There are many reasons why sidemen go solo, from sheer ego to a genuine need to express something away from the band. For some it's just a need for release from the restraints of home and family life during the bands down time. Certainly, as he details the genesis of a tour he never anticipated, there's something of the hectic desperation often seen in housebound parents about Bar McKinnon.

"I'm always trying to save my best ideas for Bungle," bemoans Bar McKinnon, keyboardist/saxophonist with inspired freak unit Mr Bungle, "And I know it gets sort of self-defeating after it's been several months and there's been no word of what we're doing in the future. In the meantime I'm just wood-shedding and doing day-care with the kids."

"I've just been a dad for the last three years. We've got a two and a half-year-old and a one and a half-year-old. I can change fifty diapers a day but what I really love is playing music."

Having moved to Melbourne in December to enjoy the "free day-care and help by Grandma and Grandpa" offered by his wife's parents it's clear though that McKinnon is content with his family life. It's his other partners, his Mr Bungle family, who have frustrated him to the point of restlessness.

"Basically I've been recording and making these demos for two and a half years and it's been too long waiting for Bungle," he sighs.

Since 1999's well regarded 'California', the band have been uncommonly quiet as core members Mike Patton, Trey Spruance and Trevor Dunn put it about with other projects (Faxed Head, Fantomas and Secret Chiefs 3 are just some of the unseemly progeny).

"It's frustrating because I know there's so much potential. There's so much stuff that can be done and energy is getting sapped from it with each new Tomahawk release or whatever," groans McKinnon. "I have to say that last one was underwhelming. The stuff I've heard Mike [Patton] do and heard him capable of... to me it's just kowtowing to what Faith No More fans want, which is straight-ahead four/four rock. I really expect a lot more from him because he's always surprised me. Even in the thick of it, standing there in the room with him we'll do another run through of a tune we just did and he's still pullin' shit out of his ass and you're like 'How the fuck does he do that ?'"

Excitement can wane in any relationship but it's clear that Bar McKinnon, at least, still loves Mr Bungle. Warner Brothers dropped the band a year and a half ago and his cohorts are off making strange music with new partners but amidst the messy affairs, McKinnon holds true to a dream of Bungle reunited.

"I think maybe once people blow their musical wads with these other groups they'll be fresh to come back. I'm definitely gonna keep hope alive, even if it's blind and idiotic. Until someone says 'Bar, stop calling. Stop sending me your shitty little tapes. It's over!' Until somebody does that I'm gonna pretend we got something coming on the horizon because it's too visionary a band to give up or say 'I'm sick of waiting around dudes. I'm out of here'. Plus we're notorious for having these interminable hiati. Fucking hell, if we can wait for Mike to do his thing with Faith No More until he finally saw the light and bailed I think we can wait a bit longer for some other things."

If it's frustration at the lack of action he's getting from Mr. Bungle that's made Bar McKinnon decide to start fooling around on the side himself, then it's uncertainty over that band's future which has dictated the solitary course for his solo work. He's stockpiled an array of demos and admits it's "sort of backwards" to tour without having a release to promote but he's reluctant to merely polish and package the material because he'd like to see it through with collaborators. Similarly he accepts the inevitability of putting a band together but hasn't done so yet because it would be like admitting it's all over for Mr Bungle. Consequently this tour will see him singing, playing guitar, wailing sax backed by programmed keyboards and generally "doing karaoke to my own music" backed by mini disc. "The whole thing of not being able to hide behind people has been a bit of a challenge for me but it's also a great growth experience," he enthuses.

So this tour represents a chance for Bar McKinnon to reclaim a sense of himself outside of the band which has seemingly abandoned him. If he follows through on one novel crowd participation idea he might also force some of what the self-help books call "closure".

"We were banging around the idea of having a section of the set where it's Q & A. 'Do you guys have any questions about Mr. Bungle? I know you guys are dying to ask me. Why don't we take a little time now. I'll give you their phone numbers, their addresses. You can give 'em a call and tell 'em to get off their asses and get the band back together!"

Brett Buttfield

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