Mr. Bungle will release their re-recorded 1986 demo The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny on October 30, featuring new members guitarist Scott Ian (Anthrax) and drummer Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies). The demo is the band's first release since California in 1999, though it's mostly nothing fans haven't heard before.
So what are the chances Mr. Bungle will release an album of all new material with their current lineup? Vocalist Mike Patton tells Consequence of Sound he's not sure it'll happen.
"You’re getting ahead of the skis there!" he said. "I don’t know. Look, it could be fun. So I would never say no, but I kinda doubt it. It’s just really like a moment in time and we’re documenting a sound that we had that really most people don’t understand. It illustrates basically where we came from, and I don’t know if we could do that twice."
Speaking of the new lineup, Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn said it was all thanks to him.
"I have to admit, the whole thing was kind of my idea," said Dunn. "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.'"
