The Melvins & Big Business @ the Fillmore at the TLA
October 5th, 2007 - by Dave
The Melvins are all about making noise. Their songs flow like thrash jam sessions. Their lyrics are total nonsense. And they’re taking the stage these days with two full drum kits flanked on either side of a giant gong cymbal. On Monday they brought the noise to Philly.
The show opened up without a band on the stage. Instead there was just a projector screen. A series of linked animated movies played on the screen in the darkened room while booming music blasted from the house sound system. Each clip, prefaced with a vaguely political title screen, featured an odd looking mouse.
The mouse would do goofy things like stab itself with a knife repeatedly sprouting streams of blood into the air while hands appeared from the ground with funnels to transform the blood into droplets of magical water. It was as weird as it sounds. After four or so of these shorts people in the crowd were groaning. After eight, people were howling for Buzzo to come out. Ok, maybe that was just me.
After the films finished, the guys from Big Business took the stage alone. The music sounded crisp, but the vocals sounded like someone clearing their throat. They broke most of the cardinal rules of an opening act. They stretched out some songs into an all out jam. They brought out a guest bassist. And they played for over an hour.
But my primary complaint about Big Business is that they sound a lot like a Melvins cover band. The singer talked up the crowd between songs with something about the Philadelphia Phillies and Van Halen. The crowd chanted “USA - USA - USA - USA”. The weirdness of the night was increasing.
The BB guys left the stage for a while and then returned with Buzz Osbourne. A roadie set up a fan directly behind the Buzz to blow through his poofy hair. Buzz is weird but he’s skilled at melding crashing noise with groove. They stayed away from all out jam sessions though, sticking to a mix of songs from their older albums and the latest Big Business/Melvins release.
The dueling drummers were interesting at times when they riffed off each other and changed tempo on a dime. But at other times they played completely in-sync. An impressive feat, but it felt like a bit of a waste.
I went for the noise. And Buzzo brought it, even if there was some weirdness to wade through to get to it.
