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March 28, 2024, 11:01:53 AM

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Mr Bungle (semi) reunion

Started by Shaky, August 14, 2019, 01:04:27 AM

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Shaky

I know there are a few fans on here so hark at this news:

https://www.metalsucks.net/2019/08/13/mr-bungle-to-reunite-for-first-live-performance-in-20-years-with-scott-ian-and-dave-lombardo/

Patton, Spruance and Dunn are on board and in typically perverse fashion, they're only going to play Bungle's thrashy first demo tape "The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny". No Heiftez or Bar McKinnon as they didn't play on Bunny obv and they live on the other side of the world to the others, I believe. Scott Ian from Anthrax (!) and Dave Lombardo will be joining the main bunch.

I'd rather see a "proper" reunion with some global dates and the demo was hardly their finest moment but yeah... didn't see this coming!


Dirty Boy

What the fucking..... what?

I wonder if they'll go through all of their records in sequence, it's hard to imagine them grinning and funking though Girls Of Porn or Squeeze Me Macaroni, maybe get Turkington to sing it.

I've been listening to a lot of live Bungle and FNM lately thanks to this fine fellow. He's adding videos all the time and is up to 1995 at the minute. The Bungle Warfield show from 92 is particularly well recorded, screaming females and all.

Shaky

Yeah - it's an incredibly strange thing to do, apparently largely at the behest of Trevor Dunn. They'll presumably have to play something else at these shows as the '86 tape is only about 35 mins long. I've never given it much time as a) it's hideously recorded and b) the speed metal stuff was always the least interesting part of the band but going to have to listen to it again.

Cheers for the bootleg link as well - that looks pretty comprehensive.

DrGreggles

Fantastic!
Surely more stuff will follow.

And I just happen to be wearing this as I read this news:

Noodle Lizard

I'll be there with bells on, no doubt, but at the same time I can't help but find it a bit disappointing as someone who's prayed for a Bungle reunion since discovering them ten or so years ago and having my whole musical outlook re-arranged by what I found.  It's less a reunion than a stunt one-off playing their first demo (which bears very little resemblance to what they actually became, and isn't especially interesting in and of itself) with some celebrity guests.  Dave Lombardo is fair enough because of his history with Patton, but I can't think of a duller choice than Scott Ian for a Bungle reunion.

Hopefully we'll get at least a few "proper" Bungle songs rather than filling out the timeslot with Anthrax/Slayer/S.O.D. covers, but I'm prepared to be a bit underwhelmed honestly.  It may be a case of them testing the waters for interest in a proper reunion, but it seems pretty misguided to tease it for so many years and then blow the load on something like this.

alan nagsworth

sounds shit

they should just play slipknot's "mate feed kill repeat" album instead

chveik

they should play the best of of the red hot chili peppers instead

Noodle Lizard

They've just added second dates to each city ... despite the initial dates not even going on general sale yet.  It does all seem a bit like "how much do you love that we're doing this?"

I'd understand if we were talking about a full Bungle reunion, which was a notoriously expensive/difficult show to stage in later years, but I imagine we're going to get something more similar to Dead Cross, really.  Ugh.  I know I sound like a right ungrateful cunt, but I'm honestly a little bitter about it.  Patton's got enough random come-and-go side-projects, I'd appreciate if he didn't turn Bungle into one of them.

McFlymo

I nearly wet myself at the headline of them reforming, but very quickly saw Scott Ian and my pants remained disappointingly dry.

In a way, it's the sort of shit, childish prank we'd expect from 90s Bungle. "We're here, with Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo... UHUHUH HA HA HA HAAAAA YEAH... METAWWWWLLLL... **Patton then pours some piss over himself***"

I want to hope this is the beginning of Bungle 2.0. Testing the waters before bringing the full band back and doing some bigger shows and maybe some new music, or even some fresh takes on 90s Bungle.

If it just ends up being this, then that'll be incredibly shit and disappointing.

chveik

why is Trey Spruance wasting his time with this, I've been waiting for 2 years for the new Secret Chiefs 3 album.

PlanktonSideburns

i really like that dumb speed metal album

maybe this is a low budget way of convincing people that bungle is gig viable? save dragging a fucking marimba around? do marimbas still exist in the hellworld of 2019? the idea of such a niche band dragging such enormous piles of gear round for music purposes seems like a cheesedream now. they probably wouldnt even need to bring their own drum kit or cabs for this: just heads and breakables in hand luggage

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: McFlymo on August 15, 2019, 11:47:53 PMI want to hope this is the beginning of Bungle 2.0. Testing the waters before bringing the full band back and doing some bigger shows and maybe some new music, or even some fresh takes on 90s Bungle.

If it just ends up being this, then that'll be incredibly shit and disappointing.

Sadly, Patton has priors for doing this - randomly bringing back Fantomas for a few one-off shows and never following it up with anything.  Hopefully this won't be that.

alan nagsworth

Remember the Tomahawk comeback album? It was shit. Honestly nothing with this much hype behind it will ever amount to being even half as good as people want it to be. The only people who will really enjoy it are those people who tirelessly convince themselves it was worth it because they shelled out the cash for it and will boast about it for the rest of their greasy fat lives.

Quote from: chveik on August 16, 2019, 12:40:00 AM
why is Trey Spruance wasting his time with this, I've been waiting for 2 years for the new Secret Chiefs 3 album.

yes to be fair that is a hell of a long time to wait for an album

McFlymo

Quote from: alan nagsworth on August 16, 2019, 07:21:49 PM
Remember the Tomahawk comeback album? It was shit.

Ach, I liked it. Although I feel like it was damned by giving me everything I thought I wanted. I wanted more of their dissonant jarring sort of stuff, I wanted complexity and loads of layers of Patton, I wanted more "edgy" crusty sounding production. It had all those things, but actually just lacked any memorable moments. Their first album had all the "hits", but the wit and conviction to sell it.

Noodle Lizard

Heh, virtually no one was able to get a ticket it seems.  But less than half an hour later, they were going for $200-400 on Stubhub.  What a fookin disgrace.

Pauline Walnuts

Stubhub sounds a like another name for the ladies devil's Doorbell.

alan nagsworth

Quote from: McFlymo on August 16, 2019, 07:26:40 PM
Ach, I liked it. Although I feel like it was damned by giving me everything I thought I wanted. I wanted more of their dissonant jarring sort of stuff, I wanted complexity and loads of layers of Patton, I wanted more "edgy" crusty sounding production. It had all those things, but actually just lacked any memorable moments. Their first album had all the "hits", but the wit and conviction to sell it.

Yeah, the first one is excellent. One of my favourite Patton projects, ridiculously snarky and so tight, a wonderful little package of hate. Mit Gas was a fair crack at expanding the sound without going too overboard but it just isn't as good. Anonymous was really cool as a different direction that still stayed in that vein of harsh Americana but again I think about half of it is not very memorable. Oddfellows just felt like retreading old ground and it bored the arse off me.

Shaky

I prefer Oddfellows to Mit Gas and Anonymous, so each to their own. The first album is fucking excellent, though. They really nailed that twisted, discordant, seedy Americana vibe.

McFlymo

I was gonna say my Tomahawk album order of preference is:
Self-titled
Anonymous
Oddfellows
Mit Gas

But actually Mit Gas has something quite pleasing that none of the other albums have. I think it's that "expanded sound" that you mention alan nagsworth. However, Anonymous to me is just a whole other lovely masterpiece, I was very into how it was produced more like an electronic band with guitars (I think this was more of Patton's influence, as Peeping Tom's album, while a collaboration with loads of producers, had a similar production vibe, overall).

Shaky

Anonymous has a handful of absolutely great tracks and as you say, McFlymo, the production works really well. I have a big issue with Patton on that one, though, as he struggles to integrate himself into what are really instrumental tracks so we get lots of inappropriate vocal noises and repetitive lyrics.

Back to Bungle -  been listening to their 2nd and 3rd demo tapes (Bowel of Chiley and Goddammit, I Love America!) having never really bothered with them before and the strides made from Raging Wrath are amazing. Shitty recordings but some great songs on both, and it's fascinating to hear how quickly everyone's chops had improved in such a short space of time.

Capt.Midnight

Continuing the Tomahawk de-railing -

- As disappointing as Oddfellows was, South Paw is arguably one of their best tracks.

- The softer tracks from the first two albums make a great dark, easy listening album. Stuff like Honeymoon, Harlem Clowns, Point and Click, You Can't Win, Desastre Naturale, etc.. This was completely overlooked when I was younger, as I preferred the heavy shit.

-Anonymous was fun, but I personally felt the production was too dry and lacking the gnarly bass presence of Rutmanis.

- Saw them live in Manchester a few times with Kevin Rutmanis on bass... imo they lost it when he left, he provided a lot of that dark underbelly tone, all whilst wearing a gimp mask on stage and harassing Dalek, the support act.

Noodle Lizard

Just found this from Dunn:

Quote"We will play The Raging Wrath in it's entirety, along with a couple songs from that era we never played before as well as some classic punk covers. I want to be clear to those out there who might be confused (understandably): WE ARE NOT PLAYING ANYTHING FROM OUR 3 WARNER BROS RECORDS. These will be THRASH METAL SHOWS a la 1986"

That sounds a bit rubbish, honestly.  Oh well.


Shaky

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on August 31, 2019, 12:14:07 AM
Just found this from Dunn:

That sounds a bit rubbish, honestly.  Oh well.

Where's that quote from? Had a quick newsy google and couldn't find anything.

Neville Chamberlain

Well I for one will be yelling, "Come on, chaps, give us a bit of the old Desert Search for Techno Allah!"

Or "How about a rendition of a bit of the old Everyone I Went to High School with Is Dead? Come on, boys!"

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: Shaky on August 31, 2019, 01:11:25 PM
Where's that quote from? Had a quick newsy google and couldn't find anything.

Admittedly it was shared on Reddit, so who knows.

Noodle Lizard

I got scalped tickets for my birthday from a well-meaning parent (despite my opposition/the fact that the extortionate resale prices will go way down closer to the date, which I didn't mention out of politeness), so I'm going.  I've wanted it for years, it's just a shame that the way they've gone about the whole thing feels ultimately a bit unsatisfying.  I've seen each of the involved members live in different projects, I've seen Patton doing thrash with Lombardo ... the thing that made Bungle special was certainly not their first demo.  Ach.

dallasman

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on August 31, 2019, 09:32:27 PM
Admittedly it was shared on Reddit, so who knows.

Annoyingly, I'm sure saw it somewhere reputable, but I can't find it either. Possibly a deleted tweet, meaning they're about to cave to popular demand again? First the extra shows, now they're reneging on the "pure metal, pure '86" deal too? At this rate, come February, there'll be backing singers and meet-and-greet VIP packages, and the show will climax with "Squeeze Me Macaroni". I say fuck the fans, kill the scalpers. Punk rock is the easiest place to hide!



1987, man! Check out the Vinyl Guide podcast for recent interviews with early days manager Kristen Yee and later days manager/Ipecac co-founder Gregg Werckman, plus a terrific two-parter with a slightly under-the-weather-sounding Trey, just released:

http://www.thevinylguide.com/episodes/ep175-the-early-years-of-mr-bungle
http://www.thevinylguide.com/episodes/ep167-20-years-of-ipecac-recordings
http://www.thevinylguide.com/episodes/ep180-trey-spruance-secret-chiefs-mr-bungle-web-of-mimicry-pt-1-of-2
http://www.thevinylguide.com/episodes/ep181-trey-spruance-secret-chiefs-3-mr-bungle-web-of-mimicry-pt-2-of-2

Nothing on the reunion in any of them, but some good stories (all debunked by the band on Twitter and by Trey in his interview). Also great interview with Trey on the recording of California here (part of a series): http://www.faithnomorefollowers.com/2019/07/trey-spruance-california-20th.html

Yes, it's the 20th anniversary of California, and everyone's catching Bungle Fever:



Haven't listened to the demos in a while, and Raging Wrath was always the least appealing, but I had to celebrate the news with a spin of the ol' FLACs, and goddammit, it's a ton of fucking fun. As Trevor remarked in the press release, the guitar work stands out as particularly furious and accomplished. Young Patton obviously has little of the might he would later wield, and the drummer just barely keeps up, so I can see how they'd be keen to do these songs justice. The death metal was always in the mix, but this demo is the only document of the original idea of the band, and as such, it's pretty shitty considering the quality of even the later demos, to say nothing of the work they have produced since.

I actually think this choice represents something of a compromise, though, as I'm pretty sure some of the Bungles would've been happy to do a slightly more predictable sort of reunion. Perhaps doing one or more of the albums in their entirety, or letting the fans vote on a setlist, or just picking their favourites from across the years. But the stock response to reunion queries has always been "it's gotta be for the right reason, and not just a bunch of shows for a bunch of money". Arrogantly elevating TRWOTEB (their first-ever attempt at committing their teenage ideas to tape) to being the focus of a bunch of shows for a bunch of money, is evidently just such a reason, whereby they recapture and refine their youthful rebellion in front of the same people they used to dread seeing at the stage door; now paunchy and bald, but with the disposable income to pay scalpers' prices. Always the contrarians, always challenging the audience's selfish expectations.

"You want nostalgia? Come watch us literally wank off to our old rehearsal tapes, come inside a Yoda mask and wipe our cocks with hand-drawn concert posters". It'll probably be a kick-ass evening of rock, but Scott Ian's beard would kill the vibe for me, and I'll be happy enough with the bootlegs and YouTubes, and hoping this inspires a brave rummage through the archives, so I can have my preconceptions shattered by some vintage live recordings and some goddamn fucking outtakes already.



If the band's Twitter is anything to go by, there might be more good news forthcoming, even if this is all we get in terms of live appearances (Trevor - the eternal killjoy - deemed any further reunions "highly unlikely"). It's a genuine outrage that this amazing live band has not released a live anthology or a box set of complete shows. Gimme it. The crew filmed a lot of early shows (some of that footage is compiled in the video for "My Ass Is On Fire", with a wonderful montage of drumkit-diving), and some of the sessions for the debut album. 30th Anniversary Beat Me Up, Lord Multimedia Extravaganza Box Set, please, daddy needs it. They weren't strangers to doing fun experiments in the studio either, and there's a handful of outtakes either circulating or known to exist, and probably at least a CDs worth of interesting shit we don't even know about. Get on it and get it out so we can give you money, you fat bastards. I really do wish they go through with getting the rights to all their recordings, and finally deign to humor their famously obsessive fans with some rarities.

Glad to see there will be CaB representation, btw, and happy birthday. Let's all hope they loosen up a little on the "no fan favourites" policy, but it's probably going to be a fun night either way.

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: dallasman on September 01, 2019, 01:36:19 AM

Nothing on the reunion in any of them, but some good stories (all debunked by the band on Twitter and by Trey in his interview). Also great interview with Trey on the recording of California here (part of a series): http://www.faithnomorefollowers.com/2019/07/trey-spruance-california-20th.html

What a great interview, thank you!  Trey's always seemed remarkably intelligent.  Some of his lyrics require access to a few different obscure encyclopedias to follow.  His thoughts on California (the state) and how weirdly prescient the album is in hindsight are fascinating.

Shaky

Patton just covered Retrovertigo with Mondo Cane:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9fqpxKBcEE

He really struggles with the vocals but sounds on point for the other vids.