The Melvins “Live at Slims”

The Melvins Live at Slim’s, San Francisco, June 17, 1999 Live is Abuse Records M 87003, Mono Limited edition of 100 Track 1 Manky ·See How Pretty, See How Smart· amazon  · Amazon · Let it All Be Track 2 Let God be Your Gardener  · Hog Leg Track 3 With Teeth · The Bit ·The Bloat · Green Manalishi · Lovely Butterfly Track 4 Jew Boy Flowerhead ·Eye Flies

One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is a “new” 8-track tape release. This one was sent to me by Matt Parrillo of Life is Abuse records and is an official live 8-track by the world’s heaviest band, THE MELVINS.  It was recorded live at Slim’s in San Francisco in 1999, and was released in a limited numbered edition of 100 copies. The band sold the first 50 on their 2000 “2 x 4” Tour (appearing with Leif Garrett). The tape became an instant collector’s item, selling on eBay and the like.

The songs are mainly from the late 90’s MELVINS releases, with lots of great tunes from The Maggot, Stag, and Bootlicker. There’s also a crusty oldie: “Eye Flies” from 1987’s Gluey Porch Treatments. The 8-tracks vary in length, and depending on how lucky you are, there are “bonus tracks” available on some tapes.

The actual recording is a bootleg done by Matt with a recordable Mini-Disk man and a stereo mic, but the 8-track was released with permission by The Melvins.

Details on the recording and production of the tape from Matt: “I dubbed all the tapes off myself, real time, one at a time, on my Wollensak 3M (model #8050 A). All of the tapes are recycled, stickers removed, carefully cleaned, and erased using a hand held bulk tape eraser. The first 50 tracks I made (which were sold by the Melvins) came in a variety of colors: 1-10 grey, 11-20 White, 21-25 Black, 26-30 Grey, 31-35 White, 36-40 light blue, 41-43 black, 44-48 grey, 49 Dark Blue, 50 Red (these numbers are fairly accurate but could be off on a color or 2). I already had a huge box of crappy 8-tracks and a bought tons others.   When I first started dubbing them, I didn’t have any extra sensing foil, so I played tested each and every one of the 50 first, to make sure the tape was good and the foil was strong… only half of them passed the test. For the second 50 I bought 50 all grey carts from “Kate’s Track Shack” complete with new sensing foil and replacement pads. This made my life 10 times easier! I only have to make 7 more copies (I’ve been lazy) so my job will be finished soon!”