Click to listen to the actual interview, conducted by phone in the summer of 1992.
Rock Power was published out of London in the early 90s, translated into ten languages and distributed globally.
SINGLES, a movie set in Seattle starring Matt Dillon and directed by Cameron Crowe (husband of Heart’s Nancy Wilson), brings to the silver screen the sounds of Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and more! MICHAEL BROWNING meets the director of what may go down in history as Grunge -The Movie…
MAKE SURE EVERYBODY KNOWS we did this movie a year and a half ago,” Cameron Crowe, writer and director of Singles, emphasises. The irony is that all this stuff, which is the music I was listening to, or the music we love, has become very commercial. So it was a good investment for Epic, but still nobody’s getting rich off of this.”
Then again, you couldn’t really call it a losing proposition either, now could you?
In fact, in advance of the movie’s release, most involved are probably hoping the film itself makes as big a splash as the soundtrack {out since midsummer) already has. Heralded as a quintessential composite of Seattle tastes, if not the entire sound, the ‘Singles’ LP contains ten cuts from the city’s creme de la creme, as well as three songs from non-residents that still manage to embody the region’s musical vibe. Which, for the clueless, all boils down to honesty. Crowe, former editor at Rolling Stone magazine and screenplay writer of Fast Times At Ridgemont High, The Wildlife, Say Anything and Singles (also directing the last two), recognises the value of honesty in music and shows his appreciation of honesty (and loud guitars) by liberally adding his favourite artists to his movie making formula. “I love guitar. I love hard, guitar-oriented rock, and in the middle ’80s there was all this synth-pop garbage everywhere and I just found that guitar was still alive in the Northwest.” 1990’s Say Anything had both Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden in it and this year he’s upped the Seattle ante by including music from Alice In Chains, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Chris Cornell, Jimi Hendrix, Pearl Jam and, perhaps the most intriguing addition, The Lovemongers, a hometown side project of Heart’sAnn and Nancy Wilson. With that list, you could easily think that the movie is about the Seattle scene itself. It’s not.
While Matt Dillon does play the singer/songwriter of fictitious band Citizen Dick, Crowe likens the film to Woody Allen’s Manhattan where intense personal relations (a new direction for Allen) are played out against a colourful, cultured backdrop. With the Washington metropolis as the stage, Singles is about how six young lives intertwine within the building in which they live.
“Pearl Jam plays Matt’s band in the movie so that’s how the rumour got started that it is a movie about the Seattle scene.”
So how did Crowe come up with the idea a couple of years back to do a film in the now globally acclaimed climate of Puget Sound?
“Nancy (Wilson – she and Crowe are now married) gave me someone to visit up here, but I always loved the area. I first came here in 74, writing a story on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; I was 17 at the time. I really loved it up here and I just love music, so it was kind of a natural thing to get hooked into some of these bands.”
Now wait a minute: Smashing Pumpkins and Paul Westerberg (of The Replacements fame) aren’t from Seattle. What’s with that?
“The incongruities serve to show that we’re not in the business of selling Seattle music. (Sub Pop’s) Bruce (Pavitt) and John (Poneman) have done an amazing job with their samplers and the truth is, this is just the music that I love and that worked in the movie.”
The rest of that truth is these artists have a kind of soul connection to the Northwest. Firstly, Seattlites seem to dig all things Butch Vig (the Pumpkins’ producer, and Nirvana’s as well) and “Paul Westerberg really is the spirit of the movie. Paul was one of the first guys to have pretty melodies built into hard, thrashing rock and punk attitude.”
Westerberg also got the job of scoring the film, with some incidental guitar work from Chris Cornell. You may have noticed that this is the first solo work ever released by Cornell, although the deeply personal Temple Of The Dog LP comes close This was no easy feat for Crowe “I don’t want to start a thing with A&M (Soundgarden’s label), but they have fought putting music in stuff I’ve written for years and I don’t know why. They had the Soundgarden music from Louder Than Love pulled out of Say Anything, so we used stuff from Ultramega OK!, a Sub Pop label Soundgarden release. They’ve had a nasty attitude towards us whenever we’ve wanted to use some of their music, and the truth is only with great jockeying from Susan Silver (Soundgarden’s manager) and Chris Cornell were we able to get a new Soundgarden song and Chris solo in this movie.”
In all, Crowe and co-producer Danny Bramson have compiled a collection of songs that truly captures the essence of Singles. Effectively sidestepping his idea of the current trend in soundtracks, which for him is like,
“What is this? is this some tangential sampler that has ‘something’ to do with the movie? Cos it’s not a soundtrack. It’s weird, the soundtrack has turned into a really crass marketing tool.”
Although there’s a ton of other music from John Coltrane to REM in the movie, every song is prominently used in the film. Most importantly, they deserve to be on the soundtrack and they effectively conjure up the appropriate images. This soundtrack exactly fulfills the aim of the director.
Tonight I saw a groovy, sparsely attended show, and I’m not too shit-faced so I guess I’ll tell you about it.
I must’ve gotten to Pike Place Market’s Colourbox just after the opening band finished ’cause the Pearl Jam CD was playing and it seemed almost over (read: ungodly long break) by the time dr. Unknown took the tiny stage. New guitarist Matt Fox (from Bitter End) and vocalist Jeff Carrell were riffin’ into some tasty breaks while bassist Derek Peace joined them for some hair flying frenzy. Cool songs I caught titles on were Misery and Come Down To Love. I didn’t catch the name of a jazzy little number that truly blew socks.
News from the front is that they’ve accepted an offer and the deal’s in that red tape stage before they can actually announce the signing. Congrats guys.
Next up was an electrified set by Red Platinum. Almost 1:00 by the time they kicked in, they apparently had some serious voltage surging through their equipment as guitarist Eric Wunderlich commented, “Nothing like a little 110 to liven up a performance!” And lively it was, by the time they started the second tune, Doug, his hair looked like someone had rubbed him with a balloon.
They played the best older stuff like Shovin’, and some nifty new ones, Don’t Take It Away and Mother Nature. They probably saved the best new material for last but it was well past my bedtime so I snuck my ass out of the Central/Satyricon shaped club.
Walking to my car I flashed a ‘peace’ to Matt Fox as he turned the corner in front of me, then silently wished him luck as one of Seattle’s finest filed into traffic behind him.
Well. first off, the miserable drive down to the Tacky Dome is always enough to get a rainy winter evening off to a foul start. This night was no exception. Couple that with typical TicketMaster annoyances and a mighty ensemble of over zealous south end security and you’ve got a fairly representational Tacoma Dome event.
Due to the distance, we completely missed Alice In Chain’s set, which, opening for Van Halen, was something we’d looked forward to. Due to the wet cattle run/reptilian maze that stood between the tickets and the entrance, we missed the first half of Poundcake. No biggee, but we still gotta find our seats. On the other side.
By the time Judgement Day had started we were set. Runaround completed the initial greet from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge then they went into several Sammy tunes, One Way To Rock and the solo acoustic Give To Live.
For me, the highlight of the evening by far was when they spontaneously launched into Rock Candy (from Sammy’s early days in Montrose) after picking up a local [RKCNDY nightclub] flyer thrown onstage.
Hearing Rock Candy done live suddenly made it all worthwhile. After having witnessed the Van Hagar production three or four times now, and feeling they are rather uninteresting live by this point, I realized that they still can swing flashes of brilliance.
They touched on the last couple VH albums, OU812 and 5150, with Black And Blue, Finish What Ya Started, Best Of Both Worlds and Why Can’t This Be Love. After I Can’t Drive 55, Sammy went into some angry rant about the state of society as an intro to This Dream Is Over. Then they took their traditional unified bow and left the stage. But you knew the old guys were coming back at least once; just like by looking around you knew they hadn’t lost their ability to pack throngs of scantily clad teenyrockers into arenas.
And they did. Returning with a silly Jump during the chorus of which Eddie was only able to get one foot off the ground at a time. Top Of The World was supposed to be the last, but Sammy, feeling good the first night back from a rest that began when they cancelled the show scheduled here in December, just didn’t want to leave.
So getting back at him for throwing the rest of them into Rock Candy earlier, the three original VH members dove headlong into Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, a song Sammy finished by apologizing with,
This is a re-release that a lot of people are glad to see given new life.
Originally produced by Jack Endino and delivered by locals at eMpTy Records in fall 1990, Inside Yours, the debut of star-crossed Gruntruck, has been picked up by RoadRacer – who remixed a track and added two more before presentation.
Gruntruck is the thunderous culmination of Skin Yard’s voice, Ben McMullen, and The Accused’s guitar, Tommy Niemeyer (Tommy’s favorite is Flesh Fever and mine is the other new track on there, Crucifunkin’), joined by Tim Paul (Napalm Beach) and Norman Scott (Final Warning, Skin Yard) these grunge-crunchers create Seattle beauty at it’s heavy best.
It was just about 7:30 and we were standing out back by load-in talking to the DGC rep just a few feet from where Kurdt was timidly socializing with a small group (of what from all indications was composed of riot grrls). The three girls surrounding wore a shroud of indifference to him that led one to believe they were definitely traveling with the band in the shabby travel van parked next to the Paramount load-in doors. Kurdt was casually explaining to an acquaintance how he probably wouldn’t have time to get together seeing as how they had only the next day off and then Saturday were flying to Europe to begin that leg of the tour.
Climbing the Paramount’s rear stairway we passed Chris and Kurdt on the thrid flight and once again I was amazed at how insignificant 6’2″ feels standing next to Novoselic. As we exchanged formalities I attempted to succinctly mention what a good album Bleach’s followup turned out to be. More pleasantries and the ascent continued. Fifth floor at the meet-n-greet, radio and retail crowded first around the beer and deli trays then Chris and Kurdt when they arrived. Numerous industry photo ops ensued, pix snapped. Our turn arrived so Karen broke out the Santa hats and both Nirvanites happily donned the soon-to-be legendary black Santa hats. Forming a quick attachment, Kurdt decided that he wanted to keep his black Santa hat as keepsake. Karen let him.
Knowing full well that they were being assaulted this very night by a media and mania trying to get a grasp of the reasons behind the fanatic acceptance, nay wanton embrace, of Nevermind, I held myself to a single, brief question. I asked Chris how the band felt about the deluge of interest and hype, to which he replied, “Well, I suppose it’s better us than Poison.”
After the chatter we ran into “Mrs. Cobain”, who had finally managed to make it inside the venue. Said Wendy, “I’ve never had so much trouble and had to jump thru so many hoops just to watch my kid!” Nevertheless, she was smiling parent proudly as she said it. We went back downstairs to watch Mudhoney’s set from stage left. Possibly (probably?) their first live set from the Paramount’s prodigious floorboards, they were as tight as I’ve ever seen them, fun and showy with their ritualistic beer trips to the drum riser on a speedier pace than usual. The set itself was dramatically punctuated by a rain of change that followed a Mark Arm comment concerning insufficient finances. He was, apparently, quite serious. I later noticed him selectively picking out quarters off the stage. Steve Turner had different (yet similarly sized) priorities as he picked up and placed possessively on his amp the scattering mini-Snickers that appeared, along with coinage, around their feet.
When Nirvana stepped up to the plate for their set, the shit really hit as we felt the noise levels throughout The Paramount bounce up several decibels. They put on their patently energetic/introverted with Chris pogoing about while Kurdt stayed fairly stationary, vocalizing thru his dirty blondish mop of hair. Behind them both, Dave kept the rhythm rollin’.
About this time Kurdt’s mom Wendy re-enters our world, crawling across equipment backstage and generally beaming. I asked her if, now that she had passed The Paramount’s initiation, was she having herself a good time? “I’m having the most fun I’ve had in years and the best Halloween, EVER!”
The Nirvana stage was flanked on either side by androgynous go-go dancers, one male, one female, wering identical blond bobs, shorts, tinted goggles and t-shirts emblazoned with “BOY” and “GIRL” (which inaccurately, judging by their chests, described the occupants. I learned that, at least in live settings, Chris owns the voice that sings the stolen intro to Territorial Pissings. By the time it was over, I was so drunkenly delerious on this particular concert experience, I couldn’t remember what song they played last. I think it was Love Buzz, but whatever it was, it was on.
As are they. Bear witness to this ride, Seattle.
Patrick McDonald – Industry Profile
Bumbershoot
Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger
Nirvana – Nevermind
Pearl Jam – Ten
Van Halen – For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Kix – Hot Wire
Since they last graced the pages of City Heat (riding the wave of Failure‘s success, April 1989) the Posies have; “learned a lot of new songs, put out another record, played millions of shows,” and as Rick Roberts (bass) falls into Bon Jovi schtick, “Seen a million faces and rocked them all!”
While “millions” may be sightly exaggerated they have, in fact, been playing extensively. Kicking it off in California with Gene Loves Jezabel, then hooking up with The Replacements in the Midwest and bombarding both coasts with Redd Kross.
They’ve been in town a couple of weeks to catch their breath, now it’s back to the East coast for some dates of their own.
Right in the middle of catching that breath, we grabbed ’em for a chat about life on the road, life in the “Big Leagues” and just life in general. You’ll find that theirs, like most of ours, varies.
Meaning…
It’s Not “All Glitz”
When we last spoke over two years ago it was the beginning of the glitz.
Demo tape, independently released does exceedingly well, major label contract follows quickly, record and release the [major label] debut. No sweat.
1991.07.CityHeat.Posies1
Time now to support it, sweat for it.
And that they have. Alternating between headlining clubs and playing larger venues with afforementioned friends.
They have a live reputation that varies depending on your alignment with the album (Dear 23). If you really like it just the way it is, you may agree with the L.A. Weekly who, “said we butchered our record live”.
“Literally, that’s what’s they said,” relates Jonathan Auer (guitar/vocals). “It was mentioned three times by three different writers.”
“They liked the beautiful pop record and we like to rock it up a bit more.”
Others maintain that live is the only way to experience them.
Personally, I’d seen them only twice, at last year’s Bumbershoot and then in March at The Backstage. Neither of which, ponders Auer, was a representational Posies show.
“Those were both weird occurrences. The Backstage was an acoustic thing for thirty minutes and the show with Soundgarden (in the Coliseum) was, how to say, out of our element.”
“Our music was not meant to be played in basketball stadiums.”
Having heard from people in the crowd who preferred one band over the other, I asked how they thought that double bill went.
Roberts replied, “Actually, that’s what we wanted, was to play with them over other bands (ostensibly offered as options by Bumbershoot schedulers).”
Stringfellow adds, “It all depends on who you talk to. There are a lot of people who thought it was weird that we were affected by the audience at all because they enjoyed the show and thought we played a great show.
“Also, our perspective was up front where the pit of people were screaminig for Soundgarden.”
“Our music isn’t really designed for pits,(although they have a song, “The Pit”, slated for the next record).” explains Auer, continuing, “and sometimes it happens.”
“But definitely, it was weird being that far apart. It’s like, ‘How ya doin over there, Ken?’ Oohh, and back behind behind Ken there’s Rick. I can see him with binoculars for cryin’ out loud. It was so ridiculous.”
However, continuing, he speculates that after they’ve been touring, a coliseum is less intimidating to them now.
1991.07.CityHeat.Posies2
Another part of home that can be intimidating is dealing with hearsay and the misinformation that it creates.
Mike Musberger (drums) tells us not to believe the hype.
“There are always rumors about how much people get signed for and what not. I would tell people not to believe most of what they hear about getting signed.”
“We’ve heard things that people think we got signed for like, one million. Nirvana got the same exact record deal that we did and it was not a million dollars.”
To which Auer adds, “Anybody who doesn’t believe that can come take a look at our bank accounts… and buy us lunch.”
Musberger sez: “If you want to make money, immediate cash in pocket, don’t be a musician. Because it’s nly when you sell enough records or tour long enough that you can make money.”
“Or, if you can draw enough people you can go places whether or not you have sold records. We’ve got a lot of money to pay back, that’s for sure.”
“But any band in town that’s signed to a major label – whether it’s Alice In Chains, Soundgarden or any of them – will tell you the exact same story.”
Roberts is tired of the misconception that people think they [the major labels] give you money on a platter. It’s like a bank.”
“I mean, we never have been ‘given’ any money. It’s like you approach them with an idea, trying to get a loan.”
“So we owe them back all that money versus our record sales.”
“We’re frugal. We aren’t trying to be exorbitant about it or anything and probably if we just wanted money, we wouldn’t get it from them!”
“It’s all basically ‘pay as you go’ when you make an album.”
Auer continues, “When we bump into other bands, you kinda know what’s going on. Because you all are going through kinda the same things.”
“You all had to tour in the van for a long time. You all had to not pay the rent, not pay the phone bill. Several times.”
“You’ve had to borrow money from Mom. And this is all within the last six months you’ve had to do this!”
Musberger nods in agreement, “We are pretty much the same band – finacially or whatever – that we were a year and a half ago. But being a ‘signed band’, we do have that profit potential.”
Stringfellow adds, “Being signed to a major label opens doors to certain industries or institutions that weren’t open before. Like, you can have access to a major booking agent as opposed to doing it yourself.”
Another door open to ‘signed’ acts is the availability of top-flight management. They’ve stepped through that door recently and went ‘national’ with Tim Neece Management.As some of you may know, they were formerly with local manager Terry Morgan. It was an amicable parting of ways as the rules of the game changed.
Stringfellow explains, “It’s easier just to say that it was a situation that deteriorated over time. “It certainly wasn’t easier for us to not have Terry. It was a lot harder because Mike had to take over for about four months. So we grew up in a lot of ways too.”
“Terry is a super great person but he’d never managed a band on a major label before and I think all five of us were thrown for a loop by what that entailed. So we needed to find someone with the experience who had done that a couple of times.”
And so they did.
Other topics of current interest include Auer’s hand at the helm of what he calls the “Truly” project (including Mark Pickerill and Hiro Yamamoto) and the Posies soon-to-be released single for Popllama.
The single is a tribute to the band Bigstar (anyone hear of Alex Chilton? The Box Tops?) featuring the songs “Feel” and “I Am The Cosmos”.
Like the B side to the single for “Suddenly Mary”, they’ve produced these tracks themselves (at Robert Lange Studios in Richmond Beach). The guys – and their label – have taken a distinct liking to the “hands-on” approach and may just be the Producers of the follow up to Dear 23.
“The record company liked our B sides, that we mixed, better than the record (Dear 23). That was something we did entirely on our own.”
“They thought we caught more of the live energy,” Auer comments.
Do they think that “in-house” production will bring across that live energy better on the next record?
“Most definitely,” he affirms.
“We realized that this is something we are going to be doing for a long time.”
“Touring also made us figure out what works and what doesn’t.”
It can quite safely be stated that The Posies, themselves, work.
Pushing it live on the road, releasing inde singles, and keeping their hands in other projects should keep them busy for a bit.
But in an industry where you’re only as hip as your last album, there’s always more to do.
The infamous “Seattle Sound”. The term itself is sinking…don’t go down with the ship.
City Heat is sending out an S.O.S.
While planning the April issue it was decided amongst our staff that we didn’t want to play favorites by featuring an unsigned band on the cover. So we thought it would be safe running with a recorded band signed to a major.
We had a couple of ideas going and then senior writer Shay McGraw had a flash of powerful insight. What if we presented a forum for the widely diversified Seattle bands to voice some opinions about the term, “Seattle Sound”?
What is it?
Why is it?
Is the term still relevant?
Was it ever?
What we came up with is an interesting collage of bands and an interesting collage of opinions.
We have accumulated here those opinions from the voices of Seattle, presenting them to you now as the Sounds of Seattle.
We asked each of the groups we interviewed to first describe their sound, whether they considered themselves part of the “Seattle Sound” and finally, if currently, the term “Seattle Sound” is more descriptive of a musical style or an attitude shared amongst musicians in the city?
Describe your musical sound.
Do you consider yourselves part of the “Seattle Sound”?
When you hear the term “Seattle Sound” does it more aptly describe a particular musical style or an attitude shared amongst the city’s musical tribe?
They replied:
Red Platinum
“Very upbeat, very energetic, but yet very heavy. We have a very funky bottom end, so to speak. We try to utilize some finesse and dynamics in our music. As compared to other bands, we’d be a hard one to pigeon hole. It’s pocket rock. It’s rock and roll with a groove.”
“Yeah, I’d say we’re part of the Seattle Sound because we’re doing something of our own. We’re original, you know? I believe the Seattle Sound is whatever anybody in Seattle is doing that’s different than anybody else in the country. You have bands like Soundgarden and Chains and Mudhoney which originally were considered the Seattle Sound, but I believe there are a lot of bands who consist of the Seattle Sound because everybody does their own thing and they don’t worry about what the next guy’s doing, you know? They just play their music. When somebody creates something [personal] it just makes everybody else more into what they’re doing because they realize that, originality pays up here.”
“It’s more of an attitude than a musical style. It originally started out as a musical style, don’t get me wrong, but I believe it’s evolved into an attitude because everybody just does their own thing. It’s unbarred rock and roll. It’s not censored. It doesn’t matter what you are doing, you can play in any club and do whatever you want because you are in Seattle and that’s what it’s about. It’s not being pigeon holed or stuck in one thing or cliche, you can basically just rip and do what you do, there is always going to be an audience and nobody’s going to care what you’re doing because that’s just the attitude, you know? Seattle is kind of like ‘Free For All’!”
Joe Superfisky – Guitar, Vocals
Bitter End
“Fast, hard, loud, brutal, thoughtful, high energy. Fusion of classic heavy metal and speed metal.”
“In as much as that we live and work and play here, yes. There are so many different components of the Seattle Sound, so many different bands. I refuse to lump a lot of bands together [stylistically] due to geography or something. But [stylistically] no, we sound like a heavy metal band. We don’t sound like we’re from anywhere [in particular].
“Kind of both. Seattle bands, for the most part, have a Seattle attitude which is that most people [here] want to have their own kind of sound. Also, there’s a level of cooperation that’s not necessarily there in the larger markets. We fall into the Seattle attitude although [ours is] not necessarily a stereotypical Seattle Sound.”
Matt Fox – Lead Vocals, Guitar
Pistol Moon
“It’s versatile, raw, funky, original, trashy rock. Everybody writes and everybody cuts their own style that’s unique. So it’s a really good unit.”
“I would say so. We’ve got a lot of sounds that seem to be influenced by what is going on right now and that are really grassroots and I think we fit right in with what’s happening today.”
“I suppose it’s both and the style I think was influenced from the 60’s movement; peace, paisley, freedom and everything. And the attitude’s that of ‘do what you feel, don’t sell out and just have fun and relaxxx’. I think that had something to do with it.”
Rick Hopkins – Lead Guitar
Kristen Barry
“I guess it would be categorized as pop rock, but it’s not really like typical pop rock. It’s not straightforward rock. I guess people call it alternative, that’s what the record companies have classified it as, even if I don’t think it is all that alternative. I get a lot of my influence from the old jazz and blues singers. It’s more mainstream than a lot of stuff out there. It’s like accessible alternative, I guess you can say.”
“Actually, probably not. I don’t think so.”
“Well I’m having a hard time with that one right now because the Seattle Sound doesn’t mean, like, one thing anymore. It used to mean predominantly that grunge kind of thing but I think it is growing. What used to be called the Seattle Sound I think is still a major part but now there is a lot more beyond that too. A lot of different styles are coming out again. Some of the attitude of the region definitely contributes to the music because I think this region is really individualistic and the people up here are really artistic with their music. I think it’s expanding so the term doesn’t even fit any more. That was a term for two years ago. It’s outdated and I think it’s time for people to start looking at what that spawned. So let’s move on and find another term, shall we?
Kristen Barry – Vocalist
Paisley Sin
“I’d consider it traditional rock in the true sense of the phrase because it varies a little bit, but it all is rock and roll. Like if you listen to an old Zeppelin or Stones album the music will vary quite a bit. The feeling of each song is totally different from song to song. I think that we are kind of like that in a lot of ways. Most other bands have a style and a lot of their stuff is really similar. We’ve heard some people say that it’s what they call ‘lack of focus’ in the music industry now days. I consider it just playing what feels right. There was a guy in Vancouver at the Club Soda who said that all Seattle bands sound the same. I think that is absolute bullshit. I don’t think that all Seattle bands sound the same, at all.”
“In some cases, yes, and in some cases, no. It’s a really hard question because I think that our music could have been made in Cleveland or Chicago or Portland but probably not in Canada or L.A.”
“It’s a lot more, we’re not playing, not pushing one thing. Or one sound.”
Robert Middleton – Drums
Love Brother Nine
“Paranoid, neo-hippy dark funk is basically what we are. Another superego primadonna with delusions of paranoia. It’s kind of groovy dark funk stuff. It’s pretty heavy.”
“Considering we have a sound and we’re from Seattle. Yeah! But definitely we are no Soundgarden wannabes or anything like that. We’ve got our own sound. It’s heavy and raw which I guess is the trademark for Seattle.”
“I’d say it’s a style of music that comes from a desperate attitude. Rain and no money.”
Tony – Vocals
Reckless X
“Well, it’s a mixture of rock, funk and folk, pretty much. Did you want me to use one word describing it? It’s just diverse.”
Davis Chastain – Vocals, Bass
“I think the Seattle Sound has a distinctive grunge flavor to it that I think we, at the most, occasionally brush across. Bands that recently have made some commotion, there is a grunge there, and I don’t think we have that.”
“We’re part of the Seattle Sound because we’re from Seattle but we’re not a SubPop band. I think that the Seattle Sound is a lot broader than they portray it.”
“It depends on what you categorize the Seattle Sound as being. I would say yes, just in the sense that we’re striving to be the most unique that we can be.”
Mark Bushbeck – Guitar
Davis Chastain – Vocals, Bass
Duff Drew – Drums
“I would say that it’s probably a combination of both. It’s the way you play your instrument and it’s possibly the style of music that you are trying to emulate or create. It’s definitely a tone or tempo range in a sense, but it’s also an attitude. It’s the way you shake your head to something. It’s the way something dirges along. It’s also the way something comes together.”
“The Seattle Sound started with who? I mean with Jimi or with The Sonics or with Ann and Nancy or who? The [true] Seattle Sound is just progressively original music no matter what style you’re into.”
Duff Drew – Drums (previously of seminal My Eye)
Sanctuary
(Laughter) “I don’t know, I think that the music we make is kind of an expression of a lot of our inner anger about what is going on today (and our next record is going to be very angry). Yet, serene at the same time. Serenity and anger, that’s how I would describe it.”
“No. I don’t believe in the Seattle Sound myself. I understand what [people think] it is, but no, we don’t consider ourselves any part of it.”
“I think it’s a combination of both of those.”
Warrell Dane – Lead Vocals
Metal Church
“It’s probably a thinking man’s metal, I guess. I wouldn’t really call it death metal, although some of our songs’ve had some gloomy moods to them, it’s only because that’s what we felt at the time. I can’t really [over] classify it because it’s just kind of metal to me.”
“I’m not really clear as to what the Seattle Sound is. I think that we definitely are a Seattle band, whether we are from Kent or Aberdeen, but I’m not really sure how we would fit into that because we don’t sound like anybody else around here.”
“I’m not sure to tell you the truth, just because I don’t know exactly what it is. I think some people get called that because they are the bands that the inner-city people like them and they term their friends in bands the Seattle Sound. I’m not sure.”
Craig Wells – Guitar
My Sister’s Machine
“The official term I guess we have been stuck using is alternative hard rock. Alternative, I guess, because it’s not your ‘normal’ approach, what we do.”
“Tough one. Basically yes, but I would say it’s not really a Seattle Sound. I would like to rephrase that to more like a Seattle attitude.”
“It’s both actually. The original Seattle Sound that people were talking about was most exemplified by bands like Soundgarden, Nirvana, Mudhoney and probably Green River. That’s where the real Seattle Sound thing came from but now I would call it a Seattle attitude because, loosely put, I still feel that The Posies have the Seattle Sound. The Accused have the Seattle Sound. I say that now because even The Posies, for instance, are not cliché pop. Not your ‘normal’ pop. It’s still got that Seattle feel to it – Seattle attitude. They are taking a different angle towards what they are doing. Whether it’s The Accused or anything like that, the attitude, the approach they are taking at whatever they write, whether it’s pop, grunge or garage, it’s still a little bit of a different angle than other bands [elsewhere] that are doing [the same genre]. I think that’s why the labels still think there is some promise in acts in Seattle. It’s still the band’s [originality] – not just because they are from Seattle.”
Chris Gohde – Bass
Queensryche
“Sonic portraits.”
“In as much as we are from Seattle, yes.”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s an oblique reference to the large body of water located west of First Avenue.”
Chris DeGarmo – Lead Guitar
Sedated Souls
“I’d describe our music as alternative, heavy, commercial and kind of gloomy. Even tho I play it, I don’t know how to describe it. I guess I would call it ‘feelings put to music’.”
Junior – Guitar
“I guess so, in a way and I guess in a way, no.”
Jeff Burns – Guitar
“I don’t know, I think the Seattle Sound [category] is a great thing, but I don’t think that since we live in a certain place that we have to play [a certain] kind of music to be successful.”
Junior – Guitar
Rhino Humpers
“Hip-hop, funk rock, groove.”
“We’re ’91 disco on drugs!”
Jeff Rouse –
Danny –
“No, because I think that the Seattle Sound is identified as grunge and we are not a grunge band.”
“The attitude is the sound and the sound is grunge.”
Brian Coloff –
Dirt Love Injection
“Love music straight from the dirt.”
“Grab the ball and beat your feet to the schizo-cosmic bittersweet and leave the driver in the back seat rock ‘n’ roll.”
Chris Selleck –
Don Carter –
“Yes, I consider us a Seattle band but I don’t know what the Seattle Sound is.”
“The attitude is what inspires the sound and the music from Seattle is motivated by emotion rather than teenyboppers’ allowances.”
Don Carter –
The Posies
“I don’t know. It’s funny, we always just say it’s rock and roll music, you know? Which is true because if there is one thing that all bands are sick of, it’s typecasting or being categorized or being compared to another band. But I suppose it’s inevitable ultimately. We always just say, ‘Just rock and roll’.”
“Sure, absolutely. As to what that means to somebody else, I may be totally wrong, but you know, in our vision, sure!”
“I don’t think the attitude amongst Seattle musicians really has anything to do with it or really ever did. That’s the funny part. But I guess everybody kind of inspired each other about the same time. All of a sudden there was this big flood of bands, new bands cropping up everywhere and I think everybody would agree now, that’s kind of over. That big rush that got all the hype around the world. So it’s funny now when people say the Seattle Sound, it’s like it’s just reaching some parts [globally]. It’s just not like it was or anything. I think it’s also just a term described in the press and especially to people outside of Seattle. You know, I never really thought there was like a Seattle Sound, but there certainly was one in the minds of journalists in other parts of the country who were looking for the heavy stuff and, I don’t know, that’s what it became obviously. No, there isn’t really a Seattle Sound at all. There is more of a reputation that I think just about every band would be sick of having to live up to. I know we certainly are.”
Rick Roberts – Bass
Pearl Jam
“What kind of music do we make? We make some good music. I don’t know, we make our own music. We make whatever all our combined influences make, and we make rock and roll I guess.”
“Well yeah, we’re from Seattle. Definitely.”
“I think it’s a little bit of both. The grunge factor of it is definitely prevalent, but there is also The Posies, who are totally pop sounding and great and what we are doing is definitely not grunge but it’s a Seattle Sound because we are from Seattle.”
Mike McCready – Lead Guitar
Ministry Of Love
“The kind of music we play is kind of art rock-based with very rich harmonic structures. No power chords, but a lot of stuff going on harmonically and arrangement-wise. It’s kind of a rock with a lot of fusion and psychedelic and classical influences thrown in.”
“With the Seattle Sound relating to grunge and SubPop and stuff like that; we are diametrically opposed to it. I think the Seattle Sound is changing actually.”
“I think it’s both. There is the attitude of ‘here we are and we’re just doing our own thing’, I also think the Seattle Sound is changing. And what it’s changing to is something that requires a little more attention from the listener’s perspective. I think it is changing to things that are more experimental in terms of dynamics. People that are not afraid to play quietly as well as playing loud. I think people are going to explore more, different kinds of ideas.”
Ken Sorenson – Lead Guitar
Sweet Water
“It’s hard ‘rawk’. I would say it’s rock but I would also say it’s got a lot of hooks in it. It’s meant to be a clean sound so that you can hear everything and it’s catchy. I don’t want to call it pop because we’re not aiming for that. But it’s like, when I hear a song I’d like to have something hook in my head. There’s a lot of bands out there who get these cheap kind of sayings, that just mean nothing. But when I’m writing lyrics I think I’m trying to go for something that sticks in your head but won’t be cheesy. You know what I mean? It’s a fine line.”
“I wouldn’t consider ourselves to be part of the Seattle Sound necessarily. When we started out, we used to be Shot Gun Mama. Now we got a new guitarist and he added a whole other dimension to the sound. He knows a lot about music and we sort of fell we’re playing what we’ve always wanted to play. At least what I’ve always wanted to play since high school. No, I wouldn’t consider us part of the Seattle Sound because, ‘what is the Seattle Sound?’ It’s just kind of like a SubPop, grungy, one riff played over and over again. It’s great live and everything but I don’t listen to that kind of music all the time. You know what I mean?”
“I think the attitude is where it’s at because…definitely…every band in Seattle I’ve been around, it’s like everyone kind of helps each other out. Which I think is pretty rare for a city, you know what I mean? It’s still competitive, but in a good way. Everyone just tries to better themselves and you kind of feed off each other. There is a lot of things happening in Seattle and I feel the music is a little bit more real up here than in other places like L.A. or something,”
Adam Cziesler – Vocals
I think we’d all have to agree with that.
Thank you, musicians of Seattle.
All of you!
Bad Company & Damn Yankees at Seattle Center Coliseum
Precious Metal at Parkers
Posies, Bathtub Gin & Sweetwater at The Backstage
Aurora – On The Edge
Flesh Cafe – Demo
Bob Rivers – Industry Profile
“Like Chief Seattle said. ‘Everything is connected.’ If you think that you can just be a consumer inside your own little world and not affect the world outside you, you’re nuts. All the new people moving up who don’t have environmental consciousness are acting like flood waters eroding the area. I’m not trying to be anti-California or new people at all. What we are trying to do is just educate everybody that we have a great area. When you move into the area, slow down, take a look around, recycle and change your way of thinking.”
Many other Washingtonians share the sentiments of the Wilson sisters and are actively involved in this education process. Even if you fancy yourself to be more of the ‘inactive’ type, you’re helping out just by attending Heart’s benefit concert on the 8th. Since we all know who Heart are, I’ll keep the history to a minimum.
Way back in the late 60′ s. Ann Wilson was in love with a draft evader named Michael Fisher. His brother Roger and Steve Fossen had a band called The Army (somewhat ironic, eh?). Ann joined and they called it Hocus Pocus. When they ran to Canada they re-named it Heart. Nancy had been playing coffee houses in college and when she came in the line-up included Howard Leese and Michael DeRosier circa ’75. Around the turn of the decade Ann, Nancy and Howard enlisted the talents of Mark Andes on bass and Denny Carmassi on drums, and that’s been Heart ever since.
CH: “Let’s talk about the benefit. Who came up with the idea?
Ann: “Actually we’ve been trying to do this for a few years. We got to thinking what could we possibly do for our area. We have been all over the world and we always come back to Seattle. There is something about it that is so different and so sweet, fresh, and special to us that we wanted to make a gesture and so we thought what we can do is just not blow through town like usual and take the money and run. How about if we give our services. Do what we do best. Make the money and turn around and put it back into the hands of the city, but for a certain purpose which is cleaning the water, cleaning the air. the wetlands especially. Puget Sound is only the front yard. The mountains and the forests are the backyards so what we’re doing is trying to get the whole area, keeping it stable by putting all this money into various groups that know what to do with it. Nancy and 1 first came up with the idea about four years ago and tried to get it together in Seattle then and we couldn’t even make anyone bat an eyelash then because it wasn’t hip.”
CH: “And probably the need hadn’t been realized.”
Ann: “Right. It was before the big influx of people from California and all that kind of stuff. And so now we just kept on pushing and we finally were able to get some business people around town to put in some money and get the whole thing moving and also our other sister Lynn is married to Ted Pankosky, who is the president of the Washington Environmental Council and so all of a sudden it is like a family thrust, you know. So it’s also about now that it’s sold out in the round and it’s going to be quite an exciting night.”
CH: “So who will this benefit and in what ways?”
Ann: “It’s a push to make money for local environmental groups, especially the Washington Council and at the concert there is going to be literature galore specifying exactly where all the money is going. We plan to raise probably $50,000 that night, purely for the environment. If people are curious as to where it is going, they can read this from Nancy and I saying how people, what they do inside their own home. Not a big scary governmental finger shaking thing. Just like, tips that normal people can do in normal ways in their homes, to make a difference. It’s just like a very middle class kind of idea. It’s not aimed at anything except every man.”
CH: “Almost at the grass roots level. OK, how about the show itself?”
Ann: “what people can expect to see, really is Heart at its peak, at it’s stride in 1990. What began in the Moore Theatre way back in March is now like a big monster. We took the Moore for two weeks to get the show together and like rehearsed everything and get used to being on stage and stuff. So what you are going to see is the latest generation of lighting technology that is not technology any more. It’s more like art. It’s just like the* colors we are using in the air right now are rich, thick jewel colors and it’s -almost like the music is only half of the beauty. It’s something to see and it’s something to hear. Nancy is back playing acoustic guitars along with electric guitars. We are doing a couple of ‘ songs that aren’t even on a record.”
CH: “Cool Covers? Or are they unreleased originals?”
Ann: “One of them is called You’re the Voice, which we have released in Russia only so far. The rest I want to be a surprise. I don’t want to wreck the whole thing.”
CH: “After the benefit you only have a couple of stops left on the tour, right?”
Ann: “Then we are going to come home and be people and have Christmas with our families. After that, we’re going to just be people for a while and then start writing songs. Nancy and I are going to write, songs for the next Heart record. We’re also very excited about doing a dual solo album. Only Ann and Nancy. I mean not to the break up of the band or anything but just two of us doing what we like to do that’s not appropriate for Heart. Which is more acoustic stuff, more deeper lyrical content, bluesy stuff.”
CH: “As though there were room for anymore, what else ya got going?”
Ann: “When we get back to Seattle after Christmas, we’ll be way into that. We are going to build a world class studio in Seattle at last.”
CH: “Now, will that be something that’s in your homes or is it going to be available to local musicians that have money to rent it?”
Ann: It will be for everybody to use but it will be to our specifications. Seattle so far has been very backward when it comes to state of the art, up to the minute, recording studios. We are so sick of having to always go away to L.A. to record and living in that place down there. We feel like it actually infringes on our edges as musicians. So that’s why we are making the studio in Seattle finally.”
CH: “Best city ever.”
Ann: “”Capital Hill is really an amazing area. It’s full of artists and full of rock people. That’s where I live when I’m not on the road. Our drummer lives in San Francisco and our bass player lives in L.A. but the core of the band Howard, Nancy and I still live in Seattle. People in Seattle have always coexisted with us and let us just be ourselves and not made our lives miserable. Like, there is always a few kids hanging around my gate but they are loving people, they are not nutso or weirdos. necessarily. It’s where we were raised and where we intend to be with our families.”
Speaking of families, you may have heard something a while back about Ann pursuing an adoption. Seems the rumor’s true and she may be a mother as soon as February. Yet another good reason to make Seattle home. We’re glad that they’re proud of their home and we’d like to thank them for their efforts that will benefit everyone. We’d also like to wish Heart (and everyone else) a happy holiday season and a rippin’ nineteen ninety-one.
CH: “How long do you see Heart going on? You’ve just renewed your Capitol contract for five more albums.”
Ann: “That’s impossible to say. Heart will exist as long as it’s meaningful to do it. As long as it’s appropriate. If it turns into a nightmare, we’ll knock it on the head. But, if it keeps on being cool, then…”
CH: “Is that Nancy laughing in the background?”
Ann: “Yeah, Nancy’s laughing. She thought that was a funny way to put it. Like Nancy says, ‘we’ll knock it on the head, we’ll clean it, cook it and eat it.'”
CH: “Alright some fisher woman.”
Ann: “Yeah, fisher woman, fisher folk. Fish wives. But anyway, so I think we’ve got a few more years left in us, you know?”
SINGLES, a movie set in Seattle starring Matt Dillon and directed by Cameron Crowe (husband of Heart’s Nancy Wilson), brings to the silver screen the sounds of Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and more! MICHAEL BROWNING meets the director of what may go down in history as Grunge -The Movie…
