Melvins are a rock band that formed in Montesano, Washington, United States in 1983. The band currently consists of Buzz Osborne (vocals, guitar), Jared Warren (bass), Dale Crover (drums) and Coady Willis (drums). Osborne is the only remaining original member, although Crover has been a member since early in the band's career.

In the early days of their career their dark, heavy, oppressively slow sound made them innovators of genres like sludge, grunge, and doom metal. Melvins' music is influenced by Flipper, Black Flag's My War-era hardcore punk and Black Sabbath-style heavy metal, but their idiosyncratic approach, bizarre sense of humor, and experimentation make neat categorization difficult. Singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne (aka "King Buzzo") and drummer Dale Crover are constant members while several bass guitarists have cycled through the group. Melvins usually performed as a trio until 2006 when two members of Big Business became permanent members of the band.

The band was named after a grocery clerk at the Thriftway in Montesano, Washington where Osborne was employed. Melvin was the most-hated fellow employee and the band felt it to be an appropriate name. Like SF noisenik predecessors Flipper, their love of slow tempos and sludgy sound were a strong influence on grunge music, especially Nirvana and many other bands from Seattle. Their protegés, however, tended to use more conventional musical structures with this sound.

Though the group has received mostly positive critical notice, Crover's drumming has been especially praised; Patrick Kennedy describes his work as "astonishing, powerful, and daring."

While never finding and most likely never even seeking great mainstream success, Melvins maintain an impressive schedule of new albums and tours, including a collaboration with Fantômas in The Fantômas Melvins Big Band, two releases with former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, and in 2004 Melvins collaborated with ambient artist Lustmord for Pigs of the Roman Empire. In appreciation of their devoted fans, Melvins have released various collectables through the years that have included two-headed dolls, an eight-track tape, and a plastic fetus in a jar.

Fellow Aberdeen resident Kurt Cobain (a good friend of Crover) was a huge Melvins fan and helped them transport their equipment to a few shows. Cobain also auditioned to join the band on bass, but he didn't make it, reportedly because he was so nervous that he forgot all the songs. Cobain maintained his relation with the band. Later he produced and played on some songs (guitar on "Sky Pup", percussion on "Spread Eagle Beagle") on the band's major label debut, Houdini. Dale Crover is also attributed as playing on the Nirvana debut album, Bleach, and on "Incesticide". In addition, Dave Grohl (ex-drummer for Nirvana) co-wrote and played drums for Isabella on Buzzo's Melvins solo album, King Buzzo.

Melvins are currently performing with bass player Jared Warren from Big Business, who participated on their albums (a) Senile Animal and Nude with Boots along with Osborne and Crover. Coady Willis, the drummer from Big Business, has also been inducted into the band - he and Crover both take up the position of drummer simultaneously, contributing extremely heavy-hitting, explosive rhythms in synchronization with each other.

Currently, Melvins are on a US tour, that will be followed by a European tour late this fall.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

Unsane is a New York City noise rock music trio, formed in 1988.

They are generally classified as noise rock, but their music also touches on elements of hardcore punk and metal. Finding limited mainstream success, Unsane are nonetheless hugely influential; writer Patrick Kennedy writes that "while developing the blueprint for noise-metal bands to follow, Unsane cut a remarkable swath through underground music, inspiring a devoted, cult-like following around the globe."

Unsane was formed in 1989 by singer/guitarist Chris Spencer, bass guitarist Pete Shore and drummer Charlie Ondras. They met as students at Sarah Lawrence College. The band was supposed to have their debut album recorded in 1988 by Circuit Records as "Improvised Munitions" , but Ernie Triccaro, the owner of Circuit Records, never released the album.

In the early 1990s, Unsane was part of a scene of loud, noisy, like-minded rock groups in New York City's East Village, often playing concerts with bands like Pussy Galore, Cop Shoot Cop, Surgery, Helmet and the Reverb Motherfuckers (Unsane's first show was as the opening act for the Reverb Motherfuckers). Members of Unsane were very active during this era and played in other bands like Boss Hog and the Action Swingers.

The band's self-titled debut was released in 1991 and was known for its harsh music and gruesome cover art: a photo of a decapitated man on a New York city subway track, his body still wearing a Members Only jacket.

Ondras died of a heroin overdose in 1992, and was replaced temporarily by Anthony DeLuca and then permanently by Vinnie Signorelli (formerly of Foetus and NY icons Swans). In 1994, Shore departed from the band for unknown reasons and was replaced by Dave Curran.

The band toured heavily, and signed to Atlantic Records, who released Total Destruction in 1993 -- it was Unsane's only major-label release. Their third album, Scattered, Smothered & Covered, was issued by Ampehetamine Reptile. The music video for the single "Scrape" was made for a mere $200, yet earned significant play on MTV. The video alternates between lo-fi rehearsal footage of Unsane, and a series of serious skateboarding wipeouts.

They continued touring heavily (including a stint opening for metal icons Slayer), but did not release a new album until Occupational Hazard, issued by Relapse Records in 1998. Later that same year - in seeming fulfilment of the album's title - Spencer was attacked by four people after playing a concert in Vienna, Austria. He ended up in hospital suffering internal bleeding and underwent major surgery. As a result of Spencer's injury, and touring over ten months of the year, the band decided to take a break in 2000.

During the interim, Spencer moved to California where he formed a new band with Dave Curran called The Cutthroats 9, releasing one album on Man's Ruin Records. Curran also started a band called The J.J. Paradise Players Club and Signorelli opened a tattoo shop in Brooklyn.

Unsane reformed in 2003 upon Spencer's return to New York, and released a greatest hits record, Lambhouse, followed by Blood Run two years later.

Ipecac released Unsane's sixth studio album, Visqueen on March 13, 2007.
Unsane's latest album will be released on March 20, 2012, entitled "Wreck".

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.