Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne recently opened up about the band’s foundational mix of heavy metal and punk rock, while also shedding light on his permanently strained relationship with Metal Church guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof.
Making a guest appearance on the “A Fresh Face In Hell” podcast with host Jonathan Evison, Buzz explained how the aggressive attitudes of acts like Black Sabbath, Black Flag, and Flipper all contributed to his early musical philosophy.
“I wanted to do something that had more heavy metal in it. I’ve always felt like if you look at a hardcore heavy metal band, they’re pissed off. Same as punk rock bands. To me, I didn’t see a whole lot of difference in the attitude as far as how angry they were and things of that nature. And I always liked that stuff. I didn’t stop listening to Judas Priest… Some of my favorite memories are dropping acid and going to see Judas Priest with [founding Melvins drummer] Mike Dillard at some big concert. I mean, I was not opposed to Black Flag and Van Halen concerts in the same week. It was fine with me. And I still don’t see how it’s not cut from the same thing. To me, it’s heavy-duty rock music,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
When the host pointed out that Kurdt Vanderhoof served as an early inspiration, the frontman agreed but quickly noted that the admiration was never mutual. He traced their ultimate falling out back to a set of liner notes he penned for the archival release Mangled Demos From 1983.
“Well, I always liked Kurdt. I never felt that he had much interest or much respect for what we were doing at all. I felt like he thought we were kind of an annoyance. I wanted to be friends with him. That wasn’t gonna happen. I mean, I knew he knew a lot about music. He had a lot of records that he turned me on to, like The V*brators. I thought that was really good. And a bunch of stuff like that. He’d lived in San Francisco prior to that, and he moved back. And he really hates us now; he really hates our guts. And I think it’s because I wrote… We released a record [in 2005] called Mangled Demos From 1983 — that’s the original Melvins lineup with Dillard — way after the fact. The record never came out [when it was originally recorded]. And I wrote liner notes about how I felt that [Kurdt] was kind of a d**k. And somebody pointed that out to him. Also, at that time I was not very aware of things like this, which was he was g*y. I didn’t know. It didn’t bother me. I mean, once I found out, it didn’t bother me, but I didn’t know that [at the time]. And I wrote that in there. And I think he kind of took offense to that.”
Expanding on the root of his frustration with the heavy metal guitarist, the singer criticized the arrogant rockstar attitude he witnessed during a local hometown show years ago.
“I didn’t say one thing about [Kurdt], whether I liked or disliked him at all, but he was constantly looking for a reason to have some kind of beef with us. I don’t know. And I think it always irked him that we had any kind of a music career because he just thought we were talentless b**bs. Which is, like, okay, fine, whatever. So you don’t wanna be friends? Fine with me. And so I lost track of him. And then somebody had showed him this [Mangled Demos From 1983 record with my liner notes]… I talked about how we played a show with them in Aberdeen and how they were strutting around like they were playing Madison Square Garden. It was really a rat-infested hellhole, and you don’t need to act like that. I’m punk rock to the bone, as far as attitude goes, and I don’t like that kind of… And I’ve dealt with that kind of stuff a lot since then. We’ve done all kinds of arena tours and stuff like that, opening for other bands, and I, to this day, cannot stand that kind of s**t. I don’t do it, and I don’t like it when people do it. It bothers me, and it always has. So, I wrote about how kind of disappointed I was in all that, and he took offense: ‘F**k those guys.’ Well, whatever.”
Concluding his thoughts on the bitter dynamic, he accepted that some industry relationships are simply destined to fail regardless of the effort put in.
“There’s some people where you just know it’s never gonna be right. It’s never gonna end right. No matter what you do, no matter how much you kiss their a**, you’re always gonna end up somehow not working out; it’s not gonna work out. ‘Cause it’s not in them to have it work out.”
