![]() Typically, it also ditched straight verse-chorus-verse structure for two distinct sections - the first part of the song is a heads-down blast of breezeblock noise and odd time signatures, while the second part draws on a more unlikely source. In just three minutes and one second, it manages to unite the worlds of thrash, twisted punk, and even high-energy blues rock. I just wanted him off the project and that’s when we got GGGarth Richardson.”Įven amid the monolithic riffage and convention-flouting musical excursions that make up Houdini, Honey Bucket stands out. I had no interest in going public with Kurt’s problems – I didn’t feel it was anybody’s business. “I went to Atlantic and said I couldn’t make it work with him. “During the last part of him being there, he was a mess, drug-wise,” says Buzz. The Melvins frontman found himself in the position of having to can one of the most famous musicians in the world from the project. Things started well enough, but they soon devolved into an unproductive mess as the Nirvana singer’s drug use began to get in the way, grating on the teetotal Buzz’s nerves. Kurt was initially brought onboard to listen to the songs – most of which were written well before the band signed to Atlantic – and generally offer an extra pair of ears with regard to the arrangements. The most significant piece of fiction in Houdini’s credits list pertains to the involvement of their friend Kurt Cobain, who is listed as one of the album’s producers. Houdini’s credits are dubious at best there’s definitely some fiction in there.” “Billy did some, but regardless of what the credits say, most of it was either me or Dale playing bass. “Lori Black played on a couple songs, but I can’t remember which ones,” says Buzz. ![]() Regular bassist Lori ‘Lorax’ Black – daughter of 1930s child star Shirley Temple, no less – was largely out of action due to substance abuse issues that made her position in the band precarious, so Buzz and Dale played most of the bass on the album themselves, with Blessing The Hogs guitarist/vocalist Billy Anderson pitching in on a couple of tracks. Houdini was recorded over the course of a princely 20 days, in four different studios, with an array of producers, engineers and guest musicians. Rather than simply hole up in a cramped studio for a week and emerge with a record, it meant they could spend slightly longer working on their first album for their new paymasters and generally mix it up. The major label deal didn’t make Buzz and drummer Dale Crover overnight millionaires, but it did give them breathing space. ![]() We figured it was business as usual, that we’d do one record with Atlantic and move on.” We got caught up in that, but the difference was we didn’t think we’d sell millions of records. “The labels didn’t know what was going to work – five minutes ago they were pushing hair metal – but because they’re in the business of making money, they’d sign 15-20 bands and hope a couple of them sold millions of records. “At that point, left-of-centre bands were getting signed because Nirvana and Soundgarden were selling tons of records,” says Buzz. I thought it was cool, but it didn’t occur to me it was going to be what it became.” I would have never guessed that when I wrote it. “ Honey Bucket is one of our most popular songs ever. “If Captain Beefheart was a metal band, it’d sound like this,” says Melvins singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne of both Honey Bucket and his band’s output generally, referencing the gravel-throated visionary behind late-60s avant-garde masterpiece Trout Mask Replica. The first of these, Houdini, was home to Honey Bucket, the song that would give them the closest thing they ever got to a breakthrough hit - although, in typically contrary fashion, its cross-pollination of uptempo yet complex metallic hardcore with thick, vicious riffing and odd time signatures didn’t sound like anything their former underground contemporaries were producing. Between 19, these irreverent musical iconoclasts from the backwaters of Washington State released three albums on Atlantic Records, home of Skid Row, Dream Theater and AC/DC. One of the more unlikely bands to get caught up in the major label trawler nets were Melvins.
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