Never say never in the music business, because Mr. Bungle have announced their first shows in twenty years. And, they are bringing some all star friends.
Anthrax's Scott Ian and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo will be joining Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn and Trey Spruance for a trio of shows on the east and west coasts (sorry everybody else). This is going to be huge.
The band will be playing their 1986 self-produced demo, The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny, in full. Here are the dates:
February 7 Los Angeles, CA Fonda Theatre
February 8 San Francisco, CA Warfield Theatre
February 10 New York, NY Brooklyn Steel
Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 am local time.
Here are some quotes from the band members off the press release:
“Ever since Trevor hatched The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny v.2 idea a few years back, Patton, Lombardo, he and I had each been incubating some idea of that egg. Lombardo called me one day and asked me to make some guitar demos so he could learn the songs. He had this generous idea to surprise the other guys with being totally ready to go with the tunes. It just so happened that I was in Eureka at the time. So, I found myself re-visiting all of those riffs in the same goddamned town and in the same goddamned housewhere I recorded all the original guitars on that demo 33 years earlier. There was something about actually physically working out the mania of those riffs again at DAVE LOMBARDO'S request, in that environment — it just split my head open. It wasn't long before the train of destiny had picked up too much speed for any of us to jump off.” – Trey Spruance
“When we recorded that demo, we were 16 and 17 years old and we were absolutely serious about the music. At the time, we were living the deluge of '80s metal and absorbing every riff and every drum fill from every known band from Denmark to San Francisco. The recording and playing were amateurish (save for Trey's video-game-solos) but the schooled composition and spirit were solid. I always felt like this music held its own and deserved to be presented in a clearer and more defined package even if it meant being 33 years later.” – Trevor Dunn
“I remember writing riffs for this cassette in my parent’s garage, with no heat, so I recorded in a sleeping bag for analog warmth, playing a one-stringed acoustic guitar that was piped into a ghetto blaster. Thank god I had Trevor and Trey to help decipher my rotten riffs into something intelligible!” – Mike Patton
“When Mike hit me up about this my brain thought he was asking me if I wanted to come to a show, him knowing I am a HUGE Bungle fan. When I realized he actually meant for me to play guitar with them it broke my brain, I was a giggly drooling mess. Somehow I pecked out Y E S on my keyboard and holy crap I’m playing in Mr. Bungle. Seriously, it’s an honor and a privilege to get to play with my favorite ‘Mr.’ band of all time.” – Scott Ian
“I don’t know what was in the water in Eureka California, but it certainly wasn’t clean. This is going to be a ridiculously, insane band to play with and I am honored to have been asked to join the wrath.” – Dave Lombardo
The idea that Dunn, Patton and Spruance will be joined by their early musical heroes is not lost on the musicians:
“They are a significant percentage of ‘The Big Four’, all of which had a major impact on us. Aside from their obvious skills and –for crying out loud, INVENTION of this genre– there's nothing like being in a band with those whom which you have rapport. If we are going back to the source with this stuff we might as well go ALL THE WAY back.” – Trevor Dunn
“To have Scott and Dave with us on this suicide mission is more than an honor. THEY are a big part of the reason we wrote this stuff in the first place, and to realize it 30+ years later with these maestros is an absolute miracle… we can finally play this teenage nonsense correctly! A total catharsis for us. “ – Mike Patton
“At our very first show, at the Bayside Grange Hall, Nov. 30, 1985, we played Slayer's ‘Chemical Warfare’ and a S.O.D. cover. I mean, are you kidding?? We WORSHIPPED those guys! And now they're gonna PLAY in our band?” – Trey Spruance
It should be noted the album is only 35 minutes long, so maybe we'll get some Slayer and S.O.D. covers on this.
