Melvins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Melvins
Melvins live at Hellfest in June 2023. Left to right: Dale Crover, Buzz Osborne and Steven Shane McDonald.
Background information
Origin	Montesano, Washington, U.S.
Genres	Sludge metal experimental rock alternative metal grunge hardcore punk (early)
Years active	1983–present
Members	Buzz Osborne Dale Crover Steven Shane McDonald Coady Willis (touring)
Past members	Mike Dillard Matt Lukin Lori Black Joe Preston Mark Deutrom Kevin Rutmanis Jared Warren Trevor Dunn Jeff Pinkus

Melvins (sometimes The Melvins) is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. They originally performed as only a trio but later also sometimes appeared as a quartet with either two drummers or two bassists. Since 1984, vocalist and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been constant members.

History

Melvins were formed in early 1983 by Buzz Osborne (guitar, vocals), Matt Lukin (bass) and Mike Dillard (drums) who all went to Montesano Jr./Sr. High School in Montesano, Washington. In the beginning they played Jimi Hendrix and Who covers, and also began playing fast hardcore punk. When Dillard left the band, Dale Crover took his place, and the band's rehearsals moved to a back room of Crover's parents' house in Aberdeen, Washington. Soon afterward, they started to play songs slower and "heavier" than nearly anyone else at the time.

In 1985, C/Z Records was created to document the Washington music scene. The label released Deep Six, featuring four songs by the Melvins. In 1986 the band released their debut, the Six Songs EP, on C/Z Records (later releases expanded and retitled this as 8 Songs, 10 Songs, and eventually 26 Songs in 2003 on Ipecac Recordings). The album was recorded live to a two track at the now closed Ironwood Studio in Seattle on February 8, 1986.

In October 1986, they recorded their first full-length album, Gluey Porch Treatments.

When Nirvana's Nevermind became a massive and unexpected success, Melvins were one of many groups to benefit from Nirvana's support. Melvins were signed by Atlantic Records, and its first major label release, 1993's Houdini, entered the Billboard Heatseekers chart at 29.

Melvins released their second album for Atlantic in 1994. Their next full-length album, Honky, came out in 1997.

Frontman Buzz Osborne performing in 2006

The band toured the U.S. in the fall of 2006 in support of their album, (A) Senile Animal. The Melvins also toured briefly the United Kingdom in mid-December 2006.

On June 16 and 17, 2008, a lineup of Osborne, original drummer Mike Dillard, and Dale Crover (playing bass) played two shows at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in honor of Jello Biafra's 50th birthday. Both sets were composed of songs from The Mangled Demos, a collection of early material released on the Alternative Tentacles record label in 2005.

In July 2008, their new album was released. In December 2008, along with Mike Patton, the Melvins co-curated an edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties Nightmare Before Christmas festival. They chose half of the lineup and also performed themselves.

Melvins started 2011 with a series of unique shows. Four of the shows were every Friday at Spaceland's in California. January 7 featured the current line-up playing Colossus of Destiny, Lysol, and Eggnog. Jan 14 featured a Melvins 1983 set followed by the band playing Houdini. Jan 21 featured a two-piece Melvins set followed by the current lineup playing Bullhead.

Melvins formed a lineup called Melvins Lite (Buzz, Dale, and Trevor Dunn) that toured through parts of 2011. This line-up released an album, Freak P..., in June 2012 on Ipecac Recordings. The main four-piece lineup remains active as well and released a digital EP, The Bulls & the Bees, in March on Scion a/v.

In 2012, Melvins Lite completed a record-breaking tour, having performed every night for 51 straight days, once in each of the 50 United States and once in the District of Columbia. The tour started on September 5 in Anchorage, Alaska and ended in Honolulu, Hawaii on October 25, 2012.

Everybody Loves Sausages, an album of cover songs performed with special guests, was released by Ipecac on April 30, 2013.

In 2013, Melvins marked 30 years as a band with an extensive summer tour supported by Honky, Die Kreuzen and Negative Approach. Grunge pioneers Mudhoney also joined the band for two shows on the 30th anniversary tour. Rutmanis reconciled with his former bandmates, appearing on the 2013 album, Everybody Loves Sausages and a 2014 7" single.

In July 2017, the band released the double album A Walk with Love & Death. One of the discs, Love, is a 14 song soundtrack to a short film of the same name, by Jesse Nieminen. The other disc, Death, is made up of standard Melvins songs.

The band released Pinkus A... Technician in April 2018.

Melvins' 24th studio album, Working with God, was released on February 26, 2021, and once again includes the 1983 lineup of Osborne, Crover and Dillard reunited.

Musical style and influences

Variously described as a sludge metal, grunge, experimental rock, alternative metal and doom metal band, Melvins explored a variety of different styles throughout its career, including noise rock, dark ambient, noise, jazz-rock, avant-garde music, electroacoustic music and punk country. Initially starting out as a hardcore punk act, its sound eventually started to absorb influences by Black Flag's mix of punk and metal, slow punk acts like Flipper and the Wipers, industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle and also by hard rock and metal bands such as Judas Priest, Kiss and Alice Cooper. Since the 1990s, the band has occasionally touched on electronic music, as on Prick (1994), Colossus of Destiny (1998) and Pigs of the Roman Empire (2004) – the latter a collaboration with dark ambient pioneer Lustmord. Buzz also listed Swans and Venom as early influences on the band.

Though the band are often compared to Black Sabbath, Buzzo has stated that his guitar playing is more influenced by Black Flag.

Legacy

Melvins' sludgy sound was an influence on grunge music, including bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Green River, and many other bands from Seattle. They have also influenced artists outside the grunge scene, including Tool, Mike Patton of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More, Boris (who took their name from the title of a Melvins song), Pig Destroyer, Helmet, Full of Hell, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Sleep, Earth, Sunn O))), Lamb of God, Mastodon, Neurosis, High on Fire, Baroness, Eyehategod and Isis. AllMusic wrote "their ability to combine punk with a strong Black Sabbath influence had a major impact on everything from grunge to alternative metal to doom metal." In 2017, Metal Injection ranked Melvins at number 2 on their list of "10 Heaviest Grunge Bands".

Members

• Buzz Osborne – guitars, lead vocals (1983–present)
• Dale Crover – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1984–present); bass (2008–2015)
• Steven Shane McDonald – bass, backing vocals (2015–present)

Former members

• Mike Dillard – drums (1983–1984; 2008–2015, 2020, with Melvins 1983)
• Matt Lukin – bass, backing vocals (1983–1988)
• Lori "Lorax" Black – bass (1988–1993)
• Joe Preston – bass, backing vocals (Occasionally on and off in 1991–1992)
• Mark Deutrom – bass, guitars (1993–1998)
• Kevin Rutmanis – bass (1998–2005)
• Trevor Dunn – bass (2005, 2007, 2009; touring only); upright bass, backing vocals (2011–2015, with Melvins Lite)
• Jared Warren – bass, backing vocals (2006–2015)
• Coady Willis – drums, backing vocals (2006–2015)
• Jeff Pinkus – bass, backing vocals (2013–2018)

Touring members

• Tom Flynn – bass (1990)
• Dave Sahijdak – bass (1993)
• Billy Anderson – bass (1993)
• David Scott Stone – guitars (2000–2001), bass (2004–2006)

Timeline

Discography

See also

In Spanish: Melvins para niños