The Counterforce No. 23
Mudride, Mudhoney, Pacific NorthWest Tour, Atrocity Girl, The Sunshine Convention, Sarah Shannon...
I played a Mudhoney song in a band before I had ever heard them. It was sometime in early 1992, I was a sophomore in high school and two seniors, Sean & Chris, came to my house after school one day cause they needed a bass player for their band and knew I could play. Although we became friends later on, at the time Sean didn’t like me very much. He worked at the record store in my hometown, Graf-Wadman (alluded to in Graph City Records in The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass), was two years older than me, and had killer taste in music, always wearing t-shirts of bands I was jonesing to hear. I pestered him remorselessly to let me borrow tapes. But after someone stole something of his, Sean didn’t loan anything out anymore. Despite my constant enthusiasm getting on his nerves, on two occasions Sean really surprised me by bringing into school a mixtape he had made for me. The first was called Fuzzy Blast, not the Dinosaur Jr. live boot that was circulating at that point, but a best of D Jr. comp. Sean put together for me. Receiving this was nothing short of life-changing, the guitars were the chaotic swirl of noise I felt in my very soul. The other tape - and you can get a hint of Sean’s annoyance with me by its title - was called ‘Happy Birthday F*cker’, and was a Big Star mix Sean gave me on my 16th birthday that year, and thus introducing me to another seminal band. Sean wasn’t always cross with me. Around nine months before this, I was hanging out at Graf-Wadman and he was practically jumping up and down over the promo tape he’d just gotten in by a band called (you guessed it) Nirvana. He put it on and you could tell how much he loved it, but it didn’t really do anything for me. I much preferred the major key punk rock I’d been into for years - the Pistols, the Clash, the Damned… ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ just didn’t do it for me. It actually took me until ‘Lithium’ to really get into Nirvana. Sean and I had Spanish class together that year and, knowing my antipathy towards the band, told me he was going to kidnap me and take me up to The Moon in New Haven with him to see them. He didn’t know anyone else who’d even heard of them. He came into school the next day raving about that show, how they threw fruit at the audience for the encore, and how great it was seeing them in a club the size of a station wagon. A week later that would never be possible again. Indeed, the very world of underground music had changed.
So Sean and Chris pick me up, we go to Chris’ house and start jamming in the basement. We all switch instruments at various points and Sean and Chris are showing me the songs they want to play. One of which has this absolutely KILLER riff, and despite never having heard it, I keep requesting we play that one over and over again. At the end of practice, Chris loans me his tape of Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles so I can listen to this ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’ at home. This tune, ‘In’n’Out Of Grace’, and ‘You Got It’ spend a lot of time on my stereo that summer. And when the Singles soundtrack comes out in June, ‘Overblown’ is one of my favourites on it. Thinking about that film lately, I think it wise the soundtrack came out so far ahead of it hitting theaters. When we went to see it - and I don’t really know why we were expecting otherwise - we were just confused that it was a romantic comedy, which we had no interest in, and not just all about the Seattle music scene, which we greatly did.
I remember how excited my friend Bri (to whom The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass is dedicated) and I were to find the Green River EPs at Phoenix Records in Waterbury that summer. Phoenix is another one of the shops Cake Ass pays homage to. Green River’s cover of Bowie’s ‘Queen Bitch’ was the first time I ever heard that song. I was just going through my cassettes to find that Fuzzy Blast tape Sean made me. It didn’t turn up but that doesn’t mean it’s not here somewhere. I hope so. I did come across these though. Fugazi’s Repeater and Funkadelic’s self-titled debut that I bought at Cutler’s moments after we asked the clerk if they ‘had anything by Buttery Cake Ass?’ in December 1991. And this other tape that Malcolm Tent from Trash American Style copied me of New Order rarities and a Green River bootleg. The only info listed for the latter is “GREEN RIVER: Seattle, WA 7.9.84 - debut show’
In Mudride, Steve Turner gives July 28, 1984 as the date of Green River’s first show, so I’m not exactly sure what this is. Getting to Mudride…
I had a blast on my Pacific NorthWest tour. It was exhausting and difficulties arose at almost every turn, but it was great. Met a lot of very cool people, went to some great record and book shops, saw old friends. You can read the full tour diaries here. Some highlights:
First event was at The Clock-Out Lounge, a cool venue that seems like a really good place to see bands. Maren from Nook & Cranny Books organized the whole thing and I would be reading with Adem Tepedelen, who co-wrote Mudride with Steve, and Seattle comic and comics writer Brett Hamil, with the band Atrocity Girl opening. I had a great time chatting with Adem before and after the event, we have lots of similar interests - music, writing, writing about music - and when I got back to CT a week later, I was thrilled there was a copy of Mudride waiting for me. Atrocity Girl were playing acoustic tonight and I was immediately taken with their drummer, Angie Dane. She was alternating between only a conga or a large block, but the way she leant over them was so full of intent to ROCK, and the way her long black hair whipped about as she played, you could tell she means business. When I got back to where I was staying that night, despite being exhausted, I was looking up the band and found this great article about how, faced with such despicable sexism in the recording industry, they set about learning how to record themselves, picking up tips from (the disproportionately small number of ) women in the industry, and now Angie’s teaching courses at local colleges to further the cause. Awesome.
In Portland, I was at Music Millennium, the oldest record shop in the NorthWest. I could’ve spent hours browsing. And was pleased to see Portland also has a location of Ben & Esther’s Vegan Jewish Deli, that I became very fond of in Seattle. I really dug Olympia, and although no one came to the event, I had a great time chatting with Rob, the owner of Last Word Books & Press. He and I have many similar interests - Robert Anton Wilson, David B., absurd adventuring… Wise Owl Books & Music in Tangletown in Seattle, another very cool little shop, with a big candy jar of many-sided dice on the counter. And got to meet other Sagging Meniscus/Exacting Clam writers at a small gathering/reading on my last night in town. Sonic Boom Records in Ballard now carries both my books, I’m psyched about this as I’ve been following them on IG for a while. And I popped into Easy Street Records on Adem’s suggestion and I’m hoping they’ll take mine too. Their book selection is very impressive, and a great vibe to the store all around, complete with a diner and bar inside.
And on my way home, I finally got to visit the Sub Pop shop at SeaTac airport. I’d heard about this since they opened in 2014 and always thought it was such a rad idea, and it turned out to be as cool as I’d hoped, with the staff being very friendly as well. I also, by virtue of my flight being cancelled, got to visit them again the next day, as well as their downtown shop after spending six and a half hours at SeaTac trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
So, like I said, when I got back to CT after long days of traveling, there was a copy of Mudride waiting for me. I really dug it. I’m historically a slow reader, but I found I was flying through the pages, not wanting to put it down. Steve gives not just a history of his bands but a wider look at the Seattle grunge scene, and from the very beginning too, as he was there for it all. I remember so much of this, either from listening or reading at the time, and it’s great getting an insider view. At the Troy Club in London, they used to have Reading Festival posters on the walls and it was cool hearing Steve’s recollections of their appearances there. As well as about his side projects and label, Super Electro. I bought The Fall-Outs lp on Super Electro when it came out - on Sean from above’s recommendation - and I remembered that early on I sent over its sleeve to an artist as a possible inspiration for the Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass cover. And Super Electro is one of the best label names. So if you’re interested at all in the Seattle scene, this is definitely a book to get.
I’ve also heard a couple releases lately that I wanna flag up.
First up, The Sunshine Convention. Tim Hinely (Dagger Zine) tweeted about this record comparing it to classic Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes-era Guided By Voices and early Superchunk. So I was immediately intrigued. And this does not disappoint. Blissed out guitars, great melodies, catchy as heck.
And funnily enough, speaking of Atrocity Girl, Sarah Shannon from Velocity Girl released her Demo 98 a couple weeks ago, recorded after VG broke up. OMG, I freaking love the first song, ‘Wheel In A Wheel’. Noisy pop perfection. The guitars remind me of the Mary Chain and The Perfect Disaster, and the vocals are ace.
SEVEN SONGS
The Go-Betweens - ‘You Won’t Find It Again’. When the blogs were still going strong, 10-15 years ago now, coming across the 16 Lovers Lane Acoustic Demos cd (freebie with issue no. 58 of French mag, Les Inrockuptibles) was one of the greatest finds ever. Wonderful versions of most of the album songs, as well as this rare gem that I have no idea why it was never released. One of Grant’s songs. That line ‘sat by your window, waiting for the world to come to you’ resonates so deeply with me, thinking of the daydreamy nature of my youth, why I haven’t accomplished as much as I feel I should have. I’m going to do this song live when I start playing acoustic shows again (hopefully soon, hmu if you have a spot for me), and I did do a cover late one night a few years back, in the final days before we sold my grandmother’s house. That sentiment, after all the years our large family gathered there, now scattered without a center to hold everything together, fit perfectly.
Mudhoney - ‘Overblown’. Another great driving riff. And I love how anti the whole reason the movie was set there the lyrics are
Iggy & The Stooges - ‘Search & Destroy’. There are few songs as just full-on Awesome as this. The lyrics matching the quality of the music, which so often isn’t the case with any song. I was completely blown away when I first heard this as a teenager. And still am whenever I hear it. Continuing my Wes Anderson revisits, I was watching The Life Aquatic the other night and this kicking in for the scene with the pirates is one of the greatest moments in movie soundtracking
Gerard Way - ‘Action Cat’. Like with Nirvana, it took me a long time to ‘get’ MCR too. But when it clicked, woah, boy. Gerard’s Hesitant Alien is one of my favourite albums of the new millennium. And this one’s catchy energy gets me as excited as listening to the Misfits did when I was 18
Dinosaur Jr. - ‘Freak Scene’. This sounds so fresh and unique and great every time I hear it. I was blown away by it in 1992, and I remember being in a basement club in London’s Soho around 2008 and the DJ played it and I was just in awe of how amazing it still sounded. And still does.
Curve - ‘Horror Head’. Speaking of noisy pop perfection, one of my all-time favourite songs. Toni’s gorgeous voice, the incredible swirling restraint of the backing track. The Radio Sessions version is also pretty stellar.
Sinéad O’Connor - ‘Jealous’. Still spending a lot of time with Sinéad. One of my faves of hers, such a beautiful tune. And what a chorus! That voice… She is missed
I’m also collecting all these Seven Songs lists here on a monster Apple playlist