For those familiar with Mr. Bungle, the term 'simple' might feel like an oxymoron, but that's exactly how founding bassist Trevor Dunn describes their current incarnation.
"It's just five guys in a room, essentially. Back in the day we used to rehearse for weeks on end to get our sh.t together. It's nice to be able to just show up and be like, 'okay, I know how this goes'."While this sounds like the end product of a band spending decades on the road together, refining and perfecting their material, in this case it's because they're playing a completely different style of music from their prior run.
Mr. Bungle was the band that could jump from circus sideshow-inspired metal to doo-wop without hesitation, pulling off so-called avant-garde metal compositions that brought as many funk, ska and jazz licks as they did metal riffs, often sounding like the score for a demented cartoon.
After releasing three albums throughout the '90s while on Warner Bros. Records, the band dissolved in 2000. In 2019 they announced their reunion, with a twist.
Three of the founding members (Dunn alongside his childhood friends, guitarist Trey Spruance and the now legendary vocalist Mike Patton) have revived Mr. Bungle, but specifically the original vision of the band – an '80s thrash metal unit.
After rounding out the line-up with thrash icons Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer), Mr. Bungle were focused solely on revisiting material from their very first demo recording, 'The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny' (1986).
"People wanted a reunion and we gave 'em a reunion. They didn't specify. They didn't tell us not to do that," Dunn laughs. This was the initial form of the band before, as Dunn puts it, "we just kinda changed gears and we got totally influenced by Fishbone and Oingo Boingo, and decided to add a horn section".
Internally, they discern the different versions as the 'Raging Wrath Bungle' and 'Bungle Proper'. "That band with Danny [Heifetz] and Bär [McKinnon] existed for a good ten years, but it is going back to the original Mr. Bungle demo, so it's the original version, just like, kind of this new polished presentation of it.
"I feel like if anyone can have two different bands with the same name, it's Mr. Bungle.
"We're playing some of the biggest shows we've ever played, like our own headlining shows at least. Back in the '90s, for instance, we played the Warfield in San Francisco, I think it's like a 2,000-seater or something, and that was huge for us. Then in 2020 we played there two nights in a row, y'know, so it's bizarre."
The band's upcoming tour down under with Melvins, some 24 years since Mr. Bungle's last Australian visit, has them playing iconic venues like Hordern Pavilion and Festival Hall.
Reflecting back on that previous tour in 2000, Dunn says: "This version, this metal version is a lot simpler, which is one of the reasons we haven't revisited our '90s music, because it takes a lot more behind the scenes preparation and getting the sounds right.
"Imitating instruments that we don't play, and having additional musicians. It's just way more complicated in every possible aspect."
The aforementioned Danny and Bär, mainstay members through that 'Bungle Proper' era, both now live in Australia and recently reconnected in Bär's band Umlaut, playing a very Bungle-y melding of genres (albeit with less metal blasts).
"I'm glad the two of them are making music again together. It's great," Dunn says. "[I'm] really looking forward to seeing 'em when I'm down there."
However, on the possibility of a reunion within a reunion? "I think it would be too complicated. It's not like we're gonna have downtime to get together and work up 'Ars Moriendi' or something like that," Dunn says referencing one of their more extravagant, world-music inspired compositions more in the wheelhouse of Spruance's Secret Chiefs 3 project than what Mr. Bungle is today.
When this Mr. Bungle reunion first kicked off, fans were warned to temper their expectations for anything from those now, cult favourite 'Bungle Proper' albums. This rule seems to have relaxed a little, with 'My Ass Is On Fire' from their self-titled 1991 album being added to later sets.
"That idea was sort of prompted by our manager. He was like, 'Man, everyone's complaining you're not doing any of that music'," Dunn explains. "Hopefully the people who are adamantly against us playing strictly '80s thrash metal are appeased, for a couple minutes while we play a truncated version of that song," he laughs.
Fans of that album will also be able to hear DNA of 'Love Is A Fist' within the 'Raging Wrath' track 'Methamatics', with the former's pummelling chorus riff originating in that earlier thrash version.
Comparing the 5 dates of this Australian tour to the 45 US shows Dunn will be playing on an upcoming acoustic tour with Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne to support their 2020 collaboration 'Gift Of Sacrifice', Trevor describes the latter as "gruelling".
"We're gonna be in a van, there's only gonna be three people; it's gonna be me and Buzz, and we're gonna have one crew guy with us. I'm psyching myself for it already, 'cause it's gonna be long and hard, and I'm playing upright bass, which is physically much more challenging for me.
"Mr. Bungle is kind of at this level now where we're staying in nice hotels and we've got a five-person crew. It's cush as it's ever been for us, which is great."
The pairing of Mr. Bungle with Melvins is a no-brainer. Between the two bands all members of Patton's avant-garde metal Fantômas are present, and Dunn also played upright bass in the side-project Melvins Lite.
"I remember listening to 'Ozma' in Trey's apartment in the late '80s. We always liked touring with bands that we like, y'know? It makes it much easier a tour too, because it is a family, you know what to expect. The people are solid and they're not gonna screw up. It's comforting that way, actually."
- written by Christopher Jane
Mr. Bungle & Melvins 2024 Tour Dates
Wed 6 Mar - Festival Hall (Melbourne)Thu 7 Mar - Hindley Street Music Hall (Adelaide)
Sat 9 Mar - Hordern Pavilion (Sydney)
Sun 10 Mar - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)
Tue 12 Mar - Metro City (Perth)
