Melvins - Fantomas Review
The Troubadour
Hollywood, CA
23 October 1998
Well, I almost died from going with the flu, but I'm almost over it and the show was
well worth it. I have to concur w/John Hilbun's 10/29 review of the
Dallas show.* It was pretty much the same at the Troubadour in Hollywood.
There were a few celebs there that night. No Dale, Lori or any other
Melvins related sightings, though. Just the usual Hollywood weenies,
like Kiefer Sutherland and his type. Of course, they weren't down with
the masses, but up in the observation rooms behind glass. Why in the
world would you want to got to a concert, especially in a tiny theater,
and then park your ass behind glass. Ridiculous!
The show started an hour late, Buzz and Mackie showed up and hour late.
Quite a coincidence. Buzz must've been gorging on BBQ and got tied up in
the terrible traffic jam. BTW, does anyone else think Mackie resembles a
younger Sally Jesse Raphael?
First up was this dude who calls himself "That One Guy". He had a one
string electric bass, a one string stand up bass with pickup, about
thirty different effects pedals, a drum machine/sampler and he sang.
Believe it or not, he was pretty good and the crowd generally dug him.
He did some pretty rockin radical tunes.
After he finished up and packed his stuff up, Buzz, Mike, Trevor and
Dave came out and started warming up and tuning. Buzz had two Les Pauls,
including his Rock and Roll Over stickered beauty, and I think a Fender
Mustang. He used them all and it was the first time I've seen him use
other than a Les Paul and the first time I've seen him use his Rock and
Roll Over one. Mike had this killer midi-keyboard-effects-computer setup
with two microphones. Trevor had one bass and it looked like he and Buzz
had the exact same effects pedal setup. Dave had an awesome looking drum
set and one hell of a gong. He also had various other things, like this
chrome coil about five feet in diameter. What a trip.
I set myself up right in front of Buzz against the stage railing.
Catherine from the Melvins mailing list was there again and she
anchored herself up front, too. There were the usual Friday night drunks
who didn't give a crap about the show and seemed to be there so others
could see how obnoxious and annoying they were. The music was very loud,
tight and melodramatic. Lots of time changes and mood alterations. Mike
mostly screamed and made all kinds of sounds from his board. He was the
mad conductor and especially Buzz, was going along with him. Sometimes,
Buzz would do his Benny Hill standing at attention thing with that blank
dorky look on his face. Hilarious. The he'd proceed to get down on those
guitars with licks, chords and harmonics. Buzz even used a glass bottle
slide. He had his three guitars tuned differently and his set list
(which he refused to give up after the show) was marked A, B and C
throughout for the different guitars. At one quiet point in the show, I
yelled out "Roger! Roger!", but Buzz refused to look. He did quietly
acknowledge my friend James when James yelled out "Melvins!!" And he
noticed my Melvins Army shirt.
They came out and did one encore, the TRex song "Chariot Choogle" from
the Marc Bolan trib CD. .
gene
* John Hilbun's 10/29 Dallas Fantomas review:
There were some rather nice conventional sort of bands opening up for
Fantomas at the Galaxy Club in Dallas the 29th, but when Buzz, Patton,
Lombardo and Dunn took the stage everybody was sort of starstruck and
wondering how Patton knew Sideshow Bob!
The music was amazing, powerful, fast, and stopped on a dime then started
again. Patton sang no real lyrics but instead shrieked operetta style,
yodeled, and screamed like a motherfucker. He would start a song with a
noise sample then scream blah da doo dent da da blahhh! And then Dave
Lombardo would drum away at about 250 bpm a la his days with Reign of
Blood-era Slayer, while Buzz would tap and strum and thrash and squeal and
Trevor Dunn would hold down the bottom end of this comic spectacle.
What was funny is they played a song with a very fast thrashy part which
ended abruptly then Patton just played a little zap of a sample to finish
the song. The crowd thought it was funny and so he told them to play it
again. Then he told them to play it again more slowly. then they played it
again faster with Buzzo playing the final sample with his nose.
Mike Patton looked like a mad conductor. sometimes when he saw that a
number was really "on", he would just squat down and smile in ghoulish
delight. You could really tell at that point his happiness at being able to
recruit his favorite bandmates to be a part of the project.
What was interesting is that unlike west coast crowds who plugged their
ears or left, the Dallas crowd nodded their heads and smiled big smiles. It
was an amazing musical experience. There really are good new places to go
with music. Was anyone there? If you have been to a show, how does my
account compare with yours?
L I N K S
Fantômas Official Site
dx-22's Fantômas Page
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