Melvins’ Buzz Osborne Claims Dave Grohl Blew Off Potential Collaboration

Melvins just announced the upcoming release of Basses Loaded, a new album that features the band utilizing a number of different bassists to complete the disc. One of those bassists is Nirvana legend Krist Novoselic, but could the Nirvana ties to the album have been deeper? According to Buzz Osborne, that was the initial plan.

He tells Rolling Stone that the surviving members of the band were set to play with the Melvins, but it fell apart when Dave Grohl didn't show. He explains, "It was before where [they] played with Paul McCartney. Dave Grohl had said that he wanted to do all that stuff with us. He wanted to do Nirvana songs with the Melvins and maybe have David Yow singing. So Krist Novoselic came down and we started rehearsing and Dave was supposed to show up -- and he just never showed up. Blew it off, totally. And it was his idea! I didn't appreciate that, you know? I'm a lot of things, but one thing I'm not doing is sitting next to the phone in curlers, waiting for Dave Grohl to call me, you know?"

As for the situation with Grohl, Osborne remains a little steamed, claiming they've not hashed it out since it happened. "Dave never talked to me about it in the first place. Dave talked to Krist about it in the first place," the singer told Rolling Stone. "We were rehearsing with me Krist, Dale [Crover] and David Yow. Dave just was supposed to show up, never showed up. I was like, 'Krist, let's just go to his house. You know where he lives.' He wouldn't do it. So next thing you know, they're doing all this stuff with Paul McCartney. I don't do that to people, you know? Generally when I come up with an idea for something and it's my idea, and people fly down there on their own dime, which is what Krist did, and then you leave him hanging. That's not something I'm known for. But Dave, he's busy playing songs at the Oscars and s--t."

When Grohl didn't show, Osborne says the band made the most of the situation and had Novoselic record with them. The bassist actually plays accordion on his contribution, a track called "Maybe I Am Amused." "It's a really great track," says Osborne. "It's different than pretty much anything we would have done. Really cool. I would love to work more with him, but honestly his life is kind of a mystery to me. I don't have a lot of connection with those guys anymore. So we're lucky to have that amount with him."

The Basses Loaded album, which features Novoselic, Steve McDonald, Jared Warren, Dale Crover JD Pinkus and Trevor Dunn taking turns on bass, is due June 3 via Ipecac Records.

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