Brightest Young Things

all photos: Shauna Alexander

A while back we brought you into the icebox of Fugazi's Brendan Canty.  Brendan was also the writer of the infamous Pancake Mountain theme song.  This week we bring you to the 9:30 Club and the dressing room fridge of Pancake Mountain veterans The Melvins.  We're going to have a full interview with the boys in the band, conducted by DC's own Kid Congo, sometime soon, but in the meantime, King Buzzo invited us to take a peek into the fascinating world of backstage refrigeration.

If you are unfamiliar with the Melvins, do some research.  Or just know that they wrote one of the best metal songs of all time:

Rocking this hard will work up a pretty big appetite, and nothing satiates the hunger like cupcakes.  You see, the Melvins love a fad as much as any band out there.  Nirvana? Grunge?  The Melvins invented both.  No joke.  So when you see thirty trendy cupcakeries open up in your neighborhood, just remember that the Melvins probably invented cupcakes, too.

But the Melvins don't eat just any cupcakes.  We're about to get all DaVinci code on your ass and decipher the hidden messaging in their cupcake frosting.

Œ (minuscule: œ) is a Latin alphabet grapheme, a ligature of o and e. In medieval and early modern Latin, it was used to represent the Greek diphthong οι, a usage which continues in English and French. In French, it is also used in some non-Latin words.

In French, œ (called "o e collé", literally "o e glued" or e dans l'o, which means "e in the o". The latter is also a pun; it sounds very much like like œufs dans l'eau, meaning "eggs in the water") is a true linguistic ligature, not just a typographic one (like the fi or fl ligatures), reflecting etymology. French also uses œ in direct borrowings from Latin and Greek. So, "cœliac" in French is cœliaque. In such cases, the œ is pronounced /e/. In some words, e.g. phénix, the œ is changed to a more French é.

The '6' you see on the above cupcake is not actually a  six at all, but the letter 'G' representing the box that the cupcake came from.  'G' being the seventh letter in the alphabet, this particular cupcake came from the seventh box.  The boys in the Melvins eat a tremendous number of cupcakes and depending on the day of the week could have up to nine (I) boxes.

It had been a while since we had seen Buzzo.  Last time he was burning the candle at both ends and appearing on Fox News' Red Eye (which fellow BYT alum Oderus from GWAR appears on regularly):

While the fridge doesn't exactly 'belong' to the Melvins, when they're in town, the band has complete control over it's contents via something called a rider.  The rider is a part of the musicians' contract that specifies a set of requests or demands that the performer sets as criteria for performance.

The celebrity 'rider' is a thing of legend, especially in Rock and Roll.

In fact, above, you'll see a copy of the infamous 'no brown M&Ms' rider that has been linked to such bands as Van Halen, Aerosmith and Coheed and Cambria.  We're going to postulate that it was actually an early Minor Threat rider and that the inability to consume brown M&Ms has something to do with Straight Edgism or Veganism of some sort.  Fucking uppity punks.

The Melvins are decidedly more laid back in their culinary demands pre- and post-concert.  No KY Jelly here.  No Tupelo honey or fresh cut broccoli.  Just some cold cuts for sandwich-making and plenty of beer.

We repeat, plenty of beer.  Keeping the fridge stocked with beer is an essential part of keeping any band happy, and the Melvins work up quite a thirst for the suds.  We had to make room for a re-up midphotoshoot...

We suppose it might be of interest to you to know the brand of turkey (probably Butterball) or the type of tomato (not organic) that is being served to these world class musicians, but that would be decidedly un-rock'n'roll.  Fuck that.  You see the pictures, you can tell for yourself what food was there.  Cold cuts.  Nacho fixin's.  A bottle of Patron and a bottle of wine.  Oh yeah, and the cupcakes.  Feast your eyes on the pictures, don't worry about the words.

And don't forget about their Pancake Mountain appearance:

For more Melvins action click here:

For more Fridge action click here:

• Josh Sisk, photographer, author of “Under the Strobe Light”
• Todd Kliman, food & wine editor of “Washingtonian”
• Josh Short, pastry chef of BUZZ Bakery
• Robb Duncan and Violeta Edelman of DOLCEZZA Gelato
• Miriam’s Kitchen
• Scott Drewno, of The Source
• Tim Carman, food columnist “Washington City Paper”
• DCVegan’s Amber McDonald
• Billy Klein, executive chef of Cafe ST-EX
• Spike Mendelsohn of TOP Chef and Good Stuff Eatery

Is there a fridge you’d like to see in here? Let us know in comments or at info@brightestyoungthings.com

Previously in What's In Your Fridge?:

• 8/4: Barton Seaver's Fridge
• 5/16: Mike Isabella's Fridge
• 12/28: What's In Your Fridge 2010: A Selection
• 12/27: Matthew Lesko: To the Fridge and Beyond
• 7/7: Eating with Caution: Tittsworth's Fridge
• 6/3: What's In Your Fridge? Warren Brown of CakeLove
• 6/2: What's In Your Fridge? Washington Post Food Editor Joe Yonan
• 6/1: What's In Your Fridge? Nycci Nellis of TheListAreYouOnIt.com
• 5/28: Whats In Your Fridge? Amanda McClements of Metrocurean
• 5/27: What's In Your Fridge? New Director of Food Service for D.C. Public Schools, Jeffrey Mills