Mudhoney Articles
Rockpile
November '98
The Final Four
How Mudhoney overcame the stigma of Seattle
Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner peruses the compact discs in his living
room stereo when asked about his present listening tastes.
"I've been playing the new Elliot Smith album, Punk Rock Rarities
volumes one and two, Yardbirds, Shan MacGowan and Waylon Jennings," he
says.
Pretty broad musical tastes for a man whose band has been accused of being
a one-trick pony by critics soured on the once-popular grunge sound Mudhoney
helped patent. A steadfast Turner doesn't wince at the mention of the
g-word.
"We don't care if people call us grunge, even though it's probably the least
fashionable word in the music business right now," he says. "Historically,
that's what we're known for, so there's no reason to fight it. But our new
songs have a lot more variations in terms of speed, mood and tone."
Think grunge is dead? Wrong.
It's just wearing a different face, as evidenced by Tomorrow Hit Today -
the most polished, versatile Mudhoney record since Turner formed the band 10
years ago with vocalist/guitarist Mark Arm, bassist Matt Lukin and drummer
Dan Peters.
Mudhoney literally invented the grunge genre in the late '80s with its
distorted guitars, whiskey-soaked vocals, grimy bass and highly caffeinated
drumming. The band preached the fuzz-rock gospel, dutifully genuflecting at
the altar of tinitus-inducing feedback, well before a legion of Generation X
groupies first plunked down cash for multi-platinum offerings from Nirvana,
Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam. With Nirvana and Soundgarden now
defunct, Alice In Chains virtually shut down by heroin-related hijinx and
Pearl Jam leaning more emphatically towards classic rock, Mudhoney has been
left alone to carry the torch.
Despite the band's seminal position in originating the "Seattle sound",
Mudhoney experienced far less commercial prosperity than many of its Pacific
Northwest brethren. Ironically, the aforementioned bands cited Mudhoney as a
prime influence, then translated comparable power chords into chart success.
This doesn't faze Turner in the least.
"As far as other Seattle bands go, the ones that hit big never sounded anything
like us anyway. They were much more commercially viable than we were," he explains.
"Nirvana was a big surprise, though, the way they hit big, just because it was
so out of left field. But we always thought that, in a perfect world, they should
be in the Top 10 because they were so great."
Regardless of the band's past sales, Turner Says the members of Mudhoney are
focused on creating the type of music that makes them happy.
"This new record is quite a bit different and less pigeonholed. We used whatever
type of riff we wanted and weren'0t as concerned what type of song it was," he
says.
Perhaps inspired by Turner's expansive musical influences, Mudhoney is trying
many different things these days - like adding blues and country-inspired touches
to its songwriting, leaving the comfy confines of Seattle to work with an outside
produce and actually spending big money to make a record.
"We decided to go for it this time," Turner says of Tomorrow Hit Today.
"With the current climate of major record labels, we might not get many more
chances to spend Warner Brothers' money," he jokes.
Abandoning their usual recording process of hunkering down in a hometown studio
with one of their Emerald City homeboys at the controls, the guys sojourned to
Memphis to work with legendary producer Jim Dickinson (Rolling Stones, Big Star,
The Replacements). The finished product displays a greater appreciation for melody
and mood without compromising the fierce garage rock principles first visited on
landmark Sub Pop statements like Superfuzz Bigmuff and Every Good Boy
Deserves Fudge.
Did Dickinson's Midas touch bring out the best in Mudhoney?
"I think he helped bring certain things out of us a little more," offers Turner.
"He accented some of the things we were going after."
When it came to guitar playing, Dickinson gave Turner the freedom to let lose.
"The noisier and more fucked-up it got, the more Jim liked it. At some points,
I'd be standing on my guitar, on the floor, and he'd like that take the best,"
admits Turner.
Fucked-up, indeed. The shrill, spacey effects on "This Is The Life," the twisted
tuning on "I Have To Laugh" and the psychedelic chiming on "Beneath The Valley Of
The Underdog" is not the stuff taught in band class.
When fans caught wind of Mudhoney recording in Elvis country with a knob turner
whose credits include the Stones and Ry Cooder, some feared Tomorrow Hit Today
would be Mudhoney's version of 12-bar blues. A few new tracks exude a Clapton-esque
flair, like the Cream-type stomp of "Real Low Vibe," but Turner stresses Mudhoney
will never abandon its bread and butter.
"I have this fear of playing the blues," he states. "If things are sounding too
bluesy, I'm going to try to take it in the other direction, because it seems like
most musicians in their 30s always revert to the blues. I love a lot of blues-based
stuff, but I want to fuck it up as much as possible and avoid musical cliches."
Tomorrow Hit Today rockers like "Ghost" and "Poisoned Water" are just as
caustic as anything in the Mudhoney catalog. Dickinson's guidance hasn't robbed
the group of its delicious raggedness - he just helped make it easier to hear the
individual players and elements of the songs.
Mudhoney's lineage is steeped in recent Seattle rock history. Turner and Arm started
playing in Green River with future Pearl Jammers Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard. When
Green River drained in the late '80s, Turner and Arm formed Mudhoney, copping the
name from a 1965 Russ Meyer flick. The pair then enlisted the services of Lukin,
previously with The Melvins, and Peters. Peters started drumming for Nirvana in
1990, before the world ever heard of Dave Grohl. Though he recorded the "Sliver"
single with Kurt Cobain and crew, Peters never got the job full-time - Cobain
claimed he didn't want to force the breakup of Mudhoney, one of his favorite bands,
by swiping Peters. Grohl got the gig, and Peters has been a Mudhoney mainstay.
The members of Mudhoney have not remained idle over the past few years - all except
Lukin are involved in Seattle-based side projects such as Love Battery and
Monkeywrench. Turner runs his own label, Super Electro, specializing in vinyl
records by bands with a '60s garage rock sound. Turner sees his label as more of
a public service than a vanity trip, helping preserve the purity of spinning black
circles and promoting classic sounding groups who might otherwise go unheard.
An avid music buff, Turner can often be found flipping through record bins in local
music haunts while Mudhoney is touring. Having returned home with a slew of new
discs after a summer tour, Turner is such a record junkie he just had to listen
to all of his new acquisitions before embarking on Mudhoney's headlining trek in
October.
Supporting Pearl Jam on a tour of outdoor amphitheaters this summer afforded
Mudhoney the chance to play in front of larger crowds than usual.
"The shows are weird because their crowds are so rabidly into Pearl Jam, they
don't really care much about the opening bands," Turner remarks. "But this time
around there seemed to be more people open to listening to us than in the past.
It was great."
Firthermore, the guys in Pearl Jam are close biddies with the band - Eddie Vedder
even wrote the song "Lukin" about Mudhoney's bassist.
Turner doesn't get philosophical when naming reasons for his group's longevity,
immediately citing luck as a major contributor. "The fact we haven't toured as much
as a lot of other bands has helped. With heavy touring, you tend to get so exhausted
and sick of each other that you just implode," he says.
Since the beginning, the members of Mudhoney have shared all the publishing rights
to the group's songs, a democratic practice Turner feels eliminates the ego wars
responsible for wrecking so many bands. He points out The Ramones seemed a big happy
family until the band started splitting up royalties after its fourth album - then
the members started bickering, fighting to get their own songs on the record.
"I see so many bands arguing over such petty stuff because of the way the songwriting
royalties are split," says Turner. "It's not always about the money - it becomes a
personal affront if other group members are getting more credit."
Fans aren'0t likely to see Mudhoney break up over trivial matters - the guys share a
tight bond not just with each other, but with other bands in the close-knit Seattle
music environment.
"It's a fun scene, like a big group of friends," remarks Turner. "Things like that
are rare in this business."
