Melvins front man Buzz Osborne talks about their record-setting tour and new album, along with the influences of Judy Garland.

Buzz Osborne founded sludge-metal band the Melvins in Washington nearly 30 years ago. Since then, the band has released nearly 20 studio albums, influencing everyone from grunge acts like Nirvana and Soundgarden to metal bands like Tool and Mastodon. But, until now, the Melvins’ have never performed in New Hampshire.

A new incarnation of the Melvins, dubbed Melvins Lite, is touring all 50 states and the District of Columbia in 51 days. If they finish on schedule, they will have set the Guinness World Record for fastest tour of the entire nation. That record-setting tour will bring them to a sold-out show at the Dover Brick House on Saturday, Sept. 29.

The lineup consists of Osborne on guitar and vocals, long-time drummer Dale Crover (also an early member of Nirvana), and Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn (all three musicians are also members of Fantômas, the metal super group helmed by Faith No More and Mr. Bungle front man Mike Patton). They released a new album, “Freak Puke,” in June, and the full Melvins band recently put out an EP called “1983.” 

In conversation, King Buzzo is at times flippant, at others earnest, but always entertaining. While driving from South Dakota to North Dakota, he spoke to The Wire about the Melvins epic tour, their new album, and why Judy Garland is better than Courtney Love.

This is the Melvins first show ever in New Hampshire. What took you guys so long?
We’re court-ordered to play there finally for the first time. It’s part of my community service. It’s complicated. I can’t really go into it.

By the way, I love the new album, “Freak Puke.”
Thank you.

It sounds weird to say ‘I love freak puke,’ but in this case it’s true.
How could you not? You’d be crazy not to love it.

How did this new Melvins Lite lineup come about?
Well, I saw Trevor Dunn playing with one of the guitar players from Wilco. I didn’t think that was very good, but I saw the potential maybe that that could be something we could do. We set up five shows in small towns in California about a year and a half ago to see if it would work, and we thought it was good, so we decided to record a record and basically let him do his thing. And now we have two versions of the Melvins.

Are you happy with how “Freak Puke” came out?
Oh yeah. I mean, I don’t listen to our records. When I make them, I can listen to them about up until the time they come out, and then I walk away from it. That’s it. And then you go on to your next thing. I mean, I really like this director John Huston. What he used to do is he would make his movie, he’d edit it, he’d watch it in the editing room and that was it. And then he was done and moved on. I agree. I agree with that.

In what ways, if any, does “Freak Puke” represent a new or different direction for you?
Well, I think it’s different sonically. You can still tell it sounds like us, but, I don’t know. I mean, we’ve always done weird stuff. We don’t have one set way of doing anything. It seems to make sense. I don’t know, I really don’t have an answer for that.

The cello is really prevalent, especially on the first couple of songs. What do you think Trevor Dunn brought to the table on that instrument?
Oh yeah. It’s actually, believe it or not, a standup bass on the whole thing. He can play it and it sounds like a lot of different stringed instruments. When you ask somebody like him to play with you or on a record, the best idea is to let them do their job, you know? And we really wanted to establish from the beginning on that record that that’s what we were doing. I didn’t want to hide it. There’s only acoustic bass on the record, that’s it. It’s not even through an amp or anything. Live, we play through an amp, just so you can hear a little better, but we try to retain the acoustic quality as best we can.

I also really like the McCartney cover (“Let Me Roll It”). What led you guys to cover that particular song?
Well, we called Paul and he said it was cool. I was hanging out with him. He didn’t mind. I don’t know, I’m certainly not a fan of him, but I like that song, and I thought we could do a good version of it. It’s got a nasty guitar lick that I like. That’s really it. But I like playing cover songs. It’s fun.

The Melvins formed almost 30 years ago, but it seems like you’re keeping busier than ever. Do you feel like this is an especially prolific time in your career?
Well, in hindsight, it seems like kind of a dumb idea to take on 51 shows in our 29th year of existence, but whatever. We like to do things that are big and stupid. We’re perfect for that... We did it for the publicity and the money. That’s it.

How is the tour going so far? Are you guys getting tired yet?
No, no, not at all. It’s actually not that hard. It’s far easier than you would imagine. It’s not that big of a deal.

How do you keep up that kind of pace? A lot of caffeine?
Well, I do that even when I’m at home, so I can’t blame that. I mean, caffeine, there’s worse things in the world to be addicted to.

Is it true you don’t drink alcohol or take any drugs?
As far as you know.

How long has that been the case?
Ahmmm, a long time. I don’t know exactly. I mean, look, I don’t care what anybody does. If you want to destroy your life, go ahead. My hat’s off to you. I’ll get out of your way. Just don’t expect me to pick up the pieces when you do it. I’ll give you all the freedom in the world, but with that freedom comes responsibility. Go to it. Have at it. I think you should.

What do you do for entertainment on these long drives?
Well, a lot of times I just stare out into the middle distance and waste my time doing that. Or, you know, listen to music or whatever. You have to be willing and able to occupy your time in one form or another. It’s not that hard, really. You can read or watch a movie.

What other bands have you been listening to lately?
Ahmmm, what did I listen to yesterday? Yesterday we listened to the entire Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall album, live. It’s a good record. Check it out. The best thing was, I made the guys listen to it top to bottom on the tour and they were groaning, and now they want to listen to it. It’s a really weird album, far weirder than you would imagine. She did as many drugs as Courtney Love, except she actually had talent. That’s the difference. You don’t want to strangle her. No.

What was the first band you ever really got into as a fan?
Ahhhhm, I don’t know, David Bowie. There. It’s hard to remember. That was a long time ago. That was two lifetimes ago, probably. For some people it’s even more.

Certain members of the Melvins were, in one way or another, involved in the formation of Nirvana and Mudhoney, and you influenced other Seattle bands of the late ’80s and ’90s. Do you think you should take credit for launching the Seattle grunge movement?
I think we should take credit for all of it, but I’d be much happier to take half of that in cash. But since that’s not happening, I’ll take full responsibility.

Do you think there’s any comparable movement today of bands flocking to one particular branding of rock music?
I have no idea. First off, I’m a Groucho Marx, meaning I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member. So I never felt like I was part of any of that stuff in the first place. Other people did, but I never felt akin to that. Never. None of it. And remember, Mudhoney wasn’t a big band. They never sold millions of records. Those guys are either living off their wives or working straight jobs, one of the two things. They never sold any records, not in the long run. They may have been influential to some degree, but it certainly didn’t turn into anything they could trade for food at Safeway, not by any large amount. So, they were probably the one we were the closest to, but you can’t compare us to bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam. We have absolutely nothing in common with them. Zero. Had we been in Florida, no one would make that comparison. No one. We don’t sound anything like that.

Do you prefer playing at smaller venues like the Dover Brick House?
Well, you know, we had the largest auditorium booked in Dover, but since we only sold 200 tickets, we moved it to a smaller place (laughs). I mean, look, I don’t particularly like places that were designed for sporting events to play in. I think bands should probably only play places that they would enjoy going to a show at. I don’t enjoy going to a basketball arena to watch a band play. It’s not my thing, you know? If you’re 16 years old and you want to be away from your parents for a long period of time, it’s a great thing to do. For me, I haven’t been 16 in a long time. I didn’t really care about it that much then, I certainly don’t care about it now. Like, big festival shows, I think those are atrocious. They’re about everything except the music.

Are you mostly playing new material on the tour?
We play almost the whole new record, plus, I don’t know, a bunch of other stuff. One of the first songs I ever wrote, we play part of that. We’re doing some of our newer stuff. One song off “The Bulls & The Bees” EP that we did with the Big Business guys and, you know, a wide variety of things. I mean, we really could play anything that we do. Trevor’s a very capable bass player. He could do anything we do, so we take it from there.

After you finish this tour and go back home, what’s the first thing you’ll do?
I’m going to go home and play golf. That’s what I’m going to do, believe it or not.

I didn’t know you were a golfer.
Nobody does. Nobody believes it anyway. So then there’s the other story: I’m going to go to a strip club and do a bunch of blow. You decide which one’s true. They’re both equally absurd. You can choose either one. I’m either gonna go play golf at 5:30 in the morning, or I’m gonna go to a strip club. One of those things is true. Seems crazy, doesn’t it?

How long do you think the Melvins will keep touring and churning out records?
Well, I’m surprised we even made it through the first year, so we surpassed our expectations of being in a band relatively quickly. No, I don’t know. I have no idea. All I wanted to do was play a show, let alone any of the rest of it. The rest of it’s just gravy. When I was young, I just didn’t care what happened, so it’s not hard to surpass that.