exploremusic

“Evil New War God” by The Melvins

You know, it’s kind of scary to contemplate where modern rock might today be without a guy named Buzz Osborne. Back in the 80s, he was in a punk rock band in a nowhere logging town in Washington State. Okay, so he was in the only punk rock band in town.

But Buzz had access to some of the music that was coming out of places like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He’d make mix tapes featuring bands like The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, The Ramones, and Bad Religion and share them with people whom he thought might appreciate this stuff.

One of those people was a kid named Kurt Cobain who was always hanging around. He was such a fan of Buzz’s band The Melvins, that he often worked an unpaid roadie for them back in the 80s. Then, of course, he eventually formed Nirvana—and we all know how that turned out.

Nirvana is long gone, but The Melvins are eternal. They have a new album (their 19th) called The Bride Screamed Murder. Check out a song called “Evil New War God”. 

“March of the Dolls” by Arms of the Sun

The second band on today’s list is Arms of the Sun. They’re from Dallas and play a chunky kind of minor-key rock that can be vaguely Tool-ish at times. Start with a song called “March of the Dolls”. 

“You Gotta Teller” by Zeus

Toronto’s Zeus has turned into a favourite here in the office. If you haven’t discovered their Say Us album yet, you should look into it. A song called “You Gotta Teller” has been on the stereo a lot.

“Never Never” by Petter & The Pix

Petter & The Pix is from Stockholm. Petter is the guy out front and The Pix are five other guys behind him. They sound like Peter, Bjorn, and John but without the whistling and more balls. The album is Good As Gold and the single is “Never Never”.

“Cut Throat” by Sepultura

Finally, because we have a lot of Brazilians in the office, someone is always playing Sepultura. There’s not a day goes by without someone playing something from this band. So let’s give in. Here’s a track called “Cut Throat”—and it is great metal.