“I’m weird,” says Jeff Pinkus, on-again-off-again member of the Butthole Surfers and the Melvins. He’s impacted the alt-rock scene via his off-the-wall chops – but pulls no punches as he tells . “I wouldn’t wish being in a band with me on anybody.
” That’s just fine, though, as Pinkus is hitting the road solo with a banjo in hand and an array of stomp boxes at his feet. But it’s not easy out there: “If people don’t buy merch, I’m gonna starve to death!” he laughs. “I want to make it entertaining so they want to come back and talk to me, and hopefully buy a record, a shirt, some PCP – or whatever I've got for sale.
” Jokes aside, Pinkus is a serious musician. His discography, including the Surfers’ (1987) and the Melvins’ (2016), shows as much. “I will never be a guitar player, and I don’t want to be,” he says.
“I’ve made my bass playing a little different because I’m not listening to that shit. “No one really inspires me anymore when I hear guitar playing. It’s just sad – I wish more people would listen to some more shit.
Everyone sounds like their hands or their guitars and amps are broken. Come on, guitar players, step it up a bit out there! Take some chances!” “I’m gonna have my banjo; and I’ve got two looping units, a pitch shifter, a , and one or two delays. I’ve got this thing called Cosmos, by Soma Laboratory; it’s a memory drifter – a loosely timed sampler/repeater that’s set up at different speeds.
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