (I deliberately arrived earl than I normally would because I knew people weren’t going to blow off the opening band).  Indeed, after fifteen minutes a mosh pit started (not bad for an opening band).

As I said I always assumed Melvins songs were slow and sludgy, but most of the earlier songs in the set were pretty fast tempo.

I’m going to admit, though, that the most fun part of the show was the two drummers.  I’ve seen a few bands with two drummers and it’s always neat.  You kind of think they can’t possibly stay in sync, but come one, they are drummers of course they can.  What was really fun about this pair was that Dale is right handed and Coady is left handed so they mirrored each other.  Mostly they played the same thing but from time to time, one of them would add extra fills or wood blocks or something.  I loved at the end of the first song the both held their sticks over the heads in a X shape while they prepped to start song 2.

The first two songs were relatively new (2024 and 2022).  It was on the second song that I realized that the vocals were weird and its because Buzz and Dale were singing at the same time.

Things slowed down a bit for the next song which was sung by Steven and Dale.  It was a groovy song which I would never have guessed was a Rolling Stones cover.

Then they got faster and heavier (and that’s when the mosh pot started).  A song from The Bride Screamed Murder (one of a few albums that have two drummers on it).  This song featured drum solos (sort of).  Midway through, the guitars stopped and each drummer took a turn to do a brief (one bar) “solo.”  They went back and forth between the two and it was cool to see their different approaches.

Civilized Worm is from that same era and is a bit more slow and, dare I say it, catchy.  This song ended with a rumbling drum section that saw both drums play slower and quieter until Dale broke the silence by smashing into It’s Shoved.  This and A History of Bad Men were played the last time I saw them.  Steven sang Bad Men and asked who here wanted to party with the Melvins–we all did.  Incidentally, Steven is 58 years old and is jumping around on stage in a very impressive way.  I also liked the vocal harmonies on this song with each guy taking part in the middle.

They slowed things down with the heavy The Bit and then returned to the double drummer era with the cool Blood Witch which featured a rather complex drum construction that was fun to try and keep up with.

The last three songs were from their 1993 Houdini album.  I’m guessing old school fans were pretty excited to hear them.  Hag Me was a slow sludgy songs that halted the mosh pits.  But Honey Bucket (a single from the album(!)) was fast and intense and the pit was underway once again.  At one point a guy bounced out of the pit, stood in front of me for a moment, took out his phone, snapped a rather good band photo, and then jumped back into the fray.

For the final song, Night Goat (which the played last time too) Trevor Dunn came out and played bass with them.  I didn’t know that Trevor Dunn had been in the Melvins (although not for this album) so it made sense that he would join the chaos on stage for this last heavy rumbling song.  They kept the end of the song rumbling and thrashing and just when it seemed like it was over, the drummers kicked in for one more round.

I admit I was getting a little tired by the end–an hour of intensity was quite a lot.  So while I’m glad I got to see Melvins again and I would happily see them open for someone else, I might find a headlining set to be too much.

♥ Tarantula Heart (2024)
¢ Bad Moon Rising (2022)
‰ Five Legged Dog (2021)
⊗ The Bride Screamed Murder (2010)
Æ (A) Senile Animal (2006)
¥ Stag (1996)
∀ Stoner Witch (1994)
Θ Houdini (1993)
ψ Bullhead (1991)