Frontier Touring are pleased to announce the return of the one and only Melvins to Australia this November, touring their first ever double album A Walk With Love and Death. Joining the bill will be legendary LA rockers Redd Kross, making their first visit Down Under in four years.
Formed in Montessano, Washington in 1983, the momentous Melvins return to our shores off the back of their upcoming double album A Walk With Love and Death (due Fri 7 Jul via Ipecac Recordings). Buzz Osborne (vocals, guitar), Dale Crover (drums) and Steve McDonald (bass) have upped the ante with their latest listen: Death is a proper Melvins’ album, while Love is the score to director Jesse Nieminen’s self-produced short film, also titled A Walk With Love and Death.
“This was a huge undertaking,” explains Osborne of the discs. “All three things: the album, the soundtrack and the film are benchmarks for us.”
“A Walk With Love and Death is one giant, dark, moody, psychotic head trip!” adds Crover. “Not for the faint of heart. You'll sleep with the lights on after listening.”
Leading into the new album are singles ‘Christ Hammer’ and ‘What’s Wrong With You?’, the latter featuring McDonald on vocals along with Anna Waronker (That Dog) on backing vocals. Two other specials guests appear on A Walk…, Joey Santiago (Pixies) and Teri Gender Bender (Le Butcherettes/Crystal Fairy).
Joining the tour as special guests are seminal Los Angeles popsters Redd Kross. Not many can lay claim to influencing the likes of Nirvana, Sonic Youth, or Pavement, but brothers Steve and Jeff McDonald did just that; forming Redd Kross while still teenagers. They even supported an early incarnation of Black Flag at a middle school graduation party.
There’s been six records so far: including Neurotica (1987), Third Eye (1990), Phaseshifter (1993) and, following a hiatus from 1997 until 2006, a 15-year wait for their most recent album Researching The Blues (2012). The band’s gift for harmonies, punk attitudes, lush production and raucous riffs on tracks such as ‘Annie’s Gone’, ‘Jimmy’s Fantasy’, ‘1976’ and ‘Yesterday Once More’ helped spawn grunge and define the times. As Dale Crover says of the brothers, “Those guys are both weirdos, and I love them for it and wouldn’t want it [any other] way.”
Melvins + Redd Kross: what more could you want?
Dates:
Friday 3 November – Capitol, Perth
Saturday 4 November – The Gov, Adelaide
Wednesday 8 November – Max Watts, Melbourne
Thursday 9 November – Factory Theatre, Sydney
Friday 10 November – Crow Bar, Brisbane
All shows – 18+