Photos: MELVINS (Boston, MA) – 2023/09/19

The MELVINS, continuing their 40th-anniversary celebrations, have announced the “Twins of Evil Tour,” a seven-week trek that sees the Los Angeles-by-way-of-Washington band joined by Japanese trio Boris, with both groups performing classic albums in their entirety with MELVINS taking Bullhead (1991 – Boner Records) and Boris with Heavy Rocks (2002 – Quattro). [see photos here]

Since forming, they have collectively released 25 studio albums, a catalog of their own of extended plays, about a dozen live albums, a dozen or so compilation albums, and splits with Isis, Napalm Death, Negative Approach, Butthole Surfers, Mudhoney, Fucked Up, Redd Kross, Seawhores, Helmet, and others.

Primarily a trio, they at times perform as a quartet, with either two drummers or two bassists. Since 1984, vocalist and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been constant members, with Steven Shane McDonald taking over bass in 2015. The MELVINS formed in Aberdeen/Montesano, Washington in 1983 with Buzz, drummer Mike Dillard, and ex-Mudhoney bassist Matt Lukin who all attended high school in Montesano. Dillard would leave the band in 1984 with Dale Crover stepping in soon thereafter. However, for this tour with Boris, MELVINS drummer Crover had to sit out due to needing emergency spinal surgery. Big Business, and more recently High on Fire, drummer Coady Willis will fill in.

Other iterations of the band include Big Business band members Jared Warren and Coady Willis, a four-piece featuring the current trio plus Butthole Surfers’ Jeff Pinkus, as well as Melvins Lite, which partners Osborne and Crover with Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn. Sometimes, if you’re extra lucky, one version of the MELVINS will open for the MELVINS.

MELVINS live at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, MA on September 19, 2023. Photographs by @bananamasher.

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