Alaska News

Freak Alaska windstorm leaves Buzz Osborne of The Melvins with soiled underwear

World-famous "sludge-metal" band The Melvins played Sept. 5 at the Bear Tooth Theatre in Anchorage arriving in the teeth of a massive windstorm that cut power to thousands and caused damage across Southcentral Alaska.

On Sept. 10, the band's frontman, Buzz Osborne, gave a play-by-play of the group's trip via Spin Magazine's "tour diary" blog. Here's a little of what Osborne had to say about being a guest in the Last Frontier. He begins:

You'd think it would take more than a little headwind to scare the feces out of a sludge-metal front man, but hey, we all have our boogieman. Osborne continues:

Note to future touring bands: this was an unusual choice by bookers, but you know what they say ... "In Alaska, the odds are good, but the goods are odd!"(*)

Once at the hotel, "the boys" settle in before making a trip to the liquor store for Pabst Blue Ribbon (no comment). From there the epic hotel party is on! Osborne writes:

The next day, The Melvins awoke well rested and ready to play a gig only to discover the power had gone out, and with it the promise of a warm shower. So Osborne went downstairs to harass the concierge, who said she "could work all of that out, no problem" and handed Osborne a flashlight and a key to a room with a working shower. Classic.

To read more of Osborne's Anchorage tour diary, click here.

(*Usually that idiom pertains to hunting and trapping a boyfriend up north, but it more or less applies to everything else here; take it or leave it.)

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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