King Buzzo

Roger Osborne, performing under the stage name King Buzzo, serves as lead guitarist for the Melvins, an enduring outfit from the heavier wing of alternative rock whose reliance on amplified guitars, forceful riffs, and measured pacing established them as pivotal forerunners to grunge. Although his efforts with the Melvins, especially the 1993 album Houdini and 1996’s Stag, focused on unyielding hard rock, the two full-lengths issued as King Buzzo—This Machine Kills Artists in 2014 and Gift of Sacrifice in 2020—ventured into acoustic settings while preserving a comparable intensity in songcraft and approach.

Born Roger Osborne on March 25, 1964, in the small Pacific Northwest community of Montesano, Washington, he absorbed 1970s arena rock during his youth, with particular attention to Black Sabbath, Kiss, Aerosmith, and the Who. While at Montesano High School, Osborne assembled a band with fellow students bassist Matt Lukin and drummer Mike Dillard; the group, christened the Melvins, initially concentrated on hard rock covers until exposure to hardcore punk prompted faster tempos and sharper melodic turns. Dale Crover’s subsequent replacement of Dillard on drums encouraged a return to slower pacing, yet the band retained its angular, minor-key melodies and thereby forged an original fusion of punk and metal.

The Melvins made their recorded debut with the 1986 EP 6 Songs on C/Z Records and embarked on an extended, prolific trajectory as one of America’s most resilient alternative rock acts, presaging grunge and shaping the work of their associates Nirvana. Throughout the band’s existence Osborne has alternated between the names Buzz Osborne and King Buzzo, reserving the latter for various solo releases. In 1992 each of the three Melvins members issued a solo EP modeled on Kiss’s 1978 solo albums; Osborne’s effort, titled King Buzzo, contained four solo tracks and featured Dave Grohl on drums under the pseudonym Dale Nixon.

King Buzzo’s first solo album arrived in 2014 with This Machine Kills Artists, an unplugged yet weighty acoustic project. The 2020 release Gift of Sacrifice continued in an acoustic mode filled with dark and menacing textures, this time with bassist Trevor Dunn.