In the absence of new Faith No More (which seemed like it might actually be a thing for a minute earlier this week), Tomahawk has always been my favorite (read: most FNM-like) of Mike Patton’s myriad side projects. If I’m being honest, the Patton-led collabo — which also includes Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison, ex-Helmet drummer John Stanier and ex-Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn — kinda lost my interest with 2007′s Anonymous, a record that lacked gusto and reminded me a very mellow, spiritual version of Bungle. 2003′s Mit Gas is the record that hooked me, but 2001′s self-titled debut is a ripper too (stream it on Spotify here).

So it’s with cautious anticipation that I report that Tomahawk are working on a new album, according to their Facebook page. Hooray! Hopefully it’s more Mit Gas / self-titled and less Anonymous. Presumably we’ll find out in the first half of 2012, and presumably it’ll be issued via Patton’s own label Ipecac.

-VN

Thanks: Mykee Shaffer

On December 31, 2008, Fantômas– the on-again-off-again supergroup featuring Mike Patton (Faith No More, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom), Buzz Osborne (Melvins), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, MadLove) and Dale Crover (Melvins, Shrinebuilder) — performed their 2001 album The Director’s Cut live at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. Nearly three years later the band is releasing The Director’s Cut Live: A New Year’s Revolution on DVD and as a standalone audio download via Ipecac Recordings.

As you’d expect from this rowdy cast of characters, the performance was electric. Check out the song “Cape Fear” from the show below. The Director’s Cut Live: A New Year’s Revolution came out yesterday and is available for order here; you can also download just the audio here.

Interviewing Buzz Osborne was, without a doubt, one of the best experiences of my lucrative career in music journalism. Sometimes, interviewing can be a real drag, me trying to pull meaningful answers out of disinterested people. What a bummer it is when you realize that someone whose music you dig turns out to be a jerk or worse–a bore. Thankfully, the frizzy-haired Melvins frontman and Fantomas guitarist proved to be a funny, engaging, and opinionated interviewee, turning what could have been a straightforward Q&A session into an hour-long phone conversation. For your sake, I’ve broken this dialogue up into two parts, the first of which appears below.

The Bride Screamed Murder, the imminent new full-length Melvins album, is the strongest work of the current Big Business-infused lineup and quite possibly the best damn record the band’s put out since the classic Houdini. Read on to learn King Buzzo’s thoughts on the new record, black metal, military cadence, and why U2 are “a bunch of pussies.”

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I suspect that, save for the weirdos and closeted avant-jazz heads lurking among our readership, many of you are unaware of or oblivious to the work of Trevor Dunn. Of course, any Mr. Bungle fan will instantly recognize the name of that seminal band’s bassist. Produced by the influential and infamous John Zorn, its 1991 self-titled debut might be one of most bizarre albums in my collection of bizarre albums, blending bombastic hard rock, demented circus music, and freak jazz with thematic wit, irreverence, and depravity. In subsequent years, the Mike Patton-fronted group took a proverbial backseat to the vocalist’s work in the comparatively more successful Faith No More, leaving Dunn and his cohorts to pursue other musical ventures including Secret Chiefs 3. Though Mr. Bungle ultimately and mysteriously disbanded after the release of its third album California, Patton and Dunn would continue their musical partnership in the experimental metal supergroup Fantomas–a still technically active quartet that also includes Melvins’ esteemed axeman Buzz Osbourne and Slayer’s revered drummer Dave Lombardo–as well as the related Fantomas-Melvins Big Band and Zorn’s “Moonchild”. Separately, Dunn has spent much of this decade as a major player in New York’s avant-jazz community, featuring in countless groups and albums including his own Trio-Convulsant. MadLove, however, might be the most extraordinary (and frustrating) release of Dunn’s career given its curious straightforwardness and accessibility.

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Trevor Dunn has a new band called MadLove–and apparently it isn’t some freak jazz thing for a change. Just the idea of the legendary bassist making what he calls “straighter, more commercial” rock music should sound irresistible to fans of his heavy work in Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, and the Fantomas-Melvins Big Band. A regular in New York’s downtown avant-garde community, he can frequently be found playing artsy-fartsy venues like The Stone, supporting likeminded subversives such as John Zorn or even leading his own ensembles like PROOFReaders, an Ornette Coleman cover band. That might suit jazz aficionados, but for metalheads it just aint heavy enough. Judging by the video above, MadLove should interest at least some of you.

If you didn’t happen to catch MadLove during the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas weekender last December, the band is playing three shows this week, in Philly, Joisey, and Brooklyn, the latter of these featuring openers Pink Noise and some Thurston Moore trio.

-GS

[Gary Suarez has swine flu. He also writes for Brainwashed and usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

2009 is a big year for big boys Dale Crover and Buzz Osbourne. Indeed, the Melvins plan to fucking commemorate twenty-five long years of making music to make you sick. How exactly do these sludge metal monoliths intend to do that? Why, by playing anniversary shows, of course!

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