The Melvins’ King Buzzo Shares Real-Life ‘Spinal Tap’ Stories Starring Kiss, White Zombie
Melvins lead singer and guitarist Buzz "King Buzzo" Osbourne has been in the music business for over three decades now. As you'd expect, he's seen some pretty crazy behavior from his fellow rock stars in that time. He recently visited our studios to share a couple of real-life 'Spinal Tap' stories starring fellow rockers Kiss and White Zombie.
We started off by asking Buzzo about the dumbest thing he ever saw one of his fellow musicians do in person, to which he responded, "I wouldn't even know where to begin. Dumb just knows no limits in rock music." But after a moment he came up with a story from what he declares "certainly the worst tour we ever did," a 1995 trek opening for White Zombie. "Their sound guy made us stop soundchecking because it was bothering Rob [Zombie] while he was eating. And I remember thinking, 'What is he eating, a f---ing faberge egg omelette?'"
While the Melvins' uncomplicated stage shows over the years means he doesn't have any straight-up 'Spinal Tap' stories of his own ("I mean, I've fallen down...but people do that in their living room"), Buzzo did recall one funny incident he saw happen to Kiss star Gene Simmons. "Gene would do this thing where he'd fly up into the lighting rig...then he'd sing 'God of Thunder' or something up there. Then the lights go out, and they'd have something going on, and they lower him back down on these strings."
We've all seen that, right? Well, on this night, something went slightly wrong. "When they bring the lights up, he's supposed to be standing on the stage. Well, they lowered him down to where his feet were just barely, just barely off the ground, and he's sitting there going, "Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!,' then they drag him across the stage accidentally. Stuff like that was really funny."
Buzzo is currently on tour in support of his first-ever acoustic solo record, the excellent 'This Machine Kills Artists.' (Don't believe us? Try 'New River' on for size.) He will reunite with the Melvins to release a new album, 'Hold It In,' on Oct. 14, with a U.S. tour to follow in November.
Watch King Buzzo Perform 'Dark Brown Teeth'