Hear Melvins’ King Buzzo Go Acoustic for New 10-Inch, Album, Tour
“What I’m doing, it’s not folk music, it’s not heavy metal. It’s ‘molk,’ how ’bout that?” says King Buzzo Osborne, frontman for avant-sludge institution the Melvins.
Check Out the 50 Best Rock-Star Instagram Accounts
After a deafening 30 years of pioneering lurch-rock, frenzied double-drummer insanity and abrasive noise tangents, Osborne is finally ready to walk a road he’s never traveled — going unplugged and acoustic. But don’t worry, first taste “Dark Brown Teeth” still has the doomy, ill-angled, Beefheartian edge his band is renown for. “My wife said, ‘It sounds like the Melvins,'” he says. “Well, which would make sense because I write 99 percent of the material.”
“What usually happens with people, when they do something of this nature, especially rock & rollers, they either sound like a shitty version of Woody Guthrie or a half-assed version of something horrible like James Taylor,” he says. “We don’t need another Woody. Even Bob Dylan knew he couldn’t be Woody Guthrie… I like Woody Guthrie fine, but I don’t need the 50th generation version of it. Do you?”
“Dark Brown Teeth” will appear on This Machine Kills Artists, a limited edition 10-inch on Amphetamine Reptile that will be sold primarily during a 15-date solo tour this March. Four original songs will be on the record, alongside acoustic versions of Melvs classics “Let God Be Your Gardener” and “Revolve.” They’re expected to appear again on the completed (but as-yet-untitled) collection of 17 originals, due on Ipecac in June. “We have another [Melvins] album in the works as well, it’s not gonna come out right on top of this, but it’s right there,” he says. “And that’ll be a head-scratcher for people as well. I don’t really wanna let too much out of the bag ’cause it’s a good surprise.”
In the meantime, he’ll perform his first acoustic show on February 26 at a Scion Rock Show in Los Angeles. Is the man who almost never prints lyric sheets worried about being so naked, exposed, and understandable? “Well, you know, I conquered my stage fright a long time ago,” he says. “In my line of work, it’s kind of a pre-requisite that you not feel bad about looking stupid in front of a lot of people.”
Stream “Dark Brown Teeth” below:
Here’s where you can catch a Buzz:
2/26 – Los Angeles, CA – Scion Rock Show
3/2 – Minneapolis, MN – Grumpy’s
3/4 – Des Moines, IA- Vaudeville Mews
3/6 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
3/7 – St. Louis, MO – Fubar
3/8 – Kansas City, MO – The Riot Room
3/10 – Norman, OK – Opolis
3/11 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada
3/13 Austin, TX – Record Label Rummage Sale
3/16 – Little Rock, AR – Stickyz Rock’n’Roll Chicken Shack
3/17 – Memphis, TN – Hi-Tone
3/20 – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
3/21 – Indianapolis, IN – Radio Radio
3/22 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
3/23 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon