Features
Mr. Bungle Brings The Musical Mayhem On The Road, Including First East Coast Dates In 23 Years
Northern California’s Mr. Bungle return to concert stages in September for its first tour in the post-pandemic era, dubbed “Ipecac Recordings’ Geek Show,” including its first East Coast swing in 23 years.
Led by vocalist Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mondo Cane) and hailing from Eureka, California, Mr. Bungle will hit cities including New York, Boston and Toronto after kicking off May 10 at the Fox Theater in Pomona, California. On the West Coast leg, Mr. Bungle will be joined by Melvins and Spotlights. Battles offers support for the East Coast leg.
The tour features the band’s lineup of Patton, Scott Ian (Anthrax), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), and original members Trevor Dunn and Trey Spruance, which coalesced around 2020 to record The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo – not to be confused with the original “The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny” demo released in 1986.
Tickets for the newly announced performances go on sale Friday, April 15 at 10 a.m. EDT. Joining Mr. Bungle for the September outings is Battles, reuniting Patton and Dunn with their Tomahawk bandmate, John Stanier.
Mr. Bungle, known for its iconoclastic style that melds metal, thrash, avant-garde jazz, ska, disco and funk and its indifference to the whims of the music industry, formed in Eureka, California, in 1985 and cycled through members until 1988 when it added drummer Danny Heifetz and saxophonist Bar McKinnon and inexplicably signed with Warner Bros. Records.
“No one really knows how this happened and it remains a complete mystery that even the algorithms of the internet can’t decode,” Mr. Bungle’s tour announcement says of its record label history.
The band released three albums, Mr. Bungle in 1991, Disco Volante in 1995 and California in 1999, and popped up for one-offs sporadically after that. “Some argue that the band subsequently broke up but there is also no proof of this,” the announcement states. “What is true is that they took 20 years off from performing under said moniker while they pursued various other musics that, in contrast, paid the rent.”
Ipecac Geek Show featuring Mr. Bungle, Melvins and Spotlights:
May 10 Pomona, CA Fox Theater
May 11 Los Angeles, CA Palladium
May 13 Las Vegas, NV Sick New World Festival
May 14 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues
May 16 Denver, CO Mission Ballroom
May 17 Salt Lake City, UT Union Event Center
May 19 Seattle, WA Showbox
May 20 Seattle, WA Showbox
May 21 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
May 23 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
May 24 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
Mr. Bungle with special guests, Battles:
September 5 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live
September 6 Philadelphia, PA The Fillmore
September 8 New York, NY Terminal 5
September 11 Boston, MA Roadrunner
September 12 Montreal, QC MTelus
September 13 Toronto, ON History
September 15 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit