The problem w/ Mark D.

[Mount Ambulance]

     The problem w/ Mark D. Is it just me? I think so. Seems that a grande percentile of fans really feed on this era of Melvins. Yet . . . I donno I just don't like what he brought. As a long time Melvins fan I was excited cause I used to really dig Clown Alley too (the well from which Buzz plucked Lori & Mark). But after some initial infatuation it just kinda faded. I always found his playing too "on" and "notey" . . . like a frustrated guitar player or Geddy Lee bass guy which is all well an good if your gonna play some prog & hang w/ Bill Laswell. But not for the Melvins. Buzz has said he was more than a little careerist as well, something I think you can see but more importantly hear. I know they always swear up an' down that they weren't suckling on mainstreem teet, an' I believe 'em but their is just something a little too slick there. I blame Mark !! Still they are good records (but my least fav in the catoluge) and the shows were always white hot . . . but yeah definatly my least fav era. 

[Joe Deutrom]

How can these albums be your least favorites?  Can you not see the genius in Stag and Honky? We probably won't ever know definitively why Mark was kicked out along with all the other bass players so far. Buzz and Dale seem to have a policy of not divulging details about stuff like this. Anytime someone who interviews them about their bass player problems, you get different and cryptic answers with each interview. I think all of their bass players offered good things musically. I think they should just buy a bass synth and solve the problem myself. As far as some people alleging the Melvins taking a dip in the mainstream, my challenge is what was so mainstream about Stoner Witch? Because some of the songs had a more traditional structure? Because of their brief time with a major label? Please. Buzz has even said if he had the chance again to sign with a major label and have the creative control they had with Atlantic, they would do it. I don't blame them; I like to eat too. Mark had a different playing style than the others, so what? Well anyway I appreciate your opinions about these matters. Have a good day.

[glen]

I think they should just buy a bass synth and solve the problem myself.

please no.   NOTHING compares to live bass/live drums.  although I know MELVINS have used drum machines in the past it just IS NOT the same unless the song calls for it.   I pray this never happens.  wheres the style in synth?  where's the emotion?
you want to hear NIGHT GOAT played with a bass synth?  not I.

I got nothing against the ATLANTIC/mark D years but if I HAD to choose I would say they are my least favorite.

[Joe Deutrom]

I think they should just buy a bass synth and solve the problem myself.

please no.

[the bloat]

There are some songs on Stag and a few on Stoner Witch, that are really poppy (for the Melvins) that we had not seen pre-Mark era or post-Mark era. There is no doubt in my mind that he had something to do with this. Not a bad thing though.

Personally, I think they change out their bass player every few years to keep their material from getting stagnant. Imagine how hard it would be to keep pushing yourself creatively playing with the same dudes all the time. Imagine being the new bass player that has to learn 20 years worth of the Melvins material

[Mount Ambulance]

Yeah I donno how to really put it into words. Its not exactly the songs (c'mon Soup, At the Stake ect.) The production??? Yeah, I just can't put my finger on it . . . but I feel it. Sure in alota ways their more mainstream but thats not it . . . a good song = a good song. I think its Mark . . . he woulda fit better in some crap band like Alice in Chains or Soungarden. I think so far Kev's been the standout . . . his psychotic sea sick style just gelled like magik. Lori was ok but I think the myth is built more on the fact she was a chick . . . he bass is competent w/ no real style . . . Joe was good but he's definatly flowered since . . . I think the Big Biz thing will be tasty . . . but yeah Kev made me sea sick an' I like that

[glen]

Yeah I donno how to really put it into words. Its not exactly the songs (c'mon Soup, At the Stake ect.) The production??? Yeah, I just can't put my finger on it . . . but I feel it. Sure in alota ways their more mainstream but thats not it . . . a good song = a good song. I think its Mark . . . he woulda fit better in some crap band like Alice in Chains or Soungarden. I think so far Kev's been the standout . . . his psychotic sea sick style just gelled like magik. Lori was ok but I think the myth is built more on the fact she was a chick . . . he bass is competent w/ no real style . . . Joe was good but he's definatly flowered since . . . I think the Big Biz thing will be tasty . . . but yeah Kev made me sea sick an' I like that

I like your thinking.   Rutmanis takes the cake.

[rhett E rock]

Personally, I think they change out their bass player every few years to keep their material from getting stagnant. Imagine how hard it would be to keep pushing yourself creatively playing with the same dudes all the time. Imagine being the new bass player that has to learn 20 years worth of the Melvins material  Now that would be tough!

i doubt this.  look at all the side projects everyone in the band has? they probably go through bass players because shit just doesn't work out. 

as for Mark D.  i think he has some of the coolest basslines.  i don't think he ruined them at all.  there might be some songs that you could pick apart (as you can pretty much anything).  but i don't think he's as bad as everyone makes him out to be. 

i wonder if people's opinions would be different if Buzz said he was a good bassist? 

[anaconda]

I've always liked Mark's skills, but you can tell he was a guitarist
playing on the bass, he played the bass with the sensibility of
a guitar player. I disagree about Lori too, she had a sound, a thick juicy
red-lining dense sound. Joe will always be my favorite, saying this though
don't think for a second that Kevin didnt take me for a wild ride over the years
because he did, The Trilogy, Electroretard, HAT are all massively important

[Mount Ambulance]

Nah, I just ment although my least fav era it's still chocked fulla great tunes and those are two of 'em . . . just like Skin Horse & Tipping the . . . ah shit, the new & improved Tipping is so superior. See what I mean? When I tried to get a pal who prodminently digs shit like Tool, Rage & Deftones into Melvins those MarkD albums were the only ones he dug and he dug 'em deep. He thought they sounded like Primus . . . who truly blow not suck! An' I can kinda see where he's comin' from. I've always likened Melvins w/ bands like late era Flag, Butthole's, Scratch Acid, Old Steel Pole . . . fucked up, bent, psychotic, scary . . . just kinda weird & off. But more than not the Mark albums just sound quirky to me, not bent . . . and Primus is nothin but quirky. I'm sure it was still the Buzz & Dale show, Mark wasn't runnin' 4x4 over the whole proceedings. But yeah, that era's just kinda weird . . . they should redo those w/ Houdini . . . on a whole other note doesn't Revolve sound just like the best song Metallica never wrote? The chugga chug pacing, Buzz's spot on Hetfield caricture phrasing an' all. It's fuckin' priceless! Best joke they ever pulled . . . like lets write a Metallica song 'cause of course we'll smoke those hacks at their own. Everytime I hear it I laugh. Brilliant!!

[THE DON]

his cowboy hat maybe?

[Galvano]

Mark is a sneaky bastard with tricks up his sleeve, if you can't see it, you loose....

[Reverend Ebeneezer]

Is a pop knack such a bad thing, though? I mean, Obituary to me always seemed at the top of the death metal pile because they observed pop song structures and used them to their own ends. Mark's definitely capable of that - I mean, check out 'Van Diemen's Land' on The Silent Treatment. It sounds like something the Foo Fighters might've done if they were being particularly creative.

Sure, I can see how someone reared on the distorted crushing of Lori and Joe might have a problem with Mark's clean bass tone and improv, but to my mind that's just proof of his musical prowess. I thought he bought something special to the table and I really enjoy Stoner Witch and Stag especially. And as for criticising him for being careerist? You can't blame the man for wanting a secure future. You know why I think Buzz hated him? It's because Mark exerted a hell of a lot more influence over the band than any other bassist. When I talked to Joe Preston he made it seem as though his role was just to root note whatever Buzz was doing, yet Mark's credited with a lot of input on Stoner and Stag, and you can hear the difference when he's in the band and when he's not. Plus, Mark could outplay Buzz...think of that tour when Mark played guitar one set and Buzz the other because Buzz couldn't play some of the stuff Mark was writing. I daresay Mark's probably responsible for In The Freaktose off Honky too, which IMO is one of the Melvins finest moments. No, I'd say that Mark was one of the few bassists who stood tall and wanted to have an equal say in what happened with the band, something Buzz wasn't used to...still, all that's just opinion, but Lori was Buzz's smackhead girlfriend, Joe was by his own admission quite lazy and Matt Lukin was by everyone's standards not very musically proficient. Mark would've been a bolt out of the blue.

[anaconda]

here, here

[klump]

I think hes  talented, but what he says to Melvins fans on myspace is pathetic.
he should appreciate that people want to have anything to do with him.

what a crybaby.