Drum-Maschine Dale Crover war so nett uns einige Fragen zu beantworten, die ich seit einer Weile mit mir herumschleppe. Um das Interview herum sind alle Informationen verpackt, die ihr zu den kommenden Melvins-Events benötigt:
Changes? Yes… but no!
Die Melvins lassen einfach nicht locker. Immer neues Material. Immer auf Tour. Wenn das zu langweilig wird, werden eben neue handgemachte Specialeditionen zusammengebastelt oder am Lineup rumgedreht. Einfach machen, worauf die Grunge-Veteranen Lust haben. Daran wird sich wohl nie was ändern. Fragt man Drummer Dale nach Veränderungen seit Anfang der 90er, wie sie etwa auf der DVD Anaconda archiviert wurden, sieht auch dieser keine ausschlaggebenden:
„That show was recorded in front of a drunken, crazy audience
in Olympia, WA. Nothing has changed really. Our audience is
still drunk and still bat shit crazy. The only difference
is we keep them off the stage and out of our way!“
Dale Crover
Residency Shows, Different Lineups and Superman
Zuletzt haben die Amerikaner in der Melvins Lite Formation alle Staaten ihrer Heimat unsicher gemacht. Weltrekord. Dieses Jahr gibt es neben einer gewöhnlichen (wenn man bei den Melvins überhaupt davon sprechen kann) Tour auch sogenannte Endless Residency Shows. Hier werden Dale, Buzz und das Big Business Gespann Jared Warren und Coady Willis jeweils zwei Abende in einer Stadt Halt machen und komplette Alben spielen! Den Tourplan dazu findet ihr weiter unten:
„This all started a few years ago when we did a month long residency
at a club in LA called Spaceland. We played every Friday
night for the month of January. To make each show different and
interesting, we came up with the idea of doing a different record
each week. Those shows all sold out immediately, so we decided
to take it on the road and call it the Endless Residency tour.
We’ve already toured this in the States. Doing Europe was the
obvious next step. Hopefully we’ll have more collectable
items for sale at these shows.“
Dale Crover
Endless Residency Gigs
May 07, 2013 – Berlin, Germany – Festsaal Kreuzberg – Day 1
May 08, 2013 – Berlin, Germany – Festsaal Kreuzberg – Day 2
May 10, 2013 – Paris, France – Le Trabendo – Day 1
May 11, 2013 – Paris, France – Le Trabendo – Day 2
May 13, 2013 – Vienna, Austria – Arena – Day 1
May 14, 2013 – Vienna, Austria – Arena – Day 2
May 16, 2013 – Zurich, Switzerland – Rote Fabrik – Day 1
May 17, 2013 – Zurich, Switzerland – Rote Fabrik – Day 2
Melvins Lite Gigs
April 23, 2013 – Tourcoing, France – Le Grand Mix
April 24, 2013 – Brussels, Belgium – VK
April 25, 2013 – Haarlem, The Netherlands – Patronaat
April 26, 2013 – Cologne/Köln, Germany – Bürgerhaus Stollwerck
April 27, 2013 – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Kulturfabrik
April 28, 2013 – Schorndorf, Germany – Manufaktur
April 29, 2013 – Geneva, Switzerland – L’Usine PTR
April 30, 2013 – Livorno, Italy – The Cage Theatre
May 01, 2013 – Mezzago, Italy – Bloom
May 02, 2013 – Munich, Germany – Hansa 39
May 03, 2013 – Prague, Czech Republic – Matrix Klub
May 04, 2013 – Wroclaw, Poland – Asymmetry Festival
May 05, 2013 – Leipzig, Germany – UT Konnewitz
„Actually there’s three different line ups. Melvins, Lite and 1983.
The differences are bass players and material, though each version
could play any of the others material. Just like when Superman died
and there were four different versions of Superman.
We need one more version.“
Dale Crover
Sausages, Blondie & boring Stoner Rock
Abgesehen von den neuen Live-Variationen gibt es auch auf Platte abgewandelte Versionen. Und zwar in Form von Cover-Songs. Die Melvins haben schon in der Vergangenheit gezeigt, dass sie Songs ihren eigenen Stempel aufdrücken können (man denke an The Who – My Generation, Kiss – Going Blind, Alice Cooper – Ballad of Dwight Fry). Jetzt gibt es ein ganzes Album davon: Everybody Loves Sausages. Dabei wurde unter anderem mit Scott Kelly, Jello Biafra oder Clem Burke zusammengearbeitet. Das Album erscheint am 30. April. Mein persönlicher Cover-Wunsch wäre ein Blondie-Song gewesen. Was auch Dale für eine gute Idee halten würde:
„We’ve been huge Blondie fans for a long time! Clem Burke is one
of my favorite drummers for sure! We should do a Blondie song.
I don’t know why we haven’t. Anyway, a friend of ours is good
friends with Clem and brought him down to the studio when we
were recording The Bride Screamed Murder. We got the courage
to ask him to do a song with us. Buzz is the one who chose
the Kinks song. it was one he wanted to cover for a long time. We didn’t
exactly know what we were going to do with the track at the time.
Over the next few years we recorded a bunch more covers with other
people and realized we enough material for an album.
We picked which songs we would do with each person in mind.“
Dale Crover
Everybody Loves Sausages Tracklist
1. ‘Warhead’ (Venom; Guest: Scott Kelly of Neurosis)
2. ‘Best Friend’ (Queen; Guest: Caleb Benjamin of Tweak Bird)
3. ‘Black Betty’ (Original artist unknown)
4. ‘Set It on Fire’ (The Scientists; Guest: Mark Arm)
5. ‘Station to Station’ (David Bowie; Guest: JG Thirlwell)
6. ‘Attitude’ (The Kinks: Guest: Clem Burke of Blondie)
7. ‘Female Trouble’ (Divine a.k.a. John Waters)
8. ‘Carpe Diem’ (The Fugs)
9. ‘Timothy Leary Lives’ (Pop-O-Pies)
10. ‘In Every Dream Home a Heartache’ (Roxy Music; Guests: Jello Biafra and Kevin Rutmanis)
11. ‘Romance’ (Tales of Terror)
12. ‘Art School’ (The Jam; Guest: Tom Hazelmeyer)
13. ‘Heathen Earth’ (Throbbing Gristle)
Für den sogenannten „Stoner Rock“ hat Crover nicht viel übrig. Langweilig seien die sich ewig wiederholenden Bands. Das das derzeitige Wiederaufleben der Szene auch seiner Band in Bezug auf Konzerte und Presse weitergeholfen hat, daran lässt sich wohl nicht rütteln. Kommen doch so auch immer mehr junge Fans auf den Geschmack.
„I don’t know any of those bands you mentioned (Tim B.: named a bunch of recent popular European underground bands). The one band that
I like that would probably fit into the genre that I really like would
be Tweak Bird. I think they’re doing something different and unique.
Most of the Stoner Rock bands just sound the same to me.“
Dale Crover
Sicherlich gibt es hunderte gleich klingender Stoner Bands. Aber ich bin mir sicher, Dale kennt unsere viele kleinen Geheimtipps nicht. Und wenn wir mal was anderes brauchen, haben wir ja im Notfall immer noch die Melvins. Denn die klingen nie gleich.
Drum monster Dale Crover was so nice to answer some questions that I carried around with me for a while now. Around the interview I put together all the information you need for the upcoming Melvins events:
Changes? Yes… but no!
The Melvins just do not let up. Always new material. Always on tour. If that is too boring, they just put together new handmade special editions or change the lineup. Just do what the grunge veterans feel like. This will probably never change. If you ask drummer Dale about changes since the early 90s, as they were archived on the DVD Anaconda, he also thinks there aren’t any:
„That show was recorded in front of a drunken, crazy audience
in Olympia, WA. Nothing has changed really. Our audience is
still drunk and still bat shit crazy. The only difference
is we keep them off the stage and out of our way!“
Dale Crover
Residency Shows, Different Lineups and Superman
Last year the US Americans have brought the Melvins Lite lineup to all States of their home country. World record. This year there are next to an ordinary (if one can speak of it at all with the Melvins) tour also so called Endless Residency Shows. Here Dale, Buzz and the Big Business team of Jared Warren and Coady Willis will make a two evening stop in a city and play complete albums! The tour schedule is to be found below:
„This all started a few years ago when we did a month long residency
at a club in LA called Spaceland. We played every Friday
night for the month of January. To make each show different and
interesting, we came up with the idea of doing a different record
each week. Those shows all sold out immediately, so we decided
to take it on the road and call it the Endless Residency tour.
We’ve already toured this in the States. Doing Europe was the
obvious next step. Hopefully we’ll have more collectable
items for sale at these shows.“
Dale Crover
Endless Residency Gigs
May 07, 2013 – Berlin, Germany – Festsaal Kreuzberg – Day 1
May 08, 2013 – Berlin, Germany – Festsaal Kreuzberg – Day 2
May 10, 2013 – Paris, France – Le Trabendo – Day 1
May 11, 2013 – Paris, France – Le Trabendo – Day 2
May 13, 2013 – Vienna, Austria – Arena – Day 1
May 14, 2013 – Vienna, Austria – Arena – Day 2
May 16, 2013 – Zurich, Switzerland – Rote Fabrik – Day 1
May 17, 2013 – Zurich, Switzerland – Rote Fabrik – Day 2
Melvins Lite Gigs
April 23, 2013 – Tourcoing, France – Le Grand Mix
April 24, 2013 – Brussels, Belgium – VK
April 25, 2013 – Haarlem, The Netherlands – Patronaat
April 26, 2013 – Cologne/Köln, Germany – Bürgerhaus Stollwerck
April 27, 2013 – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Kulturfabrik
April 28, 2013 – Schorndorf, Germany – Manufaktur
April 29, 2013 – Geneva, Switzerland – L’Usine PTR
April 30, 2013 – Livorno, Italy – The Cage Theatre
May 01, 2013 – Mezzago, Italy – Bloom
May 02, 2013 – Munich, Germany – Hansa 39
May 03, 2013 – Prague, Czech Republic – Matrix Klub
May 04, 2013 – Wroclaw, Poland – Asymmetry Festival
May 05, 2013 – Leipzig, Germany – UT Konnewitz
„Actually there’s three different line ups. Melvins, Lite and 1983.
The differences are bass players and material, though each version
could play any of the others material. Just like when Superman died
and there were four different versions of Superman.
We need one more version.“
Dale Crover
Sausages, Blondie & boring Stoner Rock
Apart from the new live variations, there are also modified versions to be found on CD. In the form of cover songs. The Melvins have already shown in the past that they can put their own stamp on songs (think about The Who – My Generation, Kiss – Going Blind, Alice Cooper – Ballad of Dwight Fry). Now there is a whole album of it: Everybody Loves Sausages. They have worked among others with Scott Kelly, Jello Biafra or Clem Burke. The album will be released on April 30th. My personal desire for a cover would have been a Blondie song. What Dale also thinks is a good idea:
„We’ve been huge Blondie fans for a long time! Clem Burke is one
of my favorite drummers for sure! We should do a Blondie song.
I don’t know why we haven’t. Anyway, a friend of ours is good
friends with Clem and brought him down to the studio when we
were recording The Bride Screamed Murder. We got the courage
to ask him to do a song with us. Buzz is the one who chose
the Kinks song. it was one he wanted to cover for a long time. We didn’t
exactly know what we were going to do with the track at the time.
Over the next few years we recorded a bunch more covers with other
people and realized we enough material for an album.
We picked which songs we would do with each person in mind.“
Dale Crover
Everybody Loves Sausages Tracklist
1. ‘Warhead’ (Venom; Guest: Scott Kelly of Neurosis)
2. ‘Best Friend’ (Queen; Guest: Caleb Benjamin of Tweak Bird)
3. ‘Black Betty’ (Original artist unknown)
4. ‘Set It on Fire’ (The Scientists; Guest: Mark Arm)
5. ‘Station to Station’ (David Bowie; Guest: JG Thirlwell)
6. ‘Attitude’ (The Kinks: Guest: Clem Burke of Blondie)
7. ‘Female Trouble’ (Divine a.k.a. John Waters)
8. ‘Carpe Diem’ (The Fugs)
9. ‘Timothy Leary Lives’ (Pop-O-Pies)
10. ‘In Every Dream Home a Heartache’ (Roxy Music; Guests: Jello Biafra and Kevin Rutmanis)
11. ‘Romance’ (Tales of Terror)
12. ‘Art School’ (The Jam; Guest: Tom Hazelmeyer)
13. ‘Heathen Earth’ (Throbbing Gristle)
Crover doesn’t think much of the so called „Stoner Rock“. The ever-recurring bands bore him. Although this might be, I’m sure the flourishing of the Stoner scene also helped Dales band to get more attention at the moment. Younger generations explore the Melvins through the recent Stoner bands, I guess:
„I don’t know any of those bands you mentioned (Tim B.: named a bunch of recent popular European underground bands). The one band that
I like that would probably fit into the genre that I really like would
be Tweak Bird. I think they’re doing something different and unique.
Most of the Stoner Rock bands just sound the same to me.“
Dale Crover
Certainly, there are hundreds of stoner bands sounding the same. But I’m sure Dale does not know many of our little secret tips. And if we need something else to listen to in an emergency we still always will have the Melvins. Because they never sound the same.
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