The Melvins are one of modern music’s most influential bands. Having formed in 1983, Montesano, Washington, the group, founded by vocalist/guitarist Buzz Osborne, with drummer Dale Crover joining a year later, has been credited with merging the worlds of punk rock and heavy music, forming a new subgenre all their own. Over their 40-plus-year career, they’ve released more than 30 original albums, numerous live records, and far too many tocount singles and rarities. Recent releases include 2024’s Tarantula Heart, a really good collection of what the Melvins do, what they can do, and what they want to do, and Five Legged Dog (2021), an ambitious 36-track acoustic collection that reimagines their heaviest songs alongside covers of their favorite artists. Throughout their discography, the Melvins havecollaborated with Jello Biafra, Mudhoney, and Fantômas for individual releases and toured theworld many times over. Remarkably, they had the misfortune to be in both Christchurch and Tokyo for their 2011 earthquakes. In 2012, the Melvins completed the “51 States in 51 Days”(50 states, DC) tour, which was chronicled in the film “Across The USA in 51 Days.” The band's current incarnation is Osborne, Crover, and Steven McDonald (Redd Kross). Previous lineups included a pairing of Osborne and Crover with Jared Warren and Coady Willis of BigBusiness, a four-piece featuring the current trio plus Butthole Surfers’ Jeff Pinkus, as well asMelvins Lite, which partners Osborne and Crover with Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn. Sometimes, if you’re extra lucky, one version of the Melvins will open for the Melvins.