Dale Crover Covers Neil Young and The Melvins

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Photo by Sarah Linton

Dale Crover, the drummer for The Melvins and Redd Kross, has released a cover of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" and The Melvins' "The Bit." It may seem like an unusual choice, but Crover did play a young Neil Young in the video for "Harvest Moon," and co-wrote "The Bit" with Buzz Osborne. The "Harvest Moon" part of the track is shockingly faithful for someone from The Melvins. It's a note for note cover of the acoustic 1992 classic, lacking even the tiniest shred of his other bands' noise or volume. As the track transitions into "The Bit," the noise increases while still being a stripped down and acoustic track. It reminds me of King Buzzo's acoustic tours where he would include Melvins classics. This is a fun pairing of songs from a noise rock icon.

Dale Crover says of his new single:

"Years ago I played Young Neil Young in the video for Harvest Moon. It was quite a surreal experience! When I met Neil, I was made up to look just like him. Not that I didn’t already look a bit like him. That is how I got the part, after all. When I meet Neil, he starts explaining to me that he has this pair of pants that he wants me to wear for the video, and the mechanics of how the zipper works since it was broken! Not only did I play his younger self, but I also doubled for him. When he’s seen on stage playing, I’m dancing with his wife and when he’s dancing with her, I’m on stage.

 

"There’s a scene where I’m driving with young Pegi Young and I’m not looking where I’m driving because I’m paying attention to her. I had to drive off the side of a skinny country road into a ravine, not looking where I was driving. The first few takes were fine but on the last shot, I jammed the rear fender of Neil‘s actual 1955 Cadillac into a stump. That stump saved me from rolling the car off the side of the hill, surely killing us both!

 

"I thought it would be fun to cover this song and combine it with Melvins “The Bit”, a song I co wrote with Buzz Osborne, since both songs share the same guitar tuning. I started performing the songs live and knew right away that I wanted to record them, making it the spur for this new EP."

You can listen to Dale Crover's versions of "Harvest Moon" and "The Bit" below. Get Yer Ba-Ba's Out is due out September 4 on Joyful Noise, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Dale Crover, check out the artist on Instagram.

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