Bud Melvin

Written by Mark De Nardo Sunday, 07 September 2003 06:26

Bud Melvin sounds like a Doc Watson video game complete with power ups and end screen songs...In November at the Bottle Top, the Empty Bottle's secret upstairs venue, Bud and a couple of us Chicago GB peeps got together to play the First Annual Game Boy Challenge...Bud rocked the house with his 8-bit folk.

Mark: So how's it goin' Bud? I liked your set on Friday at the Bottle Top. Your Hillbilly electronic music...it's danceable. What parts do you hail from, Brother?

Bud: Hey there. I had a great time this weekend, too. I'm from Milwaukee but moved here about 14 years ago. Hillbilly electronic is a nice description, I'll have to remember that one.

Mark: Was there folk music in Milwaukee when you lived there? What kind of scene was going on at the time?

Bud: Milwaukee probably had a great folk scene in the 80s when I lived there, but I didn't know anything about it then. My friend Will Branch does music there now with a lot of people in the scene, Dave Fox, Lil' Rev. Milwaukee has some great music going on these days. When I was younger, I was mostly into Devo, Husker Du, Beatles, Zep, Talking Heads all sorts of other music. Even Glen Miller and other big band jazz.

In my last year of high school I spent a lot of time randomly checking out records from the public library. I wound up with a Doc Watson double album and the Deliverance soundtrack. I couldn't believe how awesome they were, the playing, the intensity and the feeling. I would force all my friends to listen to it when we hung out and just kept saying how much faster it was than even Slayer.

The scene I knew about in Milwaukee was the North side suburban punk rockers. I was never a punk rocker, but I went to a lot of cool house parties with bands like Iowa Beef Experience (one of my favorite experiences ever), Die Kreutzen, Necromatix. I also saw Husker Du, Circle Jerks, MDC, Killdozer, stuff like that. Anyway, my friends bought a PA, started writing to labels saying if the tour goes through Milwaukee, they would do a show. They would set up the PA at the Unicorn club, or just have a party and do the show in someone's attic.

Mark: You have an interest in Hindu spirituality in your music...I think I've heard at least 2 songs about Ganesha video games. Do you plan to make Hindu videogames?

Bud: I have an interest in spirituality in general and it makes it way into my music. A good book on this subject is "Mysticism of Sound and Music" by Hazart Inayat Khan. I've done some songs based on Indian concepts (probably an obligitory move since the 60s) I've also done a CD, "The Seven Last Words of Christ" I think a Hindu videogame would be great, but I don't have the expertise to do such a thing. The stories are just so interesting, with such a variety of characters and animals, that it seems like a cool concept.

Mark: Are you into Hindu films at all? They always seem to be singing...Are there films that influence your music???

Bud: I like watching the Bollywood music shows on UHF stations Sunday morning. I love movies, but I'm not sure if they have a specific influence on my music. Certainly, anyone who has listened to Ennio Morricone soundtracks (who hasn't!) feel their power seeping into the way they do things. I like horror and sci-fi soundtracks like Goblin or Jerry Goldsmith, too.

I think I'm more influenced by the movement and pacing of movies in my music as well. Directors like Tarkovsky, Jordowsky, Leone are not afraid to let things so very slowly, repetitively to create a feeling.

Mark: When you're writing songs, do you like to compose with LSDJ or nanoloop?

Bud: Ever since I got LSDJ, I think I've only done one song in nanoloop. I still pull it out for live improvising, but LSDJ is so much better for the way I'm approaching things. I probably will go back to nanoloop again, just cause there's some really great techniques I haven't been able to do w/LSDJ.

Mark: Do you ever use live functions for gameboy or is it all presequenced?

Bud: I presequence all my stuff. I've seen handheld somehow do live stuff, it seems like DJing your own songs. Someday, I'd like to get a loop pedal w/ midi sync so I can layer LSDJ loops with live stuff and have it all stay on beat. I might get more into live mode then. Right now I don't even really understand how to do it.

Mark: What was the last electronic album that really impressed you?

Bud: An album I really love is Caural - "Paint EP" I'm hopefully going to buy his new full length soon so that might become my new favorite. I bought it at reckless records cause it had the coolest cover there and it wound up being one of my favorite albums of the year. It's more DJing-trip/hop than electronic, but I'm not really sure what electronic music is really supposed to be defined as anyway. Turns out he's from Chicago, too.

Mark: So Bud...I just got an e-mail from you about your gigs coming up...how many cats are you workin' with right now in Chicago? what's your take on the collaborative aspect of the Chicago music village?

Bud: I'm playing with Bosco&Jorge, William MacKay (the jazz group you saw me with) and Roller Boulder, a new band I'm getting off the ground. In the past I've also played banjo with Moonshine Willy and Country Melvins, drums for 36 Invisibles and Apostles of Liberty and played bass with Proletariat 7. Probably others I don't remember, too.

There's a good joke I heard. What do Taco Bell and the Chicago music scene have in common? Everything is just the same six ingredients in different combinations.

Mark: Do you ever confused with "Larry 'Bud' Melvin" from David Letterman?

Bud: Yes, people sometimes mention that reference. It's very unfortunate, because he's actually called Larry 'Bud' MelMAN. I used to love that guy. The very first Letterman show I saw, I was in high school and they had Larry Bud Melman on with a big 'toast on a stick' promotion. It might have been the same show or a different show where there was a huge pile of lobsters and they were giving them out to the audience. That guy is amazing.

Bud Melvin's site: www.budmelvin.com

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