“Buzz Osborne said to me, ‘You’re both great bass players – but you’re just really weird, and I gotta go with normal.’ I said, ‘I get that’”: Butthole Surfers bassist Jeff Pinkus was too out there for the Melvins – now he’s switched to banjo

“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 bass chops – but pulls no punches as he tells Bass Player. “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’ Locust Abortion Technician (1987) and the Melvins’ Basses Loaded (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!”

You’re heading out on a solo tour. What gear will you take with you?

“I’m gonna have my banjo; and I’ve got two looping units, a pitch shifter, a distortion pedal, 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.”

What’s been your most interesting gear discovery this year?

“I’ve been on tour with so many different bands who’ve got this Eventide H90 multi-effects unit that you can program with your iPhone or iPad. That was one of the things that sold me. I can still hear some digital latency with it, and I’m not really using it for its effects as much as a looper – but it does have some standard settings that I can kind of ease into.”

How do you remain consistent within so many different groups?

“I play banjo in my band, and it's been pure luck that I’ve been fortunate enough to play with some of the other guys, mostly as a bassist. I’ve been known as a bass player that was never given any rules; I didn’t go to school for bass.

“One time, Mike Watt came up to me and goes, ‘Man, you ain’t no bass player… you’re a bass wrestler like me.’”

JD Pinkus - ‘If I Could Read My Mind’ Video Directed by Hunter Barnes - YouTube

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A mindset like that has undoubtedly served you well with groups like the Melvins and the Butthole Surfers.

“People who are bold enough to give up a little bit of control, like Buzz Osborne or the Butthole Surfers, enjoy the fact someone’s going to add something else. Someone who is not afraid to jump into it, you know?”

“I didn’t know the Melvins well; but me and Dale Crover were buddies way back. When I started with them I was trying to play the songs like the records. I was like, ‘This is what I heard on the record,’ and Buzz stopped me and said, ‘I haven’t listened to that in 30 years.’ He didn’t care about sounding like the record, which was an eye-opener for me.

“I wanted to be true to the people who want to hear it the way it was – but I also wanted to have fun. Buzz wanted me to have fun with it more than he wanted me to please anybody else. He does not give a shit what the audience thinks. He’s gonna throw down their throats what he wants to throw down.”

In some ways, that’s very different from what Steven McDonald is doing now.

“Me and Steven have totally different bass styles. Me and Trevor Dunn have totally different bass styles. It’s a good thing – no one should try to be another person. That’s the beauty of playing with other people.”

How do banjo and bass compare?

“The bass is usually a little more mathematical when it comes to playing and keeping a groove with a drummer, whether it’s syncopated or you’re playing dum-eighths – like AC/DC, which goes ‘dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum.’

“I’m more into syncopation, playing off the drummer; the banjo is very similar. Honestly, I like it because I’m kind of done with the guitar. I’m just bored with it. I don’t know if that makes sense to anybody.

“I’ve played with Buzz and I’ve played with Paul Leary from the Butthole Surfers; they do shit with the guitar that you don’t usually hear. I am so over the same tuning, tones and frequencies I have to hear all the time. My wife and I were lucky enough to find an old church to jam in, and we have a ‘no guitar player’ rule.”

How does that disdain impact what you’re doing with bass and banjo?

“I’ve learned that my brain works differently. Using some weird tunings, I hear different melodies; so the way I play bass now is definitely influenced by the banjo. And the banjo, especially when I play with other people, definitely influences how I play bass. There’s a lot of bass in my banjo and a lot of banjo in my bass!”

How have you evolved since your early days with the Surfers?

“As a bass wrestler, the biggest thing was finding out how to get what I heard in my head out. A huge influence on me back then was Mel Schacher from Grand Funk Railroad, especially from their live record from the early 70s [Live Album]. That tone is something I chased my entire life.

“I tried so many different ways. I kept thinking I needed all this stuff, then I realized that I was chasing gear and not putting money back into my sound. I hated everything that I got out of that shit, so I went back and bought a Mesa Boogie head, rearranged the tubes with some help from my friends, and I got great tone out of that. I found the more primitive I got, the closer I could get to the tones I wanted.”

What’s your best advice for someone looking to break into the music business?

“If you have a chance to look at all your options before you make that decision, do it. I started playing so early and I had no other options. No one is gonna hire someone who’s been playing ‘professionally’ for 40 years, so I’m pretty much stuck with what I’ve got. Things are different nowadays; it’s hard to make a living being a musician – especially if you don’t have a name for yourself.

“If you want to get into doing commercials or jingles or go to an art school where you can learn techniques and learn how to play like everybody else, there’s probably a place for you. You can always fill in for people and get session work.

“But to start a band and try to make a living off a band – you won’t. If you take this job you’ll be selling T-shirts to drunk people for the rest of your life. Other than that, you’re probably screwed.”

The Butthole Surfers have been on hiatus since 2016. Are there plans?

“I was supposed to go and record with the guys, although I had a very limited window before I started my tour. But there’s been a tragedy in one of our band members’ families. So, if this will ever happen, or if they’ll do it without me – I don’t know.’

Was it a new album?

“We were going to record one song for the documentary that’s coming out next year. I had some issues with the documentary myself, but I did my interview with them just a couple of weeks ago, so I’ll be a part of it. We were hoping the song would be part of the documentary – it might still happen.”

Are you still on call with the Melvins, should they need you?

“I’m in the stable of bass players that the Melvins have. But Buzz said to me that if he had to make a choice between me and Steven. ‘You’re both great bass players – but you’re just really fucking weird, and Steven’s just normal. I gotta go with normal.’

“I said, ‘I totally get that, man.’ So I’m in the stable, and we talk to each other all the time. I love those guys, but I never expected to be a full-time member of the Melvins. I treasure every minute with those guys.”

• Pinkus’ US tour kicks off tonight (August 5) and runs until September 26. His Grow A Pear EP is on sale now.