King Buzzo - 7/5/2014 - Syracuse, NY

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King Buzzo of the Melvins
This Machine Kills Artists Solo Acoustic Tour
With Special Guest: Emma Ruth Rundle
July 5, 2014 at Westcott Theater in Syracuse, NY

by Tom "AroundTheWorld" Carpenter
Whether you are a fan of Metal, Grunge, Alternative, Punk, or any of the hybrids of the mentioned genres, you have more than likely had a brush with the Melvins. The band's story is one of endurance. In their more than thirty-year history they have released 30 albums of studio and live material, dozens of limited and highly limited 12-inch, 10-inch, and 7-inch records, and played more than 2000 live performances.
They have toured with some of the biggest names in the history of Rock, such as KISS, Primis, TOOL, Mudhoney, Nirvana, and many, many more. My first time seeing them live was when they opened for none other than GWAR at The Lost Horizon in 1992, I saw them again with White Zombie, but I am not sure what year...
Formed in 1983, by Roger "Buzz" Osborne, a.k.a. King Buzzo, the band took their name from a despised manager at a Thriftway store where Osborne once worked.

The Melvins' music is inspired by Metal bands such as Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, and KISS, as well as Punk bands such as Black Flag and Flipper. Their song structures are anything but ordinary, and usually slower and dirgy, making them hard to classify. The have been refered to as Sludge Metal, Hardcore Punk, and Stoner Metal, among other labels.

They have inspired many bands including TOOL, (who are friends with the Melvins), as well as Mastadon, and Neurosis.
The band usually plays as a three piece, consisting of King Buzzo, drummer Dale Crover, (both founding members), and different bass players. In more recent years they perform as a four piece band with two drummers.
There is even a version of the band called Melvins Lite consisting of Osborne, Crover, and bassist Trevor Dunn. The Osborne, Crover, Dunn version of the band embarked upon a Record setting tour in 2012. Beginning on September 5th in Ancorage, Alaska, and ending on October 25th in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Melvins played 51 shows in 51 days, with one show in every state in the USA, plus a show in the District of Columbia. Buzz Osborne has colaborated with TOOL, Dave Grohl, and many more. The Melvins also released not one, but two records with music by the Melvins and lyrics by Jello Biafra of The Dead Kennedys (whom my band Born Again Savages were lucky enough to play a show with just two weeks prior). Through Grohl, Buzz was introduced to Kurt Cobain and became the bass player in Cobain's first band called Fecal Matter. In addition, Buzz is a founding member of the band Fantômas with Mike Patton of Faith No More & Mr. Bungle.
In June of 2014, King Buzzo released his first solo release, a 17-track acoustic album on Ipecac Records, titled This Machine Kills Artists. The title is a take off on folk singer & activist Woody Guthrie's "This Machine Kills Fascists", which he painted on his acoustic guitar back in 1940. Even the associated artwork for the tour pays homage to Guthrie.
To some, Buzz playing acoustic may seem as a departure from his usual style. But as the main song writer of the Melvins, Buzz works out most of the bands songs acoustically before making them electric, so it was a natural thing to just release the album that way. And this is a TRUE acoustic album, with no electric guitars, amplifiers, or direct boxes used during recording. It is a chance for Osborne to show off his offbeat, but enthralling, song writing ability, in the raw, with no embellishments.
King Buzzo began his current tour in June in San Diego and will continue around the USA for the summer, before jetting off to Europe and Australia in August and September. Luckily, Syracuse always has a great turnout for the Melvins, so we were included on the solo tour with a date at The Westcott Theater.
Chris Besaw and I arrived at The Westcott Theater just as Buzz pulled up in his big white van. He unloaded his gear and ran through his sound check. While Buzz was doing his check, the tour manager came and got us. As soon as Buzz was done, we headed upstairs to the green room to do our interview. After a false start to the interview, due to nearly dead batteries, we resumed and everything went well.

We talked for 15 minutes about the new record, his past, and his future. He was fun to chat with, quick with the jokes, and laughed easily. He also let us know that the new Melvins record will come out in October. When asked if he was ever bothered by the fact that many of his friends and contemporaries have gone on to big commercial success, he let me know in no uncertain terms that fame was not his motivator. He is proud to be a working musician, that tours and plays, and makes a living doing what he loves.
I was informed that Buzz likes cool t-shirts, so as a gift I brought him one of my notorious Syracuse: The Bath Salt City shirts and a Born Again Savages shirt.
We wrapped up the interview, snapped a few photos together, and thanked Buzz for taking the time to chat with us. Then we packed up our gear, headed out on to Westcott Street, and got Chinese food while we waited for the doors to open for the show.

At 8:15 the house lights dimmed and the show began with Emma Ruth Rundle, a musician and visual artist born and based in Los Angeles, California. She is on tour supporting her latest release on the Sargent House label titled: "Some Heavy Ocean."
Emma Ruth Rundle is a lovely, tall, thin woman with long brown hair. She walked onto the stage dressed all in black. The stage was lit with mostly blue lights and had no decoration. It was just her, a guitar, a keyboard, and a bunch of pedals.
ERR's vocal style is breathy and haunting, and somewhat etherial in a way that reminded me very much of Tori Amos, a comparison that I am sure she gets tired of hearing. But, I LOVE Tori Amos (She even kissed me on the cheek once!), so it wasn't a bad thing! Much of the time Emma's voice barely raised above a whisper. Her music was very ambient and laid back, not at all the opening act I had expected for King Buzzo. You had to pay attention. And, the crowd politely did. After her second song, ERR stepped to the mic saying, "I'm probably more afraid of you, than you are of me" and invited the crowd to come closer to the stage, which they politely did. The majority of the crowd remained politely in front of the stage for the remainder of Emma's set. When she finished, she thanked everyone for coming and listening so politely. In addition to being a talented musician, Emma is also a great visual artist. Her paintings are wonderful. A visit to her website would be time well spent.

After her set was done, I headed out to have a smoke and bumped into my old friend, (and Center of the Musical Universe) Paulie Silverman. He busted my chops for not making it out to Paulie-Palooza, the day-long local music festival held annually in his honor. I explained that I had been unable to make it due to family obligations. Paulie was excited as Chris and I were to see Buzz play.

Luckily, we did not have to wait too long. Before we were even finished with our cigarettes, King Buzzo came to the stage and strummed his guitar.
We IMMEDIATELY snuffed our butts, and headed inside for the main attraction!
The stage was even more spartan than during ERR's set. There was no keyboard, just Buzz and his guitar under a canopy of nothing but red lights.
He opened with the classic Melvins tune: "Boris," followed by a cover of Alice Cooper's "Ballad of David Fry," and then another Melvins song: "Suicide In Progress." After that, he spoke to the audience, saying: "My name is Buzz and thank you for coming tonight! Syracuse!" He added, "I know you guys have a lot of choices on a Saturday night...I'm glad you came here. I can NOT tell you how much I appreciate it. This is a new thing for me, and I appreciate ANY and ALL support. Thank you!" He asked what the crowd was drinking. "You guys drinking booze?" which received the obligatory loud response. "You know why I don't drink booze?" An audience member shouted out: "You get violent?" to which Buzz responded, "Because lost my ID...( laughs) No, because when I drink booze, in this order... I break out in felonies, and then bandages. Our drummer, Dale, says it's best for ALL of us if I don't drink... (laughs) I tend to believe everything he says."
Buzz went on to tell the crowd that he would be playing some classic Melvins songs, mentioned that he played a cover by Alice Cooper, and that he would be playing material from the new album, "but more importantly", he would tell them a "really pointless, but semi-funny story. How's that sound?" The crowd seemed to get behind the idea. "I'll take that as a 'Fuck Yeah, Buzz!'" and told the crowd, "I'll see you in a minute", and launched into the first four songs song from This Machine Kills Artists, "Dark Brown Teeth", "Rough Democracy", "Laid Back Walking", and "Drunken Baby."

His pointless story of the night, which was rather funny was about the Melvins playing a show with Mike Patton. Apparently, the crowd showed the Melvins no respect. They were booing the Melvins as they came on stage, and threw trash at them through the entire show. This upset Mike Patton so much that he ripped up the planned set lists, and distributed new ones to the band saying only "Tonight they will pay!" When he took the stage, the first 50 minutes were nothing but ear-splitting white noise. Buzz never mentioned if Patton & company even played any actual songs. His moral to the story: Bands that select a band to tour with them actually LIKE that band, and want to expose you to them, so show them some respect. The rest of the set consisted of the Melvins song "Evil New War God", followed by "The Vulgar Joke" and "How I Became Offensive" off This Machine Kills Artists. Buzz ended the night with three Melvins songs: "We Are Doomed", "Hooch", and "Revolve." He finished his set, thanked the crowd for coming and for their continued support, packed up his gear in the van, and headed off to the next gig before Chris and I were even ready to leave. And, we didn't have to load nearly as much gear... It was a great night of music in the Salt City. Be sure to check out the videos below. The first is the full Buzz Osborne interview and his performance of the song "Dark Brown Teeth", the second is just the song. There are more great photos by Chris Besaw below the videos.