“Boris knows and Boris likes it all.”
It’s been quite the year in live music so far, and it seems like every band on the planet is touring right now, but when two heavyweights like Melvins and Boris announce a tour together, and not only that, but they announce that they’re going to tour a full album each, it’s a no brainer for me. So I rode off to Downtown Los Angeles for an evening of loud as fuck music from two titans of the genre.
Opening for the evening was Chicago two-piece, Mr. Phylzzz (pronounced Flyzzz), who brought their brand of heavy garage rock weirdness that fit right in the offbeat humor of Melvins. In between songs, singer-guitarist Clinton Jacobs spoke in a high falsetto between songs, quipping that they were not The White Stripes and that they had 77 songs left to go after only playing two. Simply put, my kind of band!
It’s hard to know what to write about the Melvins because they are so goddamn good that one can hardly say anything about them that hasn’t been said before. That said, they were on absolute fire for the first night of The Twins of Evil Tour. In a fashion true to their sensibilities, they performed the entire album of Bullhead in a mixed-up order, along with a few additions. Because Dale Crover is currently recuperating from spinal surgery, they brought along Coady Wills from High On Fire, who absolutely killed it.
This will be the third time that I’ve covered Boris for Spinning Platters, and as always, I am in awe of them. Their presence and musicianship is second to none, and even though there were a couple of issues with the sound mix as well as a cable kerfuffle half-way through the set, it was nowhere near enough to distract from their sheer heaviness. They were performing the 2002 Heavy Rocks album in its entire, which is chock full of monstrous headbanger riffs, as well as their inventive guitar droning and wall of sound techniques that they continue to perfect some 30 years on.
I found myself having to remember that I was there to photograph a few times because the songs from that album are some of my absolute favorites. “Korosu” into “Dynasoar” evokes a hair raising feeling that gets me absolutely going every time I hear it. Following the complete set, they returned to perform an encore of their namesake, Melvins’ “Boris,” which drummer Atsuo introduced with, “We want to celebrate Melvins. They changed my life forever.” I can’t say it better than that.
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