Thirteen years off the road, and Tomahawk are calling their comeback “A Huge Waste of Your Time and Money.” That’s either false modesty or a dare. Given the lineup — Mike Patton, Duane Denison, John Stanier, Trevor Dunn, with the Melvins opening the entire run — it reads like the latter. The Austin stop lands Monday, July 20 at Emo’s.
About Tomahawk
The band formed in 1999 when Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle) and Denison (The Jesus Lizard) started trading tapes. Drummer John Stanier (Helmet, Battles) and bassist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) round out the current lineup — Dunn came in for the 2013 reunion that yielded Oddfellows and replaced original bassist Kevin Rutmanis, who had come out of the Melvins. The band’s pedigree runs that deep in every direction.
That last tour was 2013. Tomahawk did surface again in 2021 with Tonic Immobility, twelve tracks on Ipecac Recordings, but the pandemic grounded it before a single date could be played behind it. Which means this summer run is carrying two records’ worth of pent-up live energy — Oddfellows and Tonic Immobility both — neither of which got a proper tour cycle on its own terms. The shows are going to feel like overdue accounts being settled.
This is framed as a 25th anniversary run: strictly US, strictly clubs and theaters, 21 dates from Nashville to Los Angeles. No festival circuit, no outdoor amphitheaters. Denison’s framing: “In the spirit of the Olympics, Team Tomahawk has decided to rise up and go for the gold once again.” The controlled irreverence of the tour name and the modest room selection are entirely of a piece.
The Melvins
The support act here is not filler. Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, Steven McDonald, and Coady Willis are performing as a four-piece Melvins, and the genealogical thread connecting the two bands is direct — Tomahawk’s original bassist, Kevin Rutmanis, came out of the Melvins. Osborne on the pairing: “A Melvins/Tomahawk trek will be a stone groove.” That undersells it, but it’s the right register.
About Emo’s Austin
Emo’s Austin is the East Riverside version of the name — the original Red River location closed in 2011 and the brand moved to a 1,700-capacity Live Nation club at 2015 E Riverside Dr. For a band doing a deliberate club-and-theater-only run, the room fits. It’s enclosed, it’s loud, and it doesn’t make concessions to the outdoor-festival scale that Tomahawk is actively avoiding. See the full Austin concert calendar for what else is coming through this summer.
Tickets
The show is Monday, July 20 at 7:00 PM. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster. Note that a pre-doors patio access upgrade is listed separately at 6:00 PM — that add-on is explicitly not a concert ticket.