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Mr. Bungle Reunion


Powerage5

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The extraordinarily weird Mike Patton-led band Mr. Bungle are back! They just announced their first shows in nearly 20 years, and they’ll be performing their chaotic, hardcore-tinged 1986 demo The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny at these shows, which will mark the first time these songs have been played live in over 30 years.

Original members Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, and Trey Spruance are all on board for the shows, and their lineup will very impressively be rounded out by Anthrax’s Scott Ian and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo (who also plays with Patton in Dead Cross and played with Patton and Dunn in Fantomas), both of whose classic bands were clear influences on Mr. Bungle in the thrashy Easter Bunny era, as Mike, Trevor, and Trey acknowledged while discussing these upcoming shows. See quotes from them — as well as Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo — below.

The shows happen in February 2020 at LA’s Fonda Theatre on 2/7, San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre on 2/8, and NYC’s Brooklyn Steel on 2/10. They say these are the only three cities they’re playing, and support bands TBA. Tickets go on sale Friday (8/16) at 10 AM local time with an artist presale starting Thursday (8/15) at 10 AM local. Presale password = SHADE.

Here are the quotes on these shows from all five members of the band:

“Ever since Trevor hatched The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny v.2 idea a few years back, Patton, Lombardo, he and I had each been incubating some idea of that egg. Lombardo called me one day and asked me to make some guitar demos so he could learn the songs. He had this generous idea to surprise the other guys with being totally ready to go with the tunes. It just so happened that I was in Eureka at the time. So, I found myself re-visiting all of those riffs in the same goddamned town and in the same goddamned house where I recorded all the original guitars on that demo 33 years earlier. There was something about actually physically working out the mania of those riffs again at DAVE LOMBARDO’S request, in that environment — it just split my head open. It wasn’t long before the train of destiny had picked up too much speed for any of us to jump off.” – Trey Spruance

“When we recorded that demo, we were 16 and 17 years old and we were absolutely serious about the music. At the time, we were living the deluge of ’80s metal and absorbing every riff and every drum fill from every known band from Denmark to San Francisco. The recording and playing were amateurish (save for Trey’s video-game-solos) but the schooled composition and spirit were solid. I always felt like this music held its own and deserved to be presented in a clearer and more defined package even if it meant being 33 years later.” – Trevor Dunn

“I remember writing riffs for this cassette in my parent’s garage, with no heat, so I recorded in a sleeping bag for analog warmth, playing a one-stringed acoustic guitar that was piped into a ghetto blaster. Thank god I had Trevor and Trey to help decipher my rotten riffs into something intelligible!” – Mike Patton

“When Mike hit me up about this my brain thought he was asking me if I wanted to come to a show, him knowing I am a HUGE Bungle fan. When I realized he actually meant for me to play guitar with them it broke my brain, I was a giggly drooling mess. Somehow I pecked out Y E S on my keyboard and holy crap I’m playing in Mr. Bungle. Seriously, it’s an honor and a privilege to get to play with my favorite ‘Mr.’ band of all time.” – Scott Ian

“I don’t know what was in the water in Eureka California, but it certainly wasn’t clean. This is going to be a ridiculously, insane band to play with and I am honored to have been asked to join the wrath.” – Dave Lombardo

The idea that Dunn, Patton and Spruance will be joined by their early musical heroes is not lost on the musicians:

“They are a significant percentage of ‘The Big Four’, all of which had a major impact on us. Aside from their obvious skills and –for crying out loud, INVENTION of this genre– there’s nothing like being in a band with those whom which you have rapport. If we are going back to the source with this stuff we might as well go ALL THE WAY back.” – Trevor Dunn

“To have Scott and Dave with us on this suicide mission is more than an honor. THEY are a big part of the reason we wrote this stuff in the first place, and to realize it 30+ years later with these maestros is an absolute miracle… we can finally play this teenage nonsense correctly! A total catharsis for us. “ – Mike Patton

“At our very first show, at the Bayside Grange Hall, Nov. 30, 1985, we played Slayer’s ‘Chemical Warfare’ and a S.O.D. cover. I mean, are you kidding?? We WORSHIPPED those guys! And now they’re gonna PLAY in our band?” – Trey Spruance

 

February 6 - Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
February 7 - Fond Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
February 8 - The Warfield, San Francisco, CA
February 10 - Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY
February 11 - Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY
February 13 - The Warfield, San Francisco, CA

 

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I managed to get one ticket to night 2 in NY, but I also need to find a ticket for my girlfriend. To StubHub it is I guess :shrugs: 

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5 hours ago, Stiff Competition said:

Got tickets for the Friday LA show. Cant wait.

Love that Scott Ian is gonna be part of the band.

 

Now we just need some Fantomas and Tomahawk shows.

Yeah, super excited to see Scott a part of this too since I'm a massive Anthrax fan. Him and Dave both seem really honored to be a part of this. 

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38 minutes ago, Powerage5 said:

Yeah, super excited to see Scott a part of this too since I'm a massive Anthrax fan. Him and Dave both seem really honored to be a part of this. 

yeah and the other guys seem super stoked to have them, so I'm sure it will be a real fun time.

Honestly, anything with Patton on stage is a blast.

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  • 4 months later...
On 12/26/2019 at 4:21 PM, Powerage5 said:

Yeah. I was way too young last time they toured. 

I saw them on the Disco Volante and California tours.  I tried to get tix for the LA shows but it wasn't to be. I really hope this turns into something bigger. Have a blast at the show mate!

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  • 1 month later...

First show tonight in LA. Mr. Bungle tweeted the schedule and it looks like the have a 65 minute set. Interested to see what else they throw in the set as they said none of the material would be off their albums. I'm hoping for an S.O.D. cover since they've got Scott for these shows. 

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It's sort of funny that Mr. Bungle is my favorite band and I couldn't recognize most of these songs. Basically a metal show with Ian and Lombardo with Bungle's brand.

 

SETLIST:

Won't You Be My Neighbor (Fred Rogers cover) (with thrash metal stabs at end)

Anarchy Up Your Anus

Spreading the Thighs of Death

Glutton

Malfunction

Raping Your Mind

Sit There

Bungle Grind

(Unknown) (“Meth” on setlist)

Evil Satan (w/ Slayer’s Hell Awaits intro)

Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts cover)

Eracist

Cold War (Siege cover)

Hypocrites (with “La Cucaracha” tease)

Speak English or Die (Stormtroopers of Death cover) (Lyrics changed to “speak Spanish or die”)

World Up My Ass (Circle Jerks cover)

Sudden Death (w/ Faith No More’s The Real Thing intro)

Encore:

Fuck the USA (The Exploited cover)

Edited by marlon_brando
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5 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

It’s a very Mike Patton-esque  thing to give people the reunion they’ve been clamoring for...and play a bunch of music no one knows. Completely subverting expectations, I love it. 

Well, they've been clear from the start that they were playing the original demo in it's entirety so it's not really subverting expectations that much. I think most figured they might throw in a few off the other albums in the encore but otherwise, it's as advertised.

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3 hours ago, Stiff Competition said:

Well, they've been clear from the start that they were playing the original demo in it's entirety so it's not really subverting expectations that much. I think most figured they might throw in a few off the other albums in the encore but otherwise, it's as advertised.

I don’t mean now, I mean when the shows were announced. I can’t imagine anyone ever thought that Mr. Bungle’s first shows in 20 years would be playing a demo tape that hardly anyone had even heard of until they said it was happening. 

9 hours ago, rocknroll41 said:

Weren’t they supposed to play the first demo tape in full? Is that what these songs are?

Yes. The only song they didn’t play last night for, whatever reason, is Grizzly Adams. 

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35 minutes ago, Powerage5 said:

I don’t mean now, I mean when the shows were announced. I can’t imagine anyone ever thought that Mr. Bungle’s first shows in 20 years would be playing a demo tape that hardly anyone had even heard of until they said it was happening. 

Yes. The only song they didn’t play last night for, whatever reason, is Grizzly Adams. 

oh got it...yeah I actually ended up selling my tickets to help fund a trip I'm going on next month.

I was super excited at first just because "oh my god, bungle is playing!" but after listening to the demo a few times, I was like eh I don't really need to go see this live. It's just another thrash show. I saw Patton with Dead Cross the previous year and while it was cool, it was sort of the same thing. (though that's more of a hardcore album)

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1 hour ago, Stiff Competition said:

oh got it...yeah I actually ended up selling my tickets to help fund a trip I'm going on next month.

I was super excited at first just because "oh my god, bungle is playing!" but after listening to the demo a few times, I was like eh I don't really need to go see this live. It's just another thrash show. I saw Patton with Dead Cross the previous year and while it was cool, it was sort of the same thing. (though that's more of a hardcore album)

Fair enough, I totally get that this type of show isn’t for everyone. I’m really into the 80’s thrash stuff, so this is right up my alley. Plus I’ve actually never Mike Patton at all, so I’m really excited for this. 

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3 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

Fair enough, I totally get that this type of show isn’t for everyone. I’m really into the 80’s thrash stuff, so this is right up my alley. Plus I’ve actually never Mike Patton at all, so I’m really excited for this. 

Well if you haven’t seen Patton, anything is worth going to. He’s incredible live. My buddy went last night and said it’s one of the best shows he’s been to in years. Nothing beats FNM though...although I really want to see a Fantomas show.

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18 minutes ago, Stiff Competition said:

Well if you haven’t seen Patton, anything is worth going to. He’s incredible live. My buddy went last night and said it’s one of the best shows he’s been to in years. Nothing beats FNM though...although I really want to see a Fantomas show.

I was supposed to see FNM openign for Sabbath at Hyde Park in 2014, but there were massive delays on the trains that day and I missed all of the opening acts (The others were Motörhead and Soundgarden), so I'm really hoping to see them. They're gonna be in Australia while I'm on the Maiden tour - my girlfriend is going home to see them while I go onto Japan, but unfortunately I can't join her as my tickets in Japan can't be transferred, so I'm out about $1000 at this point if I don't go to Japan. I'll get to see them someday I hope. 

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