No Ian *cough* Meez ... it was a joke or perhaps an exclamation of disbelief ... In the mid-late 90s I kinda fell out w/ Melvins ... I didn't immediately dig the Atlantic era ... Houdini yeah ... and parts of the rest but at the time I thought they were going quirky (a la Primus) and alota that stuff I didn't dig ... I still went and saw 'em live a bunch and it killed but on recorded; nah ... then they booted Mark ... by the time I saw them again they had Kev (and DSS) I hadn't heard the trilogy and had no idea who Kev or Dave were ... 2 sets that crushed ... lots of tunes I never heard (I'll always remember hearing AMAZON the first time as a live version) it was dark, menacing, strange, heavy ... Dave added all kinds of cool "noise" (I like that shit ... Merzbow and such) that added a whole new element and wove in and out really subtle (maybe not that 2set intro tho!) His guitar shit was great ... more than just following/overlaying Buzz ... adding new shit ... or different timbered fingerings of the riffs ... listen to the bending single note stuff he plays in main riff of Night Goat; awesome ... as for his image I thought the juxtaposition of this guy who didn't look a Melvin was heavy as hell! He was fantastic in the Big Band when I saw them too! As for Kev; well you know, right?
As for not knowing who they were (Kev and Dave) or the tunes they were playing ... that seemed normal ... Up until recently (or internet age anyway) I never had any idea about what the fuck they were doing ... walk in a record store and hey a new Melvins ... get it home ... no real info ... whatever ... go see 'em; oh hey a new bass player ... I always thought that was cool and kinda miss it in the information age