Melvins Covering The Butthole Surfers.

Check out the Melvins doing a scorching rendition of the Butthole Surfers' tune "Graveyard" off the 1987 album Locust Abortion Technician. Speaking of Butthole Surfers, prepare yourself for a vinyl reissue onslaught of the bands tripped-out freaked-out classic catalog; Psychic, Powerless.... Another Man’s Sac, Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Locust Abortion Technician and Hairway to Steven will be released all at once on October 1st. via the band's own Latino Bugger Veil label.

King Buzzo's 20 Year Old Cassette.

MELVINS

King Buzzo

BR32-4, TUP39-4

Buzzo’s four-track Kiss-style solo EP which features contributions from one Dale Nixon (aka Dave Grohl). Originally released sometime in 1992 via a joint venture between Boner & Tupelo Recording Company. Cover and inset paintings by Harvey Bennett Stafford who also painted the covers of the Dale Crover & Joe Preston solo EPs. Once available for the cool low price of $5.75 + S&H.

Classic Melvins Tour Van For Sale!

 It's time to start playing the Lotto. The Melvins' tour van from the days of yore is up for auction. More photos and Ebay info HERE. 

The Melvins and Unsane will be touring the US (presumably in an upgraded van) this Spring. Dates HERE.

The Melvins Finest Moments Revisited.

The Melvins will be playing a series of two night residency shows in select cities this Spring. Each show will feature two sets revisiting their classic material. Night #1: first set will include songs from Lysol and Egg Nog followed by a second set of cuts from Houdini. Night #2: first set will feature Bullhead in its entirety followed by a second set of Stoner Witch in its entirety. Not to be missed.

05/13 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
05/14 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
05/16 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
05/17 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
05/27 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
05/28 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
05/31 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
06/01 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
06/03 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock club
06/04 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock club
06/06 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
06/07 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Incredible Ozma Era Melvins Show From 1989!

So apparently awhile back Scott Kelly from Neurosis started an online radio station blog thing called Combat Music Radio. Various folks contribute shows, including thundering bass-lord Joe Preston. His latest post is an amazing Melvins live show at the Covered Wagon from 1989.

Preson's words:

"... my friends in Nirvana who are amused at my obsessive fascination with the Melvins invite me to meet up with them in San Francisco where they will be playing a show with my heroes. I managed to catch a ride down there with Kurt’s girlfriend.... I ran across this board tape of the show while rummaging through some old boxes of stuff, and I’m glad to know it brings me as much joy to listen to now as it did when I got home from that trip....."

Read the full story and stream the show HERE.

Happy 25th Birthday Melvins.

In celebration of their 25 years of existence the Melvins are playing a string of shows and have taken command over the latest cover of The Wire.

Upcoming live dates:
05/15 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
05/16 Boston, MA @ Paradise
05/18 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
05/20 Austin, TX @ Emo’s
05/22 Seattle, WA @ Showbox At The Market
05/23 Seattle, WA @ Showbox At The Market
05/24 Portland, OR @ Roseland
07/24 Naeba Ski Resort, JPN @ Fuji Rock Festival
09/12 Monticello, NY @ ATP New York

Shrinebuilder Is Born!

Press release via Neurot Recordings announced on various sites today: Shrinebuilder is a project that features, in equal measure, Wino (St, Vitus, Hidden Hand), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Al Cisneros (Om, Sleep), and Dale Crover (Melvins). The band will be in the studio with Toshi from January 9th through January 11th. Shrinebuilder's debut full-length, currently self-titled, is set for a summer 2009 release on Neurot Recordings. Scott Kelly has announced that he will report live from the studio via We Burn Through The Night beginning no later than Saturday, January 10th. Look for guest blogs by other members of Shrinebuilder as well as possible in-studio photos from the band.

SF Bay Guardian Covers Biafra Five-O.

Mo' Jello
Punk icon Biafra's golden jubilee approaches.
BY KIMBERLY CHUN
Wednesday June 11, 2008

SONIC REDUCER What do you give a 50-year-old punk icon who has everything? A silver-studded dog collar? A reason to believe — or rebel? Peace of mind?

"Boy, I can't think of much," Jello Biafra, né Eric Boucher, says with a chuckle at the question of what to gift him for his 50th birthday June 17. "I'm already such a pack rat, the last thing I need is more stuff. The main vice is vinyl, but I archive a lot of stuff. I'm a librarian's kid."

Instead, the ex–Dead Kennedys vocalist, in characteristically against-the-grain fashion, will gift celebrants at his birthday-bash-to-end-all-bashes, the two-day "Biafra Five-O" at Great American Music Hall, with turns alongside the Melvins and a newly assembled band, the Axis of Merry Evildoers, which includes Victims Family's Ralph Spight on guitar, Faith No More's Billy Gould on bass, and Sharkbait's Jon Weiss on drums.

Oh yeah, and each punk-rock fire-/party-starter will receive a poster, or if it arrives in time, a 7-inch of Biafra and members of Zen Gorilla covering Rev. Horton Heat's "Speed Demon" and Frankie Laine's "Jezebel."

So what gives with the very public celebration of three decades of punky monkey-wrenching? "I saw the Stooges on Iggy's 60th last year, and that was a great show," Biafra tells me while snacking in his San Francisco digs. "I got carried away with the moment and promised myself, if he's that good at 60, I better be a tenth as good at 50 and get something together."

Expect Biafra's new group to be part of a continuum: one that began with Dead Kennedys and has manifested in collaborations with the Melvins, DOA, No Means No, Al Jourgensen, Mojo Nixon, and others. "The hope is you're still going to get a pretty sharp set of teeth," he promises. And speaking of DK, the man who would be SF's mayor ("It was done as a prank") — and who was nominated as the Green Party's 2000 presidential bid, right on the coattails of Ralph Nader ("It kind of got dumped in my lap") — is also recognizing the 30th anniversary of the Dead Kennedys, which played its first show in July 1978 opening for the Offs, DV-8, and Negative Trend, despite an extremely acrimonious lawsuit between the vocalist and his bandmates that led a jury to award control of the catalog to the rest of the group.

Despite intimations of a reunion on the part of the remaining Dead Kennedys, the bitterness of the conflict still rankles, with Biafra confessing with a wry chuckle, "I've had battles with suicidal depression — especially after that ugly Dead Kennedys lawsuit." Further, he says, "I really resent all the times they played these so-called reunion shows advertised as reunions, and there's my picture in the ad. I think we have a new genre of punk, and it's called fraudcore!"

Nonetheless, he hasn't completely ruled out a reconciliation: "Sure, if those guys were ever willing to undo every last bit of damage they've done, I'd consider going back on stage with them. But so far they've been way too greedy and way too cowardly to even consider it."

So leave it to the Melvins to convince Biafra to tackle a few DK songs in honor of his birthday. The once SF-based band — in a near-original lineup including Mike Dillard — also will attack early hardcore tunes culled from a 1984 demo sent to Biafra. It turns out those pack-rat tendencies, coupled with Biafra's abiding love of music, led him to hold onto that ancient tape, which the Melvins lost long ago. "It's a good thing I saved these things," Biafra says. "They'd forgotten those songs existed."

BIAFRA FIVE-O

With Jello Biafra and the Melvins, Biafra and the Axis of Merry Evildoers, the Melvins, and (Mon/16) Drunk Injuns and Los Olvidados, and (Tues/17) Triclops!

Mon/16–Tues/17, 8 p.m., $22-$40
Great American Music Hall
859 O'Farrell, SF

Doing It Up Right For Biafra's Five-O.

Alternative Tentacles and Great American Music Hall present a two night celebration in honor of Jello Biafra's sweet 50th birthday.

BIAFRA FIVE - O

Come "celebrate" 50 years of Jello plaguing the earth (and the 30th Anniversary of Dead Kennedys)

June 16th
Jello Biafra with the Melvins
Jello Biafra without the Melvins (new music, new band!)
Drunk Injuns
Los Olvidados
The Melvins play "Mangled Demos"

June 17th
Jello Biafra with the Melvins
Jello Biafra without the Melvins
Triclops!
Akimbo
The Melvins play "Mangled Demos"
both shows 8 pm

Details:
Newly hatched Biafra band (as yet unnamed) is Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident, Hellworms, etc.) on guitar, Billy Gould (Faith No More, Cool Arrow Records, etc.) on bass, and Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey, Tonnage, etc.) on drums.

Coady and Jared of the Melvins are recordng the new Big Business album in June, so the Jelvins bassist this round will be Andy Coronado (Wrangler Brutes, White Shit, Skull Kontrol). The emphasis will be on new music, with the occasional nod to the past evil doing.

Tickets are $22 per night in advance or $40 for both nights plus free gift-oid.
To open the shows, the Melvins reach back to their original '83 hardcore days with King Buzzo on guitar, original drummer Mike Dillard and Dale Crover manning the bass. This Melvins line-up goes on first at 8:00 sharp.