Melvins rehearsal tape from 1985 featuring Dale Crover’s mother shouting at them
In the world of grunge and metal, the Melvins are true icons known for their pivotal impact on Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. In a rehearsal tape from 1985, which appeared on YouTube in 2015, the band are heard in their infancy, with drummer Dale Crover’s mother making a surprise appearance.
The recently unearthed tape features a young Crover practising with his bandmates Buzz Osborne and Matt Lukin in the basement of his mother’s house in Aberdeen, Washington. As the band rips through a thunderous set, Crover’s mother can be heard shouting at them from upstairs, demanding they turn down the volume so she can watch the TV.
While her appearances on the tape are brief, they reveal a woman clearly frustrated with her son’s penchant for volume; though, it would appear she was supportive of his passion for music deep down.
In an interview with Sight/Sound/Rhythm, Crover was asked whether the geographically isolated area of Aberdeen helped Melvins in their early years. “Definitely,” Crover replied. “I mean, all we did was practice when we started, but really we made most of our music away from there. It inspired us to play because there was really nothing else to do besides smoke weed and drink.”
When asked if his family still lived in the area, Crover added: “No, not anymore. Both of my parents have passed away. My mom had actually already moved out of there when she retired, and so she went to Olympia. There was a lot more going on there, and when The Melvins first started out, that’s where we would go and play. I mean, there was no place to play in Aberdeen at all, and nobody would’ve liked it anyway.”
“They were really supportive,” he said of his parents. “I remember the day that Buzz and Matt came over to talk to me about playing in the Melvins. My mom had just been saying to me, ‘You know, you’ve got to find a band that’s really going to do something’ because the stuff I was doing at the time really wasn’t going anywhere.”
Hear the early Melvins rehearsal tape featuring Dale Crover’s mother below.
