the Melvins return with their first ever double album, A Walk With Love and Death

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Written by brian

Created: 09 April 2017

The Melvins just announced what will be their first double album, A Walk With Love and Death, which will hit the streets on July 7 via Ipecac Recordings. The dual albums find the trio of Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover and Steve McDonald showcasing two distinct sides to the band’s music: Death, a proper Melvins’ release and Love, the score to the Jesse Nieminen directed, self-produced short also titled A Walk With Love and Death. A release date for the short has not been announced yet but a trailer has been made available: https://youtu.be/NhWvlpf-uXg.

“This was a huge undertaking,” explained band ringleader Buzz Osborne. “All three things: the album, the soundtrack and the film are benchmarks for us.”

Drummer Dale Crover added, “A Walk With Love and Death is one giant, dark, moody, psychotic head trip! Not for the faint of heart. You'll sleep with the lights on after listening.”

The albums, which include guests Joey Santiago (The Pixies), Teri Gender Bender (Le Butcherettes/Crystal Fairy) and Anna Waronker (That Dog), were self-produced with engineer Toshi Kosai. A North American tour is in the works for this Summer with dates to be announced soon. A Walk With Love and Death pre-orders will launch soon, with the collection available as a double-CD, on vinyl and digitally.

A Walk With Love and Death track list:

Love

1. Aim High
2. Queen Powder Party
3. Street Level St. Paul
4. The Hidden Joice
5. Give It To Me
6. Chicken Butt
7. Eat Yourself Out
8. Scooba
9. Halfway to the Bakersfield Mall
10. Pacoima Normal
11. Park Head
12. T-Burg
13. Track Star
14. The Asshole Bastard

 Death

1. Sober-delic (acid only)
2. Euthanasia
3. What’s Wrong With You
4. Edgar the Elephant
5. Christ Hammer
6. Flaming Creature
7. Cactus Party
8. Cardboro Negro

Boner reissues Solo albums, Dale to tour with Redd Kross!

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Written by brian

Created: 12 March 2017

More good news on the reissue front, Boner Records has recently released the original Melvins solo albums from 1992 on vinyl for the first time in many years. Rumor has it there will be special editions of these at some point this summer, in addition to a mystery fourth solo album as well! In the meantime, you should be able to order these from your local record store, Boner's longtime distro Midheaven, or other online outlets. "In 1992 the Melvins' fascination / adoration / denigration of the mighty KISS rock and roll universe compelled them to excrete out three solo masterworks inspired by the KISS solo LPs. The first in the series is King Buzzo, from the Melvins' giggling guitar grumpus. Four songs of atmospheric clanging and rockin' banging. Also features the many talents, drumming and otherwise, of a famous Grunge™ superstar, whose name sort of rhymes with New Wave Asshole. The second in the series is Dale Crover, from the Melvins' sleepy drum caveman. Four songs of gloomy heaviness, with Dale doin' the drummin', singin', guitarin', and dancin'. The third in the series is Joe Preston, from the Melvins' electronic beard warlord. Three songs of fuzz bass computer drone temper tantrum. All three 12-inches reissued on vinyl after 100,000 years out of print."

 As most know Steven McDonald, recent Melvins bassist is in other great bands including Redd Kross and they announced recently that they'll be going on tour this spring and Dale will be joining them on drums! It's a four week tour so be sure to check them out if they're coming near you:

Redd Kross w/ Dale Crover — 2017 Tour Dates
04/15/17 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
04/17/17 Omaha, NE Slowdown
04/18/17 St. Paul, MN Amsterdam Bar and Hall
04/19/17 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club
04/21/17 St. Louis, MO The Firebird
04/22/17 Memphis, TN Growler’s
04/23/17 Dallas, TX Club Dada
04/25/17 Austin, TX Barracuda
04/26/17 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall
04/27/17 New Orleans, LA Siberia
04/29/17 Atlanta, GA The EARL (Atlanta Mess Around)
05/01/17 Durham, NC The Pinhook
05/02/17 Washington, DC Black Cat
05/03/17 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts
05/04/17 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
05/05/17 Montreal, QC Bar Le “Ritz” PDB
05/06/17 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace
05/08/17 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop
05/09/17 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups
05/10/17 Detriot, MI El Cub
05/11/17 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
05/12/17 Louisville, KY Zanzabar
05/13/17 Nashville, TN Third Man Records Blue Room
05/16/17 Los Angeles, CA The Echo

Steven recently spoke to Brooklyn Vegan about the tour and the addition of Dale to their lineup:
What is up with Redd Kross in 2017, why tour now?
"We are touring now because we found a rare moment where everyone is available and able. I am in two other touring bands: OFF! (with Keith Morris) and the Melvins, who I joined last year. Recording and touring with my other bands has taken up much of my time. I also produce bands in my home studio. I am deeply grateful to be able to say these are my “day” jobs.
Since the release of our much beloved Researching the Blues on Merge Records in 2012, Jeff has been keeping superfans satiated, digging deep into the archives and putting out three releases on our own mailorder-only label, Redd Kross Records. Among those is an extended version of our 1984 all-cover tunes concept record Teen Babes From Monsanto. We will be performing that whole record as part of our set on this tour. Dale Crover from the Melvins recently joined Redd Kross as our drummer, and we couldn’t be more excited about having him. Dale’s power and energy is like rocket fuel for the band, and I think his fans will be surprised and excited to hear him flexing his “groovy” chops."
What does the future hold for Redd Kross; with the addition of Dale Crover on drums could this signal a more active period ahead for the band?
"Yes, definitely! We’ve already started work on a new record. It is tentatively titled Octavia. It will be our eighth record. Dale is a big inspiration. He is a real working musician that has never retooled or changed his course. His enthusiasm for the band has been a great catalyst already. Look out for much more activity from us in the future."

Crystal Fairy out today!

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Written by brian

Created: 24 February 2017

Today marks the official release date of Crystal Fairy via Ipecac. As previously mentioned, Crystal Fairy is the latest project from Buzz and Dale, which also includes Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes and At the Drive-In/Mars Volta founder Omar Rodríguez-López. It's getting favorable reviews across the board and is currently streaming online via RollingStone.com! According to Ipecac the CD is in stores now and the vinyl will be available on March 10th with pre-orders purchased through their webstore shipping late next week. The limited edition pink vinyl version sold out during the pre-order phase, however the black vinyl is still available on their webstore.

 "It's one of my favorite things I've ever done. I guess the one thing I really liked was being able to write songs that Teri could sing. I think she's an unbelievable talent. It was a privilege to me to be able to write songs and then have somebody write lyrics and sing along ... in such a great way. It's not something that I take lightly. At all. … I love it. It was a joy and a pleasure to work with Teri. One of the high points of my career to me. And I've had a lot of 'em. I'm a very, very fortunate and hard-working guy." - Buzz via Rolling Stone

Decibel Magazine recently interviewed Buzz about Crystal Fairy - "The last night we recorded, Terri was putting vocals on a song called “Secret Agent Rat” and I had been thinking — because she speaks English and Spanish fluently — I had this idea in my head for a while that “Oh, she should sing one of these songs in Spanish. That’d be cool,” and I realized this was the last song and I was gonna tell her “Maybe you should try this in Spanish. It might be cool.” So I’m sitting there and we run the song, it was just me and her there in the studio with the engineer and she starts singing in Spanish. I couldn’t believe it. It was the fucking weirdest thing, totally weird. That was pretty strange. It was one of the thing that almost gives you the creeps."

Teri recently reflected upon the recording process of the Crystal Fairy album among other things with The Quietus - "It's very scary how sometimes we read each other's minds. I wish I could describe it. It's very surreal but with Buzz and Dale it just comes out. We did four songs in two days. I really wish I was a scientist to be able to explain it, but even then it would be impossible to convey how oddly easy it was to come up with the songs."

Amrep also released a limited edition 12" 45 RPM single which sold out very quickly last month. Side A is the title track Crystal Fairy and Side B is Chiseler. "So, what we's has here is their brand new 2-song 12 inch 45. That's right, 45 RPM in 12" format. No, you're not living in a cuckoo clock, this actually was a pretty common thing, back in the day. The mail order edition is limited to just 150 copies with a 3-color silk screened sleeve of Haze XXL's original linocut design & printed by Obsolete Industries in Austin, TX. (meaningless Bonus Points if you know what the smiley character on the back is.)" - AmRep

Crystal Fairy announce first shows, release new song "Chiseler"

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Written by brian

Created: 09 December 2016

Crystal Fairy announced today their first series of shows on the west coast to coincide with the release of their debut album on February 24th via Ipecac. The album is now up for pre-order on Ipecac's webstore in both CD/LP formats including a limited pink vinyl variant, as well as bundle options with a Crystal Fairy t-shirt. Additionally they also debuted Chiseler, a new song from the forthcoming album yesterday on Pitchfork.

Crystal Fairy is made up of Buzz and Dale from Melvins, Teri from Le Butcherettes and Omar from At The Drive In/Mars Volta.

Teri had this to say about Chiseler: "It was so much fun to write this song with Buzz, Omar and Dale. It literally just came out like a flying saucer while we were working the parts out for Chiseler. That same day we recorded everything. It was so impressive to see how well we all experiment with one another. While writing the lyrics for this one, I completely let my hand do the story telling... the unconscious is sometimes wiser than our premeditated thoughts."

 Crystal Fairy is featured on the cover of the latest edition of New Noise magazine, order it here.

• Crystal Fairy tour dates, tickets on sale Friday, Dec. 16 at 10 AM Pacific (these tour dates have been canceled due to an unforseen scheduling conflict):
• February 21 Santa Ana, CA The Observatory Constellation Room
• February 22 San Diego, CA Casbah
• February 23 Pioneertown, CA Pappy & Harriet’s
• February 24 Los Angeles, CA The Troubadour
• February 25 San Francisco, CA Slim’s

Poster art by Pedro Mendoza (these tour dates have been canceled)

Melvins announce new Crystal Fairy project

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Written by brian

Created: 04 October 2016

Melvins just announced the existence of Crystal Fairy, a new project they've started along with Teri from Le Butcherettes and Omar Rodríguez-López of Mars Volta/At the Drive-In. Amrep will be releasing a 7" with two songs on October 10th via Shoxop, and Ipecac will be releasing a full length from the new band on February 24th, 2017! Check out "Drugs on the Bus", a track from the 7" below! 

“When the Melvins toured with Le Butcherettes, Teri would come out at the end of the set and do ‘Rebel Girl’ with us. It was almost always the highlight of the show!  From doing that, we knew there was some chemistry between us that was worth exploring. We became close friends with both Teri and Omar on the tour and came up with the idea of starting a new band with them." - Dale

“The Melvins have had many different line-ups, and we’ll continue to mix things up but with Crystal Fairy, working with Teri and Omar, I know this was something different and deserved to have its own identity.” - Buzz

“Omar caught up with us on the Melvins’ tour because he is an admirer. Through the travels, the Melvins and Omar connected as well. Sometimes, Omar and I would fantasize loudly of hopefully being able to form a power together. Before we knew it, we were writing music in the studio (both in El Paso and L.A.) and birthed a magical little gem that I am extremely proud to be a part of.” - Teri

“While our main bands will still remain our focus and priority, we intend to have as much fun as possible recording and touring with this special and unique project." - Omar

Crystal Fairy self-titled debut track list

1. Chiseler
2. Drugs on the Bus
3. Necklace of Divorce
4. Moth Tongue
5. Crystal Fairy
6. Secret Agent Rat
7. Under Trouble
8. Bent Teeth
9. Posesión
10. Sweet Self
11. Vampire X-Mass

Melvins will be playing a couple shows at the end of the year along with Redd Kross & OFF! and two other shows in January along Sleep!

Poster by HAZE XXL