Over the last 30-plus years, Osborne has evolved into a true underground hero of alternative music. How underground are we talking? Put it this way: he didn’t just know Nirvana before they were cool – Kurt Cobain was one of his roadies. At a time when many of his contemporaries and peers are primarily concerning themselves with the past, via nostalgia tours and album reissues, Osborne continues to push forward. The band is never short of ideas or new sounds to explore – and this is something that Buzz attributes to his guitar gear of choice. Unsurprisingly, he’s not content with a singular, uniform-like set-up.
“The gear I tend to use is mostly new,” he says. “I’m not really interested in being another vintage guy. I use a Fender Vaporizer, which is a combo amp, and a bit of the album was recorded on that. I also have a Sunn beta lead preamp that was used as well. I’ve got a guy out in West Virginia that’s making those, so I’ve been using a brand-new one, which has been great. I have a whole heap of pedal boxes, and I have some aluminium-neck guitars that were made by The Electrical Guitar Company. That was all used on the record, but I had a lot of guitars to work with – I had a Strat, I had an SG and a Fender Mustang too. You never know where a song’s sound is going to take you. I make tonnes of different kinds of songs, it only makes sense to have tonnes of different kinds of sounds.”
Basses Loaded is the 21st album to bare the Melvins name. It was recorded and co-produced by long-time friend and collaborator Toshi Kasai at his studio, Sound of Sirens, and released on Mike Patton’s Ipecac Records. Among the guest performers adding low-end to the LP were Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic, Butthole Surfers alum Jeff Pinkus and Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn. It’s an impressive cast and an intriguing concept. For Osborne, however, it was entirely coincidental and circumstantial that Basses Loaded turned out the way it did.
“It wasn’t something we set out to do,” he says. “We didn’t even realise it right away. We were recording, and then after a few more sessions we realised we had a lot of bass players sitting in with us. It was business as usual, in that we didn’t really have any kind of master plan. It’s just the way it worked out for us. I never really wanted to stick with one particular thing. As long as that’s your plan, it’s easy to deal with.”
Currently on tour, the Melvins are playing as a three-piece for the first time in years, stripping back to Dale Crover – who has been with the band since the beginning – and Steve McDonald, best known as co-founder of Redd Kross with his brother, Jeff; as well as working with the likes of Tenacious D and fun.
“We’ve known Steve for a long time,” says Osborne. “We were always big fans of Redd Kross, too. Steve also plays in OFF!, and one time Dale sat in with them as a temporary replacement for Mario [Rubalcaba]. After the show, he was talking about Steve, saying that he would work well with us, he’d be a good fit. He played on the album, and now he’s touring it around with us. He’s a really solid musician, I’ve always had a lot of time for musicians like that. I pride myself on playing with them.”
BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
