"I VIEW A GUITAR AS A WEAPON!"

As a cult hero of underground American rock, Buzz Osborne describes his band Melvins as "an avant-garde, weird thing”. And as a guitarist, he's all about heaviness and spontaneity...

- Andrew Daly

Buzz Osborne holds nothing back – not musically or anywhere else in his life. He never has, and probably never will. One listen to Melvins’ latest record Tarantula Heart will tell you as much. This time – as per usual – Osborne and company are out for blood via music. That said, don’t dare try and box them in. And even if you tried, Osborne would sidestep you, spin around, come up grinning, and bludgeon you with his aluminium guitar. That’s just how it is in the land of Buzz. “I walk out there, and I feel I’ve got the best rig in the whole world,” he says. “Nobody has this, just me. I love it.”

It was way back in 1983 that Melvins formed as a trio in Montesano, a tiny city in Washington state, 100 miles from Seattle. Their debut album Gluey Porch Treatments arrived in 1986, a full five years before the big bang of grunge, and although Melvins eventually signed to major label Atlantic for their 1993 album Houdini, their music was always too crazy and gnarly for mainstream tastes.

Their friend Kurt Cobain was credited as co-producer of Houdini, and played guitar on one track. That album also featured a cover of an early KISS song, Goin’ Blind. But while their contemporaries sold millions of records, Melvins remained underground cult heroes driven by Buzz Osborne’s maverick sensibilities.

“I wish guitar players were more adventurous,” he says now. “But they’re just not. They seem like the most conservative people on the face of the planet. You can’t get them to do anything left of centre.” His message for TG readers is simple: “Try something new. You might just like it!”