After an extended hiatus of nearly two decades, Mr. Bungle have reconvened to promote the retconned 'The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo' album.
With doom merchants Melvins in tow as support, it's a twofer that's difficult to say no to as the bloated audience in attendance at Adelaide's Hindley Street Music Hall (7 March) would attest. Melvins arrive onstage to a tape of A-Ha's seminal 'Take On Me', bassist Steve McDonald leads the audience in a sing-along as bandleader Buzz Osbourne arrives with his trademark frizz, dressed in what appears to be some kind of ceremonial robes, while drummer Coady Willis (subbing for absent long-term drummer Dale Crover) takes his place behind the kit.
They performed a set of bass-heavy-attack stoner jams, three songs apiece from the early '90s albums 'Bullhead' and 'Houdini', somewhat neglecting their more recent releases.
Most of their songs take Black Sabbath's doom-metal template to another level, Buzz wrestling with and assaulting his guitar while Steve makes rock poses but doesn't lose a beat, and Willis solos in-between songs while they retune; not a moment is left to spare during their allocated support lot.
With the audience in the lower stalls standing and moshing to the musical dirge and the upstairs circle chilled by the too close air-conditioning, it's like the cavernous, internal environs of Hindley Street Music Hall have been transformed into the second and third circle of Dante's Hell, Lust and Gluttony respectively.
Joined by Trevor Dunn from Mr. Bungle (a former Melvins bassist himself) for their finale 'Night Goat', a bass drone duet is performed while Buzz paces his side of the stage like a caged animal before settling in front of the microphone to unleash his primal howl vocal, their set grinding to a conclusion with the completion of this song and a subsequent, well deserved, rapturous audience response.
The Portsmouth Sinfonia's rendition of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra Op 31' is played prior to Mr. Bungle arriving onstage, and is appropriate as an introduction for the reconfigured band: Mike Patton on vocals, guitarist Trey Spruance, and bassist Trevor Dunn, supplemented by latter day recruits – Anthrax mainstay guitarist Scott Ian and Slayer's original drummer Dave Lombardo.
From the start, it's as though Patton is speaking in tongues, possessed, performing a guttural throat-singing accompaniment to the overture-like 'Grizzly Adams' before a recording of Rhea Perlman's spoken word intro leads into the immediate hardcore of 'Anarchy Up Your Anus'.
The audience is driven into a frenzy, although with failed early attempts at crowd surfing while the band perform songs from the '...Easter Bunny Demo' album. There's certainly no 'Easy' for the Faith No More fans who have turned up uninformed, although later mid-set performances would have me reconsidering that initial thought.
After 'Eracist' is performed, Mike announces in rhyming couplet: "Trevor Dunn our bassist is looking for fun. He wants to get laid in Adelaide. . . but he might just get AIDS in Adelaide."
This theme of stage banter continues; after 'Spreading The Thighs Of Death', Trevor adds: "I definitely got herpes on that one." Mike continues with a punchline of sorts: "It's a start. It's a gateway STD," but then takes a back-step, bemoaning, "we're in our 50s for Christ's sake".
The out of sequence play-through of the '...Easter Bunny Demo' resumes including covers of Corrosion Of Conformity's 'Loss For Words' and the Stormtroopers of Death song 'Speak English Or Die' (retitled as 'Habla Español O Muere').
While Melvins' set was rooted firmly in the low-end frequency range with their doom-sludge performance, Mr. Bungle is mostly high end although occasionally venturing south.
Trey's screeching, eardrum-piercing guitar solos range from sounding like a theremin to a baby crying, to high-pitched scat singing, while Scott's guitar sounded like an aeroplane taking off. It's like a form of extreme jazz with the band soloing simultaneously, equal parts an aural, visual and physical assault especially for those standing in the stalls, the audience mosh and subsequent crush intensifying as the set progressed.
After their performance of Slayer's 'Hell Awaits', when they were at their most extreme, the band pause momentarily before performing a contrasting cover of Seals & Crofts' yacht rock 'Summer Breeze', the beginning of a schizophrenic cover medley including Siege's 'Cold War' and bookended with Olivia Newton-John's 'Hopelessly Devoted To You', faithfully executed although the band hint and threaten briefly to spill over into hardcore at the end of each chorus.
Mike asks: "Doesn't that make you feel better. . . like getting a really greasy enema or eating a hot dog and getting a blowjob at the same time?"
A timely cover of The Exploited's 'Fuck The U.S.A.' precedes 'My Ass Is On Fire' from the band's debut album proper, with this classic Mr. Bungle track among a cover-heavy set apparently what the greater audience have been waiting for, exploding into a mosh as the band perform funky interludes amongst the abstract grind, Trey alternately picking and shredding his guitar with an excerpt from the Pepto Bismal theme song thrown into the outro for good measure.
During 'Sudden Death', Scott's driven, tight rhythm playing along with Trevor's bass playing hold the piece together, Dave's thunderous drums threatening to shake the Hindley Street Music Hall apart. This is a soundtrack to mosh to, the audience taking the opportunity while a number of crowd surfers are conveyed over the front of stage barriers.
The encore commenced with another incongruous cover, Timi Yuro's 'Satan Never Sleeps' before Van Halen's 'Loss Of Control' resets to default the predominant style for this incarnation of Mr. Bungle.
Even though the set is over, the band remain onstage momentarily, playfully throwing guitar picks and drumsticks into the audience, Trevor carefully folding a set list into a paper aeroplane that successfully flies right over the audience, all the way to the mixing desk.
Read our recent interview with Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn.
