Frontman Buzz Osborne of The Melvins stormed off-stage after being hit with a cup by an audience member during their August 19th show in Vancouver. The band cut the show short, and the perpetrator was later revealed as Jeremy van Wyck, drummer of Shearing Pinx.
The Melvins August 19th show in Vancouver came to a screeching hault, as frontman Buzz Osborne stormed off stage after being hit by a cup thrown from the audience. The band has been generating a lot of press with their 30th Anniversary tour this summer and fall, also in support of their new album Tres Cabrones, however this news caption takes a turn for the worse. The culprit of the now infamous cup-throwing debauchery was named as Jeremy van Wyck, drummer of Shearing Pinx. In the video shot by an audience member that night (at 0:35) you can see the cup hit Buzz Osborne, which is quickly followed by un-plugging his guitar, saying a few F-you’s to the audience and storming offstage. Later, van Wyck was spotted by security, then hand-cuffed and arrested for public intoxication. Van Wyck claims this is due to his drug use and drinking, and was not pre-meditated or meant to harm Buzz Osborne in any way. Read what he had to say below.
“I was playing Melvins cover songs in my junior high bands when half the crowd that was there last night was probably in diapers. I was having an ecstatic, peak experience, tripping balls on mushrooms and drunk on whiskey. I had finished a highball with a buddy, and the right note came. Understand that the lines of reality were a little blurry at that moment, and maybe this is the ‘shrooms talking, but it was like a magnetic field: The cup had to go. It was, like, a moment of exultation. It wasn’t a calculated thing at all. It was a hiccup that resulted in a bummer. Security totally threw down and dragged me out, I was handcuffed and put in a paddy wagon, which was so disgusting. It was covered in blood and grossness. And I wound up with a $15 ticket for being drunk in public. And a ride home, I guess.” – Jeremy van Wyck
An eyewitness from the concert recounts what happened that night at the Commodore Ballroom.
Hey. I went to the Melvins last night at the commodore ballroom in vancouver. Towards the end of the show someone threw a bottle that reportedly hit buzzo in the chest. The music stopped, he said fuck you guys and walked off. Dale came up and demanded to know who had thrown it. When no one owned up he said see ya and the roadies proceeded to take down gear. One roadie collected all the setlists and put them in his pocket. However, the perpetrator had been apprehended by some of the crowd members and handed over to security.
He was brought outside and identified by buzzo himself who proceeded to get into a vehicle and leave, ignoring everyone but the authorities. The bottle thrower was arrested but that’s as much as I know. Much of Houdini was in the set as well as Sweet Willy Rollbar. One part of the set featured a roadie taking over drums for Dale while he gobbled down a banana taken out of his pants. He then sang lead for the song that followed. Im pretty sure the bass player was a member of the opening act Honky. Dale was accompanied by Coady Willis on drums. I like to think Honey Bucket would have been the closer.