How Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo Became Involved with Mr. Bungle Reunion
Mr. Bungle bassist and songwriter Trevor Dunn was our guest on a recent episode of The MetalSucks Podcast.
Among various Bungle-related topics, Dunn told the stories of how Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies) came to be involved with the band’s reunion, which has seen them play a series of shows and release a re-recorded version of their early demo, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny. He explained:
“I have to admit, the whole thing was kind of my idea. [laughs] I guess I thought of Dave at some point after meeting him and playing in Fantômas because Trey [Spruance] and Mike [Patton] and I have always talked about our metal years and about that demo. And we’re still metalheads at heart, I think.
“At some point I thought it’d be fun to just re-record the demo, not even play any shows. Ultimately that music was [originally] written with Lombardo in mind. We were obsessed with Reign in Blood like everyone else when it came out. Trey and Mike and I could probably sit down and air drum that whole record together in unison. [laughs] So that was kind of an idea.
“A couple of years ago I went and saw Dead Cross play with Secret Chiefs opening up. Trey and Mike where there of course, and Lombardo was hanging out backstage. It was the first time Trey and Mike and I had been in the same room in a few years actually. I just kind of breeched the subject and everyone was like, ‘Yeah. Fuck yeah, we’re down!’ And then I’m like, ‘Cool, that was easy.’
“And then a whole year went by, we sat on the idea, and people had other shit going on. So I brought it up again a year later and then that kind of got the ball rolling.
“It was Mike’s idea to add Scott ’cause he was like, ‘We should add a second guitar player for this,’ which made sense. And he knew Scott. I think I’d met him at some festival somewhere and he was totally cool. His take on it was hilarious because we didn’t know this, but it turns out he was a fan and even knew that original demo which blew our minds! We were like, ‘what? You know this demo?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah man, I used to listen to that all the time.’”
Speaking further on Patton’s invitation to Scott Ian to join the band, Dunn revealed that Ian didn’t quite get the memo at first, saying:
“[Scott Ian] said that when Mike called him, or emailed or whatever, and said, ‘Hey, you wanna make this record with us?’ [Scott] thought that Mike was asking him to come to a show. Like, ‘Hey, Bungle’s playing, you wanna come to the show?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah! Sure, I’ll come to the show!’ And [Trevor] was like, ‘No, no. We want you to play the show.’ [laughs]
“So both those guys were totally down, totally worked their asses off on it, which was great. There were moments where Trey and Mike and I were looking at each other, shaking our heads, like, ‘Can you believe we’re doing this? This is ridiculous.’ Our 17-year-old selves are crapping themselves right now. [laughs] So… it was fun.”
You can listen to our full chat with Dunn here or below.
The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo, a re-recording of Mr. Bungle’s 1986 demo (with some bonus tracks, natch), comes out next Friday, October 30. Pre-order it here and listen to “Sudden Death” from the affair here.
