YOUR QUESTION

12/15/2020 Monicker

On the first SC3 record Trey wrote the refrain “Rock and Roll is a thing that needs to die,” but I was never convinced that you, Trevor Dunn, were personally committed to that mantra yourself, which leads me to a general question about band membership and lyrics:
Being that you’ve played in and attached your name to a handful of groups (Bungle, SC3, Melvins, Tomahawk) that have other lyricists, have you ever found yourself unable to get behind a particular lyric that another band member has written? Like has a line or two ever just made you cringe (at the time of recording/release, not years later in hindsight)?
I'm not necessarily asking you to name the exact line/band/lyricist, but rather if you've ever had such an experience before, and how you internally navigated that moment. I understand that compromise is part of the deal, especially when you’re a sideman in someone’s project. But my question is more about what is the thought process like for you—someone who cares deeply about music, and who plays mostly with close friends—when these divergences in ideology and aesthetics come up? Also, do you think it is the responsibility of the lyricist to explain to the other members of the band what the lyrics “mean”? Have you ever found yourself on either end of such a situation?
Thanks in advance for your answer and sorry for the preamble!

MY ANSWER

You may or may not be surprised to find out that I don’t know what all of the lyrics are about. Even in Bungle, we didn’t explain them to each other, and I don’t think anyone feels like grilling the lyricist about what some phrase “means”. That’s actually pretty refreshing. I don’t recall ever cringing in a collaborative band, so perhaps I’m just fortunate, or ignorant, or both. Other than Bungle, each of those bands you listed has a pretty clear leader/lyricist, or leaders in the case of Tomahawk. So in those cases it’s easy for me to ‘step aside’ and let the story be told. I feel that a lyricist’s choice of words has as much artistic merit as any particular chord or rhythm. None of these bands are making political spoken words records, for God’s sake.

I have had fellow bandmates eyeball me over an obtuse or curious lyric. If they really want to know where it came from I’m happy to explain, but usually the takeaway is simply, ‘you’re a weirdo’. Another thing to consider here is that not all lyrics mean something, or have some discernible narrative. Sometimes words are used non-programmatically, which I suppose, is not easy to understand by someone who doesn’t mess around with words. Suffice it to say, I don’t always know what my own lyrics mean.