The Melvins Caught in Christchurch Quake

Posted on Feb 26th 2011 12:15PM by Linda Laban
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Mackie Osborne

Australia and New Zealand's busy summer touring season was temporarily halted by the recent earthquake that hit Christchurch, NZ. One band that was closer than most to the horrific event was The Melvins – they were actually in Christchurch when the earthquake struck.

"We were at the airport just seconds away from checking our bags when the first big rolling quake hit. If the building would have came down at that point we would have been crushed like dumb chickens," frontman Buzz Osborne tells Spinner. "As soon as that one was over, we grabbed all of our bags and passports and ran for the door. I'm a serious quake coward. [This one] was plenty big," he says emphatically, "as were the aftershocks. I stayed outside for the next five hours."

Being Los Angeles-based for a long time, Osborne is no stranger to earthquakes. "[It wasn't] as big as ones I've felt in California," he revealed. "The 1994 one in LA was way bigger, but [it was] big enough for all of us to be checking our shorts in the parking lot. I don't like earthquakes, or fires, or floods, or tornadoes, or hurricanes, or any natural disaster whatsoever. Big surprise."

As there seems to be no shortage of natural disasters, it must be worrying for a band that travels as much as the Melvins. Still, Osborne remains philosophical. "Natural disasters happen all the time," he says. "We are in a constant battle with Father Time and Mother Nature and both of them are undefeated. Touring is always a roll of the dice. Anything can happen."

And the tour did go on. "We pushed our last two shows back a day and after being stuck outside at the airport for five hours we managed to rent vans and drive another six hours to a ferry terminal, which we took the next day to Wellington and played our make-up show. Air New Zealand got us on emergency flights the next day to Auckland and we played our last show. [Then we] went to the airport at 6 a.m. and flew the hell out of there! Now we are doing a festival tour of Australia with lots of bands I've never heard of."