When the opportunity to interview Buzz Osborne aka King Buzzo of the legendary Melvins and a few other fucking fantastic acts arose, I jumped on it like chipotle mayo jumps on a good sandwich. When it comes to heavy music, specifically the sludgy kind, no one man is arguably more important. Not to mention 2014 has been a huge year for Buzz, releasing his first solo record in the summer and just releasing the latest Melvins album Hold It In, a collaboration with fellow noisy pranksters Paul Leary and JD Pinkus from the Butthole Surfers. Buzz is an eclectic guy, so going into it, I knew the interview wouldn’t exactly be standard fare. I wasn’t wrong. Check it out below.
B.G.M.: The new Melvins record is called Hold It In. What exactly are we supposed to be holding in?
Buzz: Take your pick. Any number of things.
Can you give me some examples?
Opinions…your breath…farting…
All very valid.
There’s a bunch of them. Water from an enema. Hold that in.
That’s vital.
I think it’s pretty self explanatory.
Definitely. So the Melvins are very prolific. You guys have released something like a hundred albums in your career.
I actually think it’s five hundred.
Five hundred, okay. My mistake. So thirty or so years into your career, what inspires you to keep creating?
Fear. How about that?
Fear, okay. Fear of what exactly?
I think fear in general covers it. General fear.
General fear is as good an inspiration as any if you ask me.
Yes.
Awesome. So what brought about the Butthole Surfers collaboration on this record?
I’ve always been a big fan. We knew Jeff from playing with his band Honky, then we did some shows with Butthole Surfers. I’ve been a fan since ’82, ’83, and it just made sense to me. I’m not afraid to do stuff that’s different.
Was the experience of writing and recording with Paul and Jeff any different than what you’re used to?
This is the first Melvins record that I hadn’t wrote the majority of the material on, so that was kinda nice. More variety. I basically let them do their thing on the record. I think it came out great, it’s one of my favourite records that we’ve ever done.
Definitely, it’s fantastic.
Thank you. That’s very nice.
A generation of bands that the Melvins have influenced have come and gone. How does it feel to still be active in the wake of that?
We’re the last band standing.
You guys definitely are. Any signs of slowing down?
Maybe to some degree. But this year I wouldn’t tell you that. I mean, I did my solo record, that came out earlier this year. Then this record with the Butthole Surfers guys. So I don’t think there’s any chance of us taking it easy. What would be slowing down for us would be hard work for other bands.
On the note of the solo record, why now? What brought about your first solo record now, in 2014?
I thought it’d be good, I’ve always wanted to do something along those lines, I just haven’t had the time or the ability to do it. There was no real overpowering reason, it was just something I wanted to do. It went great, it went really well, hopefully I’ll do more.
Let’s get serious for a second here.
Uh oh. Time to get grilled.
Brace yourself. Do you ever worry about your hair overtaking you completely?
Oh yeah, always.
I imagine it’s a big concern.
Major. The hours I spent just thinking about my hair is amazing. The hours I spend answering questions about my hair is even more amazing.
Well the hours I spend thinking about your hair is pretty amazing too.
Well you need to get out more. Expand your vision a little bit.
Yeah, I probably do. I’ll feel inspired after this interview to do so.
Where are you?
I’m actually located in Ottawa, Canada.
Never heard of it. Nah I’m kidding.
It’s a bit of a small town, not that popular.
I’ve been to Ottawa. We played a festival there a few years ago.
Was it Bluesfest, do you remember?
I don’t remember. Maybe. You can tell we’d fit right in to Bluesfest.
Well Snoop Dogg played Bluesfest last year so I think the Melvins would fit in too.
Nothing says blues more than Snoop Dogg. When I think of blues I think of Albert King..BB King…Burger King…
Burger King is probably the bluesiest fast food joint. Alright, I’ve got one last question for you then you can carry on with your day.
Well thank you. I was waiting for someone to give me permission to do that.
I’m glad I can do that for you.
You’re so nice.
I’ve heard whispers of Fantômas shows in the near future.
Yeah, we’re doing one or two shows down in Chile, but as far as I know, for anything more than that, nothing.
So us fanboys don’t have much hope for a new album?
I wouldn’t hold my breath. Actually, you can hold it in for that.
There we go, full circle. That’s the kind of stuff journalistic gold is made of.
Oh yeah. The streets are made of gold. The road to Hell is paved with gold and Ivy League degrees. How about that?