2019: August 17th: Mr. Bungle Returns!

NOTE: I've been attempting to post this for several days. Busy week.

This past Wednesday, my first alarm woke me as it always does at 4:07 AM. I keep my phone outside of arm's reach from where we sleep, just to ensure I don't just roll over and silence the alarm. I do, however, get up, snooze, and lay back down until one of the subsequent seven alarms finally rouse me from slumber completely. This particular morning, when I picked up the phone, I saw a push notification from Bandsintown that Mr. Bungle had announced a new show. Still mostly asleep, I dismissed this and when I finally did make my way to the kitchen to feed the cat and put some coffee on, the image of the notification was gone, wafting away as if the contents of a dream. You can imagine my surprise then, when I finally checked my messages, I saw that Mr. Bungle's return was indeed a reality.

Nineteen years ago I saw Mr. Bungle - then easily my favorite band ever - on two tours for their third and final album, California. After that, the band dissolved, the members went their separate ways, and I figured that maybe we would one day see some form of reunion, but more than likely not. Needless to say, as I dug deeper into the circumstances that prompted the unlikely reunion and saw that three of the five core members - Mike Patton, Trey Spruance, and Trevor Dunn - would be joined by Dave Lombardo and Scott Ian, reality shook for a moment and the feeling that I may still be trapped in a dream settled over me. When I read further and saw the new lineup would be performing Bungle's High School demo tape The Raging Wraith of the Easter Bunny in its full, my jaw dropped. I mean, what the absolute fuck?

I'll admit, although there is a lot of pre-first studio album Bungle material I dig, the material on Easter Bunny doesn't really fall into that category. It's juvenile and largely painful to listen to, especially when juxtaposed with what the band became later in its existence. But the idea of seeing these five men re-work and possibly really make something of this material fills me with hope! Although tickets are already selling at a premium and they're not even really on sale yet - only about 25% of the overall seating was allotted for the pre-sales that sold out in seconds - I am happy to say my good friend Dave secured us each one. February 7th is six months away, but I am overjoyed to be going on this adventure with Mr. Bungle once again. Is it nostalgia? Probably, but I also think we're probably in for one fantastic fucking surprise.

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Playlist from the last few days:

Duck - Kaiser Chiefs
Time Stays, We Go - The Veils
Windhand - Eponymous
Waxwork Records - House of Waxwork
Wasted Theory - Defenders of the Riff
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Bluebob - David Lynch and John Neff
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
Anthrax - Among the Living
Budapest Festival Orchestra - Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite
Budapest Festival Orchestra - Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka: Part I
Opeth - Deliverance
Orville Peck - Pony
Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante
Windhand - Eternal Return
Sleep - The Sciences
Opeth - Dignity (Pre-release single)
Opeth - Heart in Hand (Pre-release single)
Monolord - The Bastard Son (Pre-release single)
Revolting Cocks Playlist

No spread or card today.