A surprise Fantômas reunion took place Wednesday night (May 24th) in Oakland, California, during the final show of Mr. Bungle’s “Geek Show” tour with Melvins.
The reunion wasn’t too far out of the realm of possibility considering three of the band’s four members — Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, and Dave Lombardo — are currently in Mr. Bungle. Once Buzz Osborne of Melvins took the stage, the supergroup’s lineup was complete, along with the bonus additions of Bungle guitarists Trey Spruance and Scott Ian.
Osborne sat in with Mr. Bungle for a rendition of The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo track “Sudden Death” before the group launched into Fantômas’ cover of Henri Mancini‘s “Experiment in Terror” (featured on the band’s 2001 album The Director’s Cut). Fan footage captured the performance, which went off without a hitch as the band nailed the intricate loud-soft dynamics.
Fantômas was originally conceived by Patton in 1998 as a solo side-project, though it soon expanded into a veritable supergroup of his closest musical allies. The band released four studio albums from 1999 to 2005, exploring avant and experimental territories. Fantômas’ last tour took place in 2014, although they did play one show in 2017 (albeit with Melvins drummer Dale Crover in place of Lombardo).
With the spring US outing now wrapped up, Mr. Bungle can turn their attention to their North American run of September shows featuring support from Battles. Tickets are available here.
Below you can watch footage of the Fantômas reunion and revisit our pre-tour “Two for the Road” video conversation between Dave Lombardo and Dale Crover.