Mudhoney Articles
Stonerrock.com
17 December '00
An Interview with Mark Arm of Mudhoney
The almighty Mudhoney seems to be back in action after a rockin' show in Portland
last night. Here is an email interview that I recieved back from their legendary front
man Mark Arm today - the day after their first show in a year and a half...
El Danno: What's up with Mudhoney? I was affected deeply when I heard that Matt
Lukin had quit the band! Rumour has it that he's back though? Is this true? Is he back
permanently? What made him change his mind?
Mark Arm: Matt's back, for a little while at least and
he's willing to play as long as it's not too much of an effort for him (which is only
slightly irritating to the rest of us).
El Danno: I've heard that you'll be doing a tour in
December/January in Oregon, California and maybe Arizona with possible plans to tour in
Europe with Nebula. What's the current status of these tour plans? Will Matt be playing
bass for these shows? If not, who will?
Mark Arm: We played our first show in a year and a half
in Portland Oregon last night. I am kinda suprised by how much it rocked. I mean, I knew
it would rock, but I wasn't sure, since it was our first show in a long time, that it would
rock as much as it did. Our last show was in Portland, so it's kind of fitting that we
played there instead of Seattle. Besides, we don't want to play Seattle until we're
_really_ firing on all cylinders (well, all that are left).
We are playing 6 shows in January 2001 starting on the 12th in San Francisco and ending
on the 20th in Seattle.
We are going to Brazil for the first time in February, but Matt is not coming. Why? I
have no idea. I can't imagine not wanting to go to Brazil in the middle of Winter, but
then Matt is kind of a mystery. I can't tell you who will be playing bass right now, but
I will be able to tell you by the first week of January.
The European tour with Nebula is a Monkeywrench thing. We're going to have to do that
without Tom because he just had a kid and someone needs to take care of her while his wife
goes to work. (Dan will be in a similar Mr Mom type situation in a few months when his
wife, who just passed the bar, gets hired on as a well paid lawyer.) Anyway, our good
friend Steve Dukich will pretend he's Tom in Europe.
El Danno: What's the record label situation? Are you
searching for a new label? Any plans for a new Mudhoney album?
Mark Arm: We're not looking right now.
El Danno: Have you guys been practicing together at
all? Writing new material maybe?
Mark Arm: We've been practicing for a little over a month
now, but we've only been reaccquainting ourselves with our old songs. I'd love to work on
new stuff, but that's impossible to do with Matt around, because he doesn't want to learn
anything new. He refused to learn "Inside Job", the one song that got released since he
left, for these upcoming shows.
El Danno: I've heard through the grapevine about a new
band called The New Strychnines that has members of Mudhoney in it. Who's all in The New
Strychnines and what kinda music do you play? Any Strychnines shows coming up that we should
know about?
Mark Arm: The band you're thinking of is the New Original
Sonics Sound which is a band Scott McCaughey (pronounced McOi) put together for the EMP
opening because no matter how much money Paul Allen's henchmen waved in front of Gerry Roslie,
he refused to take part in a Sonics reunion. Scott (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5, and R.E.M.
sideman), rounded up Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters, as well as Steve Turner & myself (Mudhoney
& Monkeywrench), Tom Price (Gas Huffer. U-Men & Monkeywrench), Bill "Big Kahuna" Henderson
(Girl Trouble), and saxaphone virtuoso Craig Florey to play the EMP because we didn't want
the legacy of the Sonics to be overlooked.
We were originally called the New Strychnines, until Scott started getting these wierd
calls from a fellow named Rockin' Rod who had a garage band which put out a single or two
several years ago called the Strychnines. Rod claimed that we were stealing his name and
demanded that he sing at least 2 songs at our next performance. Our solution was to change
the name of our Sonics cover band.
The band, which was only meant to play 2 EMP related shows has since taken on a life of
it's own. We even recorded a CD of the songs we do, which Scott & Kurt Bloch released
themselves on the Book imprint. I'm not sure how well it's being distributed, but before
you buy our CD you better damn well go out and get albums by the Sonics. Norton records
recently re-released the first two Sonics albums Here Are The Sonics and Boom with amazing
interviews and liner notes.
El Danno: What about your other bands like The
Monkeywrench and The Sonics Band - any plans for shows or new releases? (I love
"Electric Children" btw) ...and what ever happened to Bloodloss?
Mark Arm: The Monkeywrench doesn't have any plans to play
live until the European trip with Nebula in May and Garageshock, which is going to happen
in Austin this year over Memorial Day weekend. In the meantime we'll be working on new
songs.
The New Original Sonics Sound will play periodically, whenever someone asks us to. Our
next show is December 29th at the Crocodile with Wellwater Conspiracy (who you really
shouldn't miss if you live within a 500 mile radius).
Bloodloss is on hold until Ren gets his shit together. He moved to LA about 2 years
ago and none of us heard anything from or about him, until the last few months. We just
saw him when Monkeywrench played LA last month. It was great to see him and things are
looking up. We're all hopeful, but then again, we're not holding our breaths.
El Danno: It seems that you guys haven't been up to a
whole lot since the last Mudhoney tour finished. Have you just been taking it easy? What
have you and the rest of the band been up to?
Mark Arm: We recorded a song with Wayne Kramer on bass
call "Inside Job" which is available for free at MusicBlitz.com.
It's going to come out in February on a CD compilation
the Wayne put together which I think will be called "Beyond Cyber Punk". I'm sure there's
more information at MusicBlitz.com.
El Danno: What are your thoughts on the whole "Stoner
Rock" thing and how do you compare the scene nowadays to the "Grunge" scene of the early
'90s?
Mark Arm: Both words just seem like euphemisms for heavy
rock (usually without the goofy trappings of "metal"). Since "grunge" actually became
something that cracked the top 40, I think it's remembered as more of a pop thing (which
we were never a part of, obviously). Also, "stoner rock" is way more international
(although it could be argued that So. Cal. is ground zero) than what became known as
"grunge", of which being from Seattle seemed to be a part of the definition. The first
time I heard Kyuss I thought, "Hmmm, a grunge band from Indio, interesting, but how is
this possible!?"
El Danno: Are you guys into many of the Stoner bands
out there at the moment? What other bands have you been listening to lately and would like
to recommend to our readers?
Mark Arm: We all really dig Nebula. I've been a long time
fan on Monster Magnet. The new Queens Of The Stone Age record is amazing. They're really
blazing their own trail. It's great that they're not trying to do Kyuss again. As great
as Kyuss was, there is no point in trying to imitate them, like that horrible band on the
split record with Nebula...Lowrider, what a waste of time. Fu Manchu is always a good time.
Sleep may have been the loudest band I've ever seen (I'm not sure if that's a compliment),
and "Jerusalem" is fantastic album. I have yet to hear a High On Fire record, though.
I highly recommend the Alchemysts new album "Zero Zen" and the Heads new one "Everybody
Knows We Got Nowhere" as well as old timey classics by the Stooges, Captain Beefheart,
Hawkwind, Pere Ubu and Really Red.
El Danno: Do you use the Internet much? If so, what
for mostly? What do you feel are the major benefits and major downfalls of the Internet?
Mark Arm: I use it mostly for email. I don't have a lot of
time to "surf".
El Danno: What's your position on the whole Napster
issue and the rampant trading of MP3 music over the internet? Do you feel that these things
are good for Mudhoney & The Monkeywrench or bad?
Mark Arm: I think its good for bands like ours. The more
people who hear us, the better. It's the new underground radio.
El Danno: Is Mudhoney still the drunkest band in show
buisness? Or have you guys settled down? hehe
Mark Arm: I'm not sure if we were ever the drunkest band
in showbiz, that dubious honor might have to go to Tales Of Terror, but alcohol still comes
into play. Dan took mushrooms before the last show a year and a half ago. Afterward he
told us that during the whole set he thought he was the viking on the cover Molly Hatchet
albums and that he had to protect his turf from the enemy, which was everyone else in the
club. The harder he hit his drums, the more the enemy would get pushed back. It seemed
to work.
And here are the "StonerRock.com 13 Stupid Questions" that we add to every interview
for a little bit of fun - don't take these too seriously!
El Danno: If you weren't a rocker, what would you most
like to be?
Mark Arm: If I had the discipline, I'd be a writer.
El Danno: What was your worst gig and why? What was
your best gig and why?
Mark Arm: This is pretty much word for word from an
interview I did with Bob Bert's BB Gun fanzine because I just can't tell it any better:
I had this horribly embarrasing freakout/tantrum ten minutes into our set in Nijmegen
opening for Sonic Youth during our first European tour. Earlier that day, Steve sliced
open his palm on a broken car antenna in Hamburg. After he got out of the hospital it
seemed like there was no way we were going to make the show. I hit the vodka with Dan
& Matt during the frantic drive. This was our 3rd or 4th week of a 9 week tour. We only
knew 12 songs, which went over very well in England (where the Sub Pop hype machine was
working it's voodoo). The continent, especially Holland, was a different story. Since our
booking agent was from Holland, we played 14 shows there. Fourteen shows in a country
that takes 3 hours to drive from North to South and 2 hours to Drive from East to West!
We arrived at the venue 10 minutes before we were supposed to play. I wish we'd gotten
there 15 minutes later. I was drunk and freaking out over Steve's hand and trying to
make it to the show. The tour seemed like an eternity and we weren't even halfway
through it.
The next thing I knew, we were on stage in front of hundreds of Dutch people politely
waiting for us to finish so they could see Sonic Youth. Well, I was having none of that.
These motherfuckers were gonna rock if I had to beat up everyone in the place. I jumped
into the crowd, threw a few drunken waterlogged punches, and got back on stage. No
response, except maybe confusion, so I cursed 'em and stormed off the stage expecting my
boys to follow. They didn't. They were as baffled as the audience. So I'm backstage.
They're playing the rest of "You Got It". Then they go into "Need". I'm thinking, "Great,
they're gonna play the rest of the set without me. I could stay here like an ass, or I
could go out there like an ass and continue on like nothing happened." After they played
another song, I sheepishly went out and joined my band. Did I mention that Steve played
the whole set sitting down with a big 'ol bandage on his right hand? It must've been a
strange show to watch. Nijmegen never invited us back.
Luckily the good gigs far outnumber the bad. I'm having a hard time coming up with
a "best ever" show. The last Monkeywrench show we did was pretty great. It was in San
Francisco, at the Bottom of the Hill. The place was packed. Everyone was drunk &
loose (except Tim of course, he doesn't drink). Zen Guerilla opened. Roy Loney and Jello
Biafra were there. Everyone was smiling and rockin' out. Well, except for that one guy
who just got dumped. He wasn't smiling, but he was feeling it.
El Danno: Top 3 movies, books and albums of all time?
Mark Arm:
Movies:
Touch of Evil
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
High Plains Drifter
Books:
any collection of Raymond Carver short stories
The Evolution of the Mind (the Origins of the Way We Think) by Robert Ornstein
Miami Blues by Charles Willeford
Records:
the Stooges - Fun House
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Safe As Milk
Alice Cooper - Killer
El Danno: What is your favorite city and venue to play, and why?
Mark Arm: The 3B Tavern in Bellingham Washington where beer and people fly (not
stage diving, just rolling around & shit). Everyone's smiling, loose, unaggressive, and
getting way into it. At least that's what it's been like the last few times Monkeywrench
played there. It remindes me of the small fucked up wild crowds in Seattle arround l986,
before it became a dumping ground for hipsters and dotcom neuvo riche.
El Danno: What is the most Rock 'n' Roll thing you've ever done?
Mark Arm: Skullfucked 16 groupies while snorting coke off Layne Staley's tits.
El Danno: What's the most Rock 'n' Roll thing you've seen someone else do?
Mark Arm: I was looking in a mirror the whole time, so it seemed like someone else.
El Danno: What's your worst 'bad trip' story?
Mark Arm: See above...
El Danno: What's the most painful thing you have ever witnessed at a rock show?
Mark Arm: God, there's been so many. One of the most painful for me is any time
a band is serious about audience participation, like trying to get them to clap along, or
wave their hands in the air, or shout something out. My initial reaction is "fuck you",
and then the audience does exactly whatever stupid thing the dickhead on stage tells them
to and my reactions shifts to "fuck all of you".
That whole "preacher" personna some bands use to interact with the crowd has got to go.
The next idiot singer who tries to address an audience of which I'm a part of as "brothers
& sisters", will get a bottle between the eyes.
El Danno: How old were you when you first realized you wanted to rock?
Mark Arm: I was not yet born.
El Danno: What's the most embarrassing job you ever had?
Mark Arm: Last weekend I went downtown and got 2 blowjobs. When I came home I
gave my roommate one.
El Danno: What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
Mark Arm: Despite my dislike of the Grateful Dead, Cherry Garcia is one heck of
a good ice cream. It took me years to come to terms with that.
El Danno: If you could date any rock star (dead or alive) in the world, who would it
be? Movie star?
Mark Arm:
Living movie star: Juilanne Moore
Dead movie star: Natalie Wood
I can't think of any rock star, dead or alive that I'd like to date.
El Danno: What would be your ultimate "dream gig of all time" line-up, with your band
opening? Limit to 3 bands please (including your own...) and where?
Mark Arm:
Stooges
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band
Mudhoney/Monkeywrench
1970, anywhere
