John: So Houdini Live. What prompted you to choose that album over all the other ones?
Buzz: Well... We learned all the songs from Houdini, a third of which we had never intended to play live, in order to be a part of the "Don`t Look Back" series in England and we just figured why not? If they had wanted us to do the Lysol record then that`s what we would have done instead of Houdini.
John: How difficult was it to get the live version together. And was there a reason behind changing the order of the songs?
Buzz: We did the whole thing with Trevor Dunn on bass and he`s a real quick study so that was good. Dale and I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to play this album live without too much trouble. We ended up feeling this was a better way to do these songs in a live setting than how they were on the original record.
John: Apparently a third of the songs on Houdini were never meant to be played live (at least that’s what the pr sheet said). Which ones were they, and why were they - until the live album - relegated to the “studio only” pile?
Buzz: A lot of songs off of our records are never played live. I think the only album that we ever played all of the songs off of was Hostile Ambient Takeover and that was only because we planned to do it all before hand. Off of Houdini we had never planned on playing “Spread Eagle Beagle,” “Pearl Bomb,” or “Sky Pup,” and we almost never played some of the others.
John: While we’re on the subject of songs, are there any other seldom played songs you’d like to bring back into the set list?
Buzz: I don`t know really. I can think of ones that I think we will dump for awhile but I won`t tell you now. Ha! I like to play a bit of a variety from lots of our records but we can`t play all of them.
John: You’ve had a history of jumping from “conventional” (as conventional as the Melvins can be) to the truly fucked up (say, the Prick album). What drives the songwriting?
Buzz: I never thought of the Prick album as being all that fucked up. Weird maybe but not THAT weird. I have no interest in doing things the way most bands do, meaning spending a lot of time worrying about what people can handle. If all of our records sounded just like our first one then everyone would hate us anyway so you can`t win.
John: In the grand scheme of things, how do you feel about the experimental noise albums as compared to the Houdini and Hostile Ambient Takeover type albums?
Buzz: I`m guessing you mean the COD [Colossus of Destiny] and Prick records that we put out. Like I said I don`t consider those records all that weird. I mean weird compared to what? I feel like there is room for all sorts of "things" in our large collection of Melvins records. Why not? I`m not afraid of change. It always amazes me when people say, "When are you going to do a TRUE Melvins album again?" What the fuck does that even mean? All of our records are important. All of our records are good.
John: Which do you feel was the better collaboration - the one with Fantomas, the one with Lustmord, or the two with Jello Biafra?
Buzz: That`s three VERY different collaborations and I couldn`t pick one over the other.
John: Going forward, who else would like to collaborate with?
Buzz: I don`t know really, but let`s see: Lou Reed, John Williams, Barry Adamson, Eric Clapton, John Cage, Coil, Ozzy Osbourne, Annie Lennox, Bob Weir, P J Harvey, The Stones, Ringo Starr, The Black Heart Procession, Iggy Pop, David Lynch, Axl Rose, NIN, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Meshuggah, Gibby Haynes, DEVO, Sting, Deep Purple, Genesis P. Orridge, Johnny Rotten, King Crimson, Kill me Tomorrow, George Jones, Judas Priest, The Haters, Montrose, Alice Cooper. Head of David, Nick Gilder, Wings, Jon Spencer, Mick Jones, Black Flag, The Bone Heads, Nikki Sixx, The White Stripes, The Vibrators, Motorhead, Entombed, The U-Men, Rancid Vat, and The Sonics...
John: Would you say there’s a definitive Melvins album, one that sums up most if not all of your musical facets?
Buzz: No but I could pick six: Colossus of Destiny, Stag, Hostile Ambient Takeover, Egg Nog, The Bootlicker, and Pigs of the Roman Empire.
John: Of all the bassists you’ve had, which one would you want to work with again?
Buzz: None really. I liked ALL of them at one point though and none of them have ever quit.
John: And why the hell can’t you hold onto a bassist anyway? Are you, to put not too fine a point on it, just a big jerk?
Buzz: The fact that none of them have EVER quit should answer the “Am I a big jerk” question. I`m sure they think I`m a big jerk now that they`ve all been canned.
John: So now you’ve upped the ante with Big Business. How’s that been working with two drummers? What are Jared [Warren] and Coady [Willis] bringing to the Melvins table? Have the songs in the set list been greatly changed or played by their addition?
Buzz: So far so good. We start recording in July so things have moved along pretty quickly. I like Big Business and it`s really been great writing songs with them. Some songs are changing for sure but that`s to be expected.
John: One of the StonerRock.com regulars wrote a guide to your discography. What do you think of it?
Buzz: Seems well informed. You can tell this guy likes pretty much all of our stuff, which is nice. Thank you!
John: Honestly, did Atlantic Records know what the hell they were getting into when they signed you?
Buzz: Who knows what any label thinks. I think they did a good job actually. We did three albums I still like.
John: And were the three albums recorded for Atlantic all the ones you agreed to do, or was the contract cancelled (and if so, by whom and why)?
Buzz: We were surprised they wanted to do more than one. Our contract said they had to do two but they had the right to do seven. We got dropped after we didn`t sell millions of records. Wow, big surprise. Dale and I were so heart broken and freaked out that the only way we could counter killing ourselves was to do ten or eleven more albums.
John: Do you think you`ll stay with Ipecac? It seems that you’ve had the most stability, release-wise, with them.
Buzz: Well we`ve done a lot of releases with them in a short amount of time. I have no desire to look for anyone else to do our records. They do a good job without wasting a lot of cash on bullshit.
John: What’s the status with all the side-projects? And what’s your take on them all?
Buzz: My take on them all. Well... Fantomas is really the only thing I`ve spent any real time on outside of the Melvins. I think it`s groovy.
John: What’s so great about Cracker Barrel? (Melvins.net says the band prefers Cracker Barrel gift certificates)
Buzz: Nothing.
