Review & photos by Andrew Hernandez
October 24th 2015, The Echo, Los Angeles CA: Last Saturday night, the Echo became a sold-out eclectic congregation of musical affectionados all there to see three dudes, Trevor Dunn, Dale Crover, and the mighty Roger “King Buzzo” Osborne, collectively known as the Melvins (or Melvins Lite if you want to get technical). These dudes have been pushing boundaries of the musical spectrum for 35 plus years now, going everywhere from sludge, doom, punk, grunge to even a bit of drone, and show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The Echo was the perfect playground for them to run amok and personally, I love this place. The sound is always good, it’s small, quaint and always gives me a feeling of nostalgia as it does remind me of the days when I used to go to the Key Club (R.I.P.) to see death and black metal shows.
Around 8:20 PM, the first act came on stage, a one-man acoustic act known solely as Field (Troy Ziegler). I had always known Troy as the drummer of both Serj Tankian’s solo band and of Juliette and the Licks. I had no idea he played other instruments, but this proved to be a pleasant surprise. Midway through the first song ‘Gun Control’, the ever-growing crowd stopped looking at their phones and turned to face him and watched him play. He seemed very comfortable in this position, even cracking jokes in between songs. A few highlights of his set were his renditions of the classic ‘Flight of Icarus’ by Iron Maiden (Trevor Dunn came out and helped with his upright bass) and Quicksand’s ‘Brown Gargantuan’ to which he effortlessly made his own. He even got the crowd to sing along with him. Another thing that makes him so unique is his voice. Though he was battling a fever, at times he sounded scarily similar to Nick Drake, especially when he played ‘Another Summer Under’. I thought to myself while listening to this that I could actually hear this on ‘Pink Moon’. Field is not metal by any means but fans of the genre can appreciate the compositions and melodies he does, right down to the subtle eerie dissonance created with his pedal board. By the time his set ended, the crowd cheered favorably, and I for one, will be checking out his future musical endeavors.
Set List:
Gun Control
Another Summer Under
Flight of Icarus (Iron Maiden cover)
Mister Dracula
This Is Making Me Sick
At the Tip of the Spear
Brown Gargantuan (Quicksand cover)
At 9:10, Melvins hit the stage and immediately cranked it up to 11. The crowd couldn’t help but cheer even before the first note was played. As soon as they began with ‘Eye Flys’, they captivated the crowd and played songs from their expansive 21-album career, and didn’t let up until the last song ‘Shevil’. One thing I can say about this band is that these dudes love playing with each other and it showed in how tight they were, to how Buzzo was wildly flailing himself and his guitar aimlessly, to even the self-deprecating jokes they were cracking between one another. It really felt like I was watching a new young hungry band. The only other band I can think of in recent memory who had this much fun on stage is Mutoid Man (who are fucking phenomenal as well). Hearing ‘Berthas’, ‘Hooch’ and ‘Deserted Cities of the Heart’ played were probably one of my favorite things of the night as they were delightful along with the entire set. Also watching Trevor and Dale both go apeshit on their solos was just downright awesome. I do believe that Dale had the toughest job by playing his complex drum rhythms and singing at the same time, and that alone is a feat and worth the cost of admission. In conclusion, if you want to see a show where talent and fun flourishes, this is the show for you. Luckily if you’re in LA you won’t have to wait that long as, on Halloween they play The Echo again.
Photos:
Set List:
01. Eye Flys
02. Captain Pungent
03. Berthas
04. National Hamster
05. Worm Farm Walt
06. Leon vs. The Revolution
07. Mr. Rip-Off
08. A Growing Disgust
09. A History of Drunks
10. Hooch
11. Baby Won’t You Weird Me Out
12. Holy Barbarians
13. Let Me Roll It (Wings cover)
14. Set Me Straight
15. Deserted Cities of the Heart (Cream cover)
16. Sky Pup
17. Electric Flower
18. Inner Ear Rupture
19. Shevil
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