The Globe, Cardiff
Fri 30 Sept
words: NOEL GARDNER
It would be a little disingenuous to tell you that a Melvins live show is the ultimate guarantee of a blazing rock party. There is, in fact, plenty of recorded evidence of them bringing the exact opposite, through a mixture of unholy, dirgelike noise and a volley of taunts and insults aimed at the audience. However, the veteran Washington State band normally save this sort of behaviour for when they find themselves playing for a crowd that aren’t there to see them – for example, if supporting a larger group at some godforsaken arena or other. This isn’t the case here: Melvins are playing their third Cardiff headline show in roughly five years, and this one will almost certainly be a sellout come payday, so get moving with those tickets.
Why, exactly, have the Melvins been permitted not only to exist since 1982, but become – that dread term – ‘national treasures’ of heavy rock? When they first came to prominence beyond the underground which spawned them, it was a consequence of early 90s grunge fever: record labels signing anything with a vaguely rocking pulse, more so if they had a prominent ‘Seattle connection’. Melvins may have only lived near the city, but counted Kurt Cobain as a one-time roadie and paid-up fan, and featured Matt Lukin, later of Mudhoney, for their first six years. Kudos! In hindsight, though, the idea of their music shifting megaunits was absurd. Alternately hardcore-fast and choppy, then damagingly slow and treacly, Melvins songs rarely feature choruses or comprehensible lyrics, but do chuck in lots of drone parts and classic rock covers (Kiss, Alice Cooper, The Who). Accordingly, they recorded three mid-90s albums for Atlantic before being allowed to leave – ending up on Mike Patton of Faith No More’s label Ipecac Records, where they remain to this day.
The last decade of the band’s activity has made their position look enviable: they appear to have total artistic freedom, plus a reputation and contacts book to make some dream collaborations happen. This has resulted in albums where the band – who changed from a trio to a quartet in 2005, gaining two members of the wonderful Big Business – have linked up with Fantomas, another of Patton’s projects; punk legend Jello Biafra; and creepy industrial noise dude Lustmord. The more ‘regular’ Melvins albums have arrived, well, regularly, with 2006’s (A) Senile Animal being the pick of the bunch. Clocking their most recent release, Sugar Daddy Live from earlier this year, may be a prudent move, as it’ll likely contain a big chunk of their setlist. It’ll also tell you the main reason why they’ve achieved a kind of godhead status: because they are incredibly innovative songwriters who cook up devastating, heavy riffs time after time. The bits like Boris or Eye Flys, where you feel like your heart might be stopping, can be seen as a tradeoff, if you like.
Tickets: £15. Info: [email protected] / www.gigantic.com/gigantic/home_the_melvins.html
