Mudhoney Articles

Jam

November '02

Mudhoney

Following is the (almost) entire Q&A I did with the band in order to put together an interview for Italian magazine Jam. Unfortunately Guy was too busy with med school to get back to me in time. Note that after a lot of heavy editing only about one fourth of what follows ended up on the printed version.

First of all, introduce Guy! How did the three of you meet him in the first place?

Dan: Guy comes to us Via Australia. We met him years ago while touring down under and have been fans of his various bands, including lubricated goat and Monroes Fur. He's lived in Seattle for the last 10 years and played with Mark in Bloodloss. It just seemed natural to get him after Matt left.
Mark: Steve and I met Guy and the rest of Lubricated Goat (Martin Bland, Renestair EJ and Stuart Spasm) when they first came to the US in 1989. I specifically remember hanging out with them at a wild party on Capitol Hill. For some inexplicable reason, we were drawn to each other on our first meeting.

Can you sum up the various steps from Matt's departure to Guy's arrival? What other bassists did you play with in between and why didn't you stick together with them?

Steve: First there was Steve (me) but it was hard to play both bass and guitar. Then there was that other guy named Steve, but he didn't really want to play in a rock band anymore. Then there was the newest guy, Guy.

What role did Guy play in the band's sound? Is this record something that wouldn't have happened at all if Guy wasn't there or do you think the band would've walked down a similar path even with another new member?

Dan: Guy's playing I think does wonders for the sound of the record. It gives our sound more movement, which is nice. A little more depth. I'm sure we would have made a record that would be close to this record if Guy wasn't with us but it certainly would have a different vibe. and we would be missing a few key numbers like "Crooked And Wide", and "Dying For It".

How did you do record Since We've Become Translucent? How long did it take to be completed?

Dan: The record was recorded over about 4 months. We would work on batches of songs, and when we thought we were ready we would book some studio time. The record actually was really easy to do. We never over thought anything, and we only recorded for Saturday and Sunday on each session.

At what point did you come up with the idea of adding keys, horn sections etc? The idea of experimenting with other things was there from day one, or in the beginning this was going to be a more "regular" record until something clicked?

Steve: Well we've used keys on pretty much all the records since Every Good Boy, the horns popped up this time because of the Sonics thing and working with Craig.

Tell me more about the three producers that you worked with on SWBT. How did you pick them up? What were their works that made you think they could be the right ones for Mudhoney?

Steve: Mark really liked some of the stuff Scott had done, like the Climax Golden Twins, and I liked the fact that he was an old midwest hardcore dude. We'd recorded a couple times with Martin, and new he was great from that and his work with lots of other people, like the last couple Lanegan records. And Johnny has been doing all sorts of great stuff at Egg, like the Kent 3 and Wiretaps. And he speaks Danish, which helps a lot.
Mark: Scott Colburn used to be in a hardcore band in Indiana in 1981 called Killing Children. He works closely with avant garde acts like the Climax Golden Twins and the Sun City Girls. He's also mastered several things for Revanant Records including the Capt. Beefheart boxed set Grow Fins. He's our age and we share a common background (early 80s American hardcore). He's got a cool little Studio and he seemed like he'd be cool to work with (and he is).
Johnny Sangster has been working out of Egg Studios for a few years now. He was part of the Seattle punk scene in the early 80s. He went to Europe with his band Sharing Patrol in the mid 80s. The plan was to check things out for a month or two, but the band ended up staying in Denmark for 10 years. Among other things, he recorded the latest Kent 3 record at Egg. He seemed like he'd be cool to work with (and he is).
Martin Feveyear moved his studio (Jupiter) into the old Crow Recording building. Jupiter is the biggest and most high tech of the studios we recorded in for this album. It's the only 24 track we used. We recorded the horns here since there was so much extra room on the tape. Martin worked on several Mark Lanegan records including Field Songs. We've known martin for years so we knew that he's a cool guy, but we figured he'd be cool to work with (and he is).
We recorded one song with Jack Endino in April of 2000. This was before we had a new bass player, and Wayne Kramer played bass on the recording. We've worked with Jack on and off since day one. We love Jack.

Is there any other producer you'd like to work with?

Mark: We planned on doing a fourth session with John Goodmanson, but we were finished at the end of the third session. He recorded an unfinished Bloodloss album in '97. The sounds he got were fantastic. It's too bad that Ren was losing his mind at the time.
I'd also like to record with Tucker Martine. He's got more of an avant garde bent (and he's good friends with Scott Colburn). He recorded the Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter album which is really great.

Have you ever tought about recording an LP by yourself?

Steve: We can't record by ourselves, because someone has to say "You're rolling." It's a Pavlov's dog thing...
Dan: Essentially all our records aside from Tomorrow Hit Today were done by Mudhoney. We always have someone who is very good at recording music, like Jack Endino, Conrad Uno, who are very crucial in the outcome of the record. But they aren't necessarily telling us what's up.

Looking at the track list, The Straight Life and Inside Job are probably the most "classic Mudhoney" songs on the record. and they were recorded, at least in their first incarnation, much earlier than the other tracks. Is there some kind of "evolution" thing going on through the record? Any "new direction" you are moving toward? Or do you feel it's just the same old rock?

Dan: Those songs were originally record for a session me, Mark and Steve got together for. The plan was to write a new song for a Internet company that was going to give us too much money for one song. It was the first time we got together without Matt. We just started monkeying around with a few riffs. they came fairly easy. It wasn't very out there. They are pretty straight forward songs. It was almost 2 years later that we recorded the new record, and a lot of time to play around with songs that have a different vibe from those songs. And Wayne Kramer from the MC5 plays on Inside Job, but we re-recorded the straight life with guy rocking the 4 strings.
Mark: I don't know what the term "classic Mudhoney" is supposed to mean. Is it a short mean punk tune like Touch Me I'm Sick, a slower noisy blues number like Sweet Young Thing..., a droney psych workout like Mud Ride, a fucked up power ballad like If I Think, a proto-metal revision like In 'n' Out Of Grace, or a poppier song like Into The Drink? I think that every song on Since We've Become Translucent fits into one of those six "classic Mudhoney" forms.

Are there any leftovers, b-sides, covers etc that you recorded while you were doing the album? any idea of how and when (and if) they could be released?

Mark: Nope. We had planned to work on and record at least three more songs in another studio so that we'd have songs to pick from for the album as well as b-side tracks. But when we finished our third and final session, we realized that the album was complete. Anything else would have mucked things up.

With the band a tight unit again, do you think you will be able, if not to tour, at least to release new material more continuously and reducing the years gap that has become the standard since MBTC? Or is it something you plan to keep doing to continue skipping the "bad record"?

Steve: That's not a bad idea, but I think we'll probably continue to record at a faster pace than in the past.
Dan: I would love to try to put out at least one if not two records a year as long as they were worthy of being released. I have commitments at home so I won't be able to tour, other then weekends and one-offs. I don't feel the need to go out and bust my ass on the road for weeks on in for what ends up being fun but it doesn't help us sell records. The money might be good but I lose a few years off my life every time we go out. My fault? Oh yes.
Mark: Dan's fault, oh yes.

How is Matt doing? What did he say about SWBT? Does he come to your shows?

Dan: Matt has a copy of the record. I talked to him today and he didn't mention if he listened to it. He has never come to a show of ours or anyone's since leaving.

Now that there's a new album out, looking back at THT what do you think about it? Is there anything on it that you liked when it came out but that you don't like anymore? Or something that you wish you had developed better or in a different way?

Steve: I haven't listened to THT since, but I know that we probably bit off a bit more than we could chew with the amount of songs we tried to get finished. It's a lot easier when you're only dealing with 3 songs at a time.
Mark: I think the record might be stronger if Move With The Wind wasn't on it. I like the song fine, but it just seems to drag a bit compared to the rest of the album.
Dan: I like THT. If we would spent all that time with Reprise and never took advantage of the big budget recording I would have been bummed. It's just too bad they basically pressed enough for all of us to get a copy.

Is there any loose "concept" unifying most or all of the songs of SWBT such as the ones of THT?

Dan: I never got that there was a concept for THT. But hey I'm only the drummer, they don't usually fill me in on that kind of stuff.
Mark: The concept, as always, is "let's fuckin' rock!"

You had signed a one record deal with Sub Pop for SWBT. Are you willing to stay there or are you considering other options/offers?

Mark: We're not looking for other offers, but we don't want to be trapped anywhere either. We want to do an album with our good friend David Kaznelson's Birdman records, or maybe a Birdman / In The Red split. David was our A&R person at Reprise. Larry Hardy, who runs In The Red is a good friend of ours too. Both labels are closely tied.

How do you see the underground developing in 2002? Is there any new band / label / scene / sound that you would reccomend to check out?

Steve: I am out of touch with everything but my own little world. That said, I really like a lot of bands here in Seattle at the moment: Right On, The Spits, Pulses, Cripples, A-Frames, Pretty Girls Make Graves, New Luck Toy, Dear John Letters, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, etc.
Mark: I have no idea. I'm so out of touch with any trends. I'm not someone who's ever been concerned with that sort of thing. That's why it was so strange for Mudhoney to be connected to a mainstream fashion movement like Grunge.
My favorite record of last year is [ex Clawhammer] Jon Wahl and the Amadans "Sour Suite". It came out on Birdman. David sent out plenty of promo copies, but for some reason the record got no attention whatsoever. This leads me to believe that most critics are fashion oriented trend spotters with tin ears.

Finally, list five records you've listened the most this past month.

Steve: Tim Buckley "Blue Afternoon", Rudimentary Peni "Death Church", Mekons "Oooh", Chris Smither "Live as I'll Ever Be", Quixotic "the new one on Kill Rock Stars".
Mark: Otis Taylor "Respect The Dead", Pink Faries "Neverneverland", Brian Eno "Here Come The Warm Jets", Queens Of The Stone Age "Songs For The Deaf", The Deadly Snakes "I'm Not Your Soldier Anymore".
Dan: Temptations "The Sky's the Limit", Temptations "Puzzle People", Temptations "New Directions", Temptations "Live", Temptations "Solid Rock".