Phil Spector look-alike Buzz Osborne.
Twenty years as a leading figure in the heavy-rock underground have made Buzz Osborne a contentious character, and the last two years of Phil Spector jokes have him REALLY on edge.
Osborne founded the Melvins in the late 80s, embracing metal when the rest of the bands from Seattle’s suburbs were rejecting it, then taking his deep tunes down to sub-Sabbath speeds.
Osborne has captained the Melvins through countless lineups. On the side, he makes art-metal with Fantomas, an all-star crew featuring prolific former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. Some people think it’s slavishly overrated and unlistenable, and that it can’t hold a flame to the stoner-rock avant garde of bands like High on Fire and Sun O))))). But plenty of people with trustworthy taste think it’s good, so who’s to say?
The Melvins are currently touring with Big Business, a Hydra Head sludge band also originally from the Seattle area. Last year, the Melvins absorbed several of the BB members into the lineup, making their wall of noise twice as thick. The bands are preceded by
A Purge of Dissidents, some weird-assed film by fine-artist Dalek and musician Haze XXL, which apparently is about “knives, space monkeys and noise.” ...
