Seattle Music History

2014-03-09

GREAT ARTICLE BY BRENT STAVIG of SEATTLE MUSIC INSIDER!!! MUDHONEY JAMS AT THE TRACTOR TAVERN'S 20TH ANNIVERSERY PARTY!!!

This Just In From Seattle Music History!!! by Brent Stavig

MUDHONEY at THE TRACTOR TAVERN

Seattle Music Insider

Perhaps the testosterone-dominant crowd was still permeated by post-Valentine’s Day resentment, but as soon as I entered the Tractor on a rainy and windy Saturday night I could feel tension in the air. “Sold Out” signs were plastered around the entrance, but the clamoring hordes of ticketless Seattleites didn’t materialize as I’d thought they would. Instead, the damp, predominantly post-40-year-old attendees ambled into the bar randomly, and the lack of any kind of line at the front door had me wondering if the Tractor had stopped selling tickets too soon.

Opening band Unnatural Helpers took the stage promptly at 9:45 p.m. and launched into a tight set of jagged, short, and powerful punk-pop that at times reminded me of Wire, Art Brut, and the Posies (if the Posies had listened to more Gang of Four records). After they’d finished their set, many in the crowd could be heard exclaiming, “Those guys were awesome!” and I agree with their assessment. Their latest release called ‘Land Grab’ was produced by local mop-top aficionado Kurt Bloch, and was released in 2012 on the Sub-Pop offshoot Hardly Art records.

After the Tractor bar staff had served 116 more PBR’s (fifteen minutes) the members of Mudhoney could be seen ambling onstage and off, setting up their guitars and drums, and making me wonder, “What? No one wants to be a roadie for Mudhoney?” Then I saw Mudhoneybassist Guy Madison ordering at the end of the bar, quickly followed by drummer Dan Peters, and both sauntered backstage clutching beers and cocktails.

By the time Mudhoney hit the stage the crowd was amped-up and near capacity. This was their first show since playing Perth, Australia on January 31st, and their only show until resuming their tour in Brazil this May.

Mark Arm brought a full bottle of Chardonnay onstage and placed it near the drum riser, and Steve Turner (guitar) placed his brown amber on his amp. I’d expected them to kick off the show with a powerful song, and “Slipping Away” was perfect. Guy’s bassline and Dan’s rapid-fire snare set the table for Steve’s super-fuzz and Mark’s pointed and not-quite-monotone vocals. (Disclaimer: I don’t know the Mudhoney catalog well enough to list each song they played, so instead I’ll simply explain how things progressed.)

The second and third songs were Mudhoney at their best; fast-paced, raw, and high-energy. A mosh pit quickly formed in front of the stage, which isn’t necessarily a good idea considering the small size of the venue, and the close proximity of people who don’t exactly want to be part of a mosh pit. Sure enough, during the fourth song some guy hopped onto the stage, and stage-dived into the crowd. This wasn’t a twee gentleman, and soon his 250 lb. + frame was shoved back towards the stage and into the face of Mark Arm while he was singing. Mark didn’t see it coming, and stopped playing after the collision. “That was really great, dude”, Mark deadpanned while feeling his mouth to see if it was bleeding. I really thought that Mark was going to pull the plug on the show, but after regrouping, and taking another slug of Chardonnay, he decided to keep things going. Dan Peters clicked off a quick “1,2,3,4!” on his sticks, but Mark stopped him, seeming to choose a different, less-frenetic song so the crowd could cool off a bit.

Then they launched into “Touch Me, I’m Sick” and the moshing started all over again. Within a few seconds, fists were flying, and the first of several patrons to be physically removed from the venue by ‘security’ was manhandled through the crowd standing near the bar. For the next several songs, including ‘Suck You Dry”, “The Money Will Roll Right In”, “I’m Now”, “I Like It Small”, and “1995” there were shoving matches and near-fistfights. Bartenders leapt over the bar to quell arguments, and the band was visibly concerned that something really stupid might happen.

I’ve seen Mudhoney four times, but I’ve never seen Mark sing as aggressively or pointedly as he was at this show. By the time he ditched his guitar and simply became a microphone-toting lead singer he was leaning menacingly into the crowd, flaying his arms and over-enunciating a la Johnny Rotten. There were times when he seemed possessed; eyes fixed on something in the back of the room, and ready to tear the hair out of anyone who came too close. At one point Steve Turner put his arm around Mark and asked, “Are you all right?” The rest of the band seemed to be trying to keep up with Mark’s energy and fierceness, which surprised me considering that they’ve been playing together for twenty-five years.

After an hour of fury, and one empty bottle of Chardonnay, Mudhoney left the stage to the chants and screams of sweaty patrons who knew they’d just seen Mudhoney at their most fierce. Ten minutes of stomping and chanting brought them back onstage for a three-song encore, and all one had to do was look at Steve Turner’s grin to know that the band was also satisfied with this special, stellar night.

2014-03-06

Here is the most latest & greatest Seattle Seahawks & Richard Sherman Themed Trak Available on-line or at the stores!!!

This Just In From Seattle Music History!!! A young man from New York City hit me up on line early this morning on Instagram after I posted some Seahawks pics and he is a big supporter and fan of this trak done by another young man who is down in Florida and they are also 12th Men & Richard Sherman & Seahawks fans and this song is about Richard Sherman and is pretty catchy and club ready I believe!!! So I told the kid in New York I would send it to Sherman's mother in hopes of richard and his family to hear it! The kid in new York was and is very adamant about getting this dudes song out into thee ears of the mass's and I'm all about that so he got me in the heart right away! So I sent it to Ms. Sherman who responded back to me within an hour or so and she told me that she has already heard it and thanked me! So give this kid a shot and a listen subscribe to his YouTube page and if you like his style hit that YouTube like button for him and share the video for him! Alot of people don't know about or understand the significance of these like buttons across all these social network sites! The like button is so very vital and complex with how it communicates and works across the search engines, servers, and social network sites that it has the power to change your life, especially if your an artist trying to make it out here!!! #GoHawks

2014-03-02

SEATTLE'S OWN SOUNDGARDEN GETS TO RIP SHIT UP INSIDE FELLOW LEGENDARY SEATTLE ARTIST'S GREENWICH VILLAGE RECORDING STUDIO IN NEW YORK CITY!!!

This Just In From Seattle Music History!!! I'm sure nobody in the room was prouder than The Spirit of The Late Great SIR Mr. James Marshall Hendrix- In New York you always hear about the house that "Ruth" built, well on this evening in Manhattan The Babe had to take a backseat because it was Soundgardens turn to ride at The House That Jimi Built!!! Soundgarden just releasedKing Animal, their first album in 16 years. So what better way to celebrate than with a Q&A session that moderator and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins called “the raddest garage party ever”??

Last night, at an event hosted by SiriusXM at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village, the reunited Seattle rockers took part in an informal Q&A session, moderated by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. The venue is microscopic; there were maybe fifty people there, so needless to say, there wasn’t an un-close seat in the house.

Now, most musicians don’t go into the business for the press circuit. They’re usually roped into these events by their publicists in order to promote an album or a tour, and they tend to answer questions — nearly all of which they have been asked countless times — with marginal, rehearsed enthusiasm. You could tell there was an element of forced publicity in last night’s session, but the discussion was surprisingly lively and informative.

A standard question about the players’ individual influences elicited responses that drew from a scholarly musical catalog. Frontman Chris Cornell, who admitted that he didn’t learn how to play guitar until after he joined the band, cited the Beatles and Tom Waits; Matt Cameron, the genial and well-spoken drummer, spoke of Buddy Rich, Tony Williams, Captain Beefheart, and Death Grips; and bassist Ben Shepherd mentioned Charles Mingus and Black Flag’s Chuck Dukowski. Guitarist Kim Thayil, who remained somewhat aloof for most of the evening, acknowledged reluctantly that his childhood guitar hero was KISS’ Ace Frehley. All of them agreed, though, that many of the band’s early influences weren’t musical at all, but rather works of film and literature.

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As the guys loosened up — thanks in no small part to Hawkins’ exuberant hosting job — the talk became more freewheeling. One fan asked what the band members would be doing if they hadn’t pursued music, prompting them to rip into one another about baseball and their total ineptitude at non-musical tasks.

They all reacted strongly when someone apologetically applied the term “grunge” to their work. “Grunge is over, people,” Hawkins shouted. “It never started.” However, I would be remiss if I failed to mention Shepherd’s contributions to the evening. Seated on the far right, slouched and sneering, the bassist spent most of the event spouting non sequiturs that grew increasingly off-the-wall. Rather than try to contextualize them — because there was really no context for most of his comments — I’ll just list a few, below:

-”I like to yell Throbbing Gristle in crowded movie theaters.”

-”It’s too bad we don’t talk like Donald Duck, or that would have been an incredible answer.”

-”We all hide the dream couches when we’re jamming.”

One of the night’s testier moments came in response to a question about the role of music criticism in an album’s success or failure. For the first time, Thayil spoke up adamantly, denouncing bloggers and unqualified writers “who don’t know anything about music or cultural trends or journalism.” “I’m just waiting for that Pitchfork review,” Cornell joked, referring to the notoriously severe, online music magazine.

He then lamented the fact that so many music writers concentrate on the lead singers and guitarists at the expense of the other musicians. Soundgarden, he insisted, was always a collaborative effort with equal contributions from every member. Hawkins added a story about a producer he knew who collected original reviews of every Led Zeppelin LP, which were largely negative, and brought them out 20 years later as proof of their irrelevance.

“[Critics] help people with scarce resources prioritize their shopping lists,” Thayil concluded.

Once the talk wrapped up, the band played an exciting but tragically short set: “Been Away Too Long” and “Worse Dreams,” both off of King Animal, and two early classics, “Rusty Cage” and “Spoonman.”

I’ll admit that I’m a total Soundgarden aficionado, so watching them perform live in such an impossibly tiny setting felt a bit like discovering Zeppelin when I was 13. Their music is deliriously, refreshingly heavy, all sludge and sinew — I wanted to jump around and break chairs, and I think everyone else did, too, but the surroundings weren’t suited to a mosh pit.

Luckily the band’s got a tour lined up for early next year, so all those metalheads who grew up onBadmotorfinger and Superunknown can get their long-awaited ’90s thrash on for the first time in nearly 20 years.

“SiriusXM’s Town Hall with Soundgarden will air on Pearl Jam Radio this Friday, Nov. 16, at 6pm ET.