Mudhoney

Ok, so last night when I arrived home from the Mudhoney show, I sat down for an hour and wrote the most amazing review of the show. Then when I attempted to upload a song, an error posted, and the entire post deleted. AAAUUUGGHHHH!!!!!!!! Damn! An hour down the drain. I will now attempt to recontsruct last night’s/early morning’s post; but I’ll warn you, it does not promise to be filled with as much enthusiasm. I was really peaked about the show when I got home. Wait a minute, if I put on some Mudhoney while I’m writing this, it may help.

BRB.

Excellent! I have Superfuzz Bigmuff with me. This will help the medicine go down.

Now, on with the show.

I have loved Mudhoney since ‘89, when I was DJing at KFJC. I remember fondly doing graveyard shifts, 2-6am, and pulling all of the Sub Pop catalog. It was just a faze, but what did I care; I was raised on classic rock, so my tutelage at the “Wave of the West” was an eyeopening experience.

The Seattle quartet played to a packed 12 Galaxies last night, along with opening acts John Wahl and the Amadans, and Howlin Rain. I believe the latter is a local group.

The Amadans, a trio featuring a John Doe look-a-like/sound-a-like on Git/Vox, a middle aged balding urbanite on bass, and John Goodman’s younger brother on the beat.Theyhad a varied indie sound, varrying between tweaker guitar mayhem, and musical masterbation. The singer obviously leads the bunch, and needs to take the handcuffs off of the drummer. They had a thoughtful rendition of Blue Moon, complete with yodeling. He liked to yodel. I figured it was worth standing through, since I knew what was coming up would thoroughly blow my mind. It had to; Mudhoney was a part of my existence for near 20 years. They wouldn’t let me down, would they?

Following the Amadans, we saw the future of post-punk/grunge-jamband: Howlin Rain. I noticed a few special things about this band: first, two generations were featured. The rhythm guitarist and the lead Vox/git were obviously related. My friend Mike and I couldn’t agree on it though. He thought they were father/son, with the Father on Vox. I thought it was more like brothers. The bass player too was quite young. The drummer, and Wurlitzer organ player were probably in their mid 30’s. The Vox/lead Git was probably in his late 30′, perhaps early 40’s. But I digress. Their sound was a mix of Joe Cocker (Mad Dogs era), Leon Russel, Allman Bros., Built to Spill (see, I told you: Jam Band), but also some pretty aggressive leads. The Vox was screaming throughout everysong, while throwing his git around, like a rapid dog on a long leash. I remember asking Mike how long he thought his vocals would hold out. Turns out, they lasted him the set. They closed with a very original version of a Dylan fave: “It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry.” I almost bought their CD. I said almost. I’d see them again. You can do the same if you like.

Since we were there early, we found ourselves at the foot of the stage, on stage right. I was standing near mark Arm and Steve Turner during the other two sets. I really appreciate them as a band, and as having decent morals, by not cowtowing to the corporate mogals who wanted to take advantage of them, as they did to the rest of the Seattle scene. I love seeing musicians in the crowd enjoying/supporting the openning sets. It’s surreal, yet enjoyable.

When they came on stage, it was similair to what I experinced going to Dead shows in my youth; a very carefree way of coming on stage, plugging in, and kicking your ass. The Dead, btw never kicked my ass, but nevertheless…

They opened with…see, last night when I came home and wrote this, I knew exactly what they opened with, but now…

I can tell you they opened with something off of the new album “Under a Billion Suns”, and it was very worthy. They followed it up with “In and Out of Grace”, the first song of theirs I truly fell for. I love the opening biker movie lines. They played many songs from Superfuzz Bigmuff, including “Sweet you thing..”, “Burn it Clean”, “You Got it”, “Mudride”, “If I think”, “Touch Me, I’m Sick”, and they closed with a hair raising version of “Hate the Police”. Mark forgot the opening verse, but who cares? He didn’t play guitar during the encore either. It was amazing seeing him only on vox. Damn!

I loved the stage chemistry as well. Mark and Steve have known each other for a long time. It’s obvious how close they are, they can read each other’s miinds on stage. I was standing right on front of Steve.He broke a string and soloed all the way through it. Truly magical.

A word about the crowd.

What to say about middle-aged flanel wearers? I didn’t wear any flanel last night, but I must be one of them. ‘m 36, turned onto the Seattle scene in ‘88, saw all the bands, except Mudhoney, and found myself laughing at, and appreciating the mosh pit last night. I was standing right behind these tow lovely lasses. One a skinny fedora wearing, tattoo enhanced indie brunette. The other, a rubust, black silk dress wearing, blond locks flying twirler/dancer, fueled with alcohol and punk rock. She liked to dance on me. I swear, I didn’t have a choice. there wasn’t much rooom anyway, but she kept pushing “it” all over me. She wasn’t actually meaning to, honestly, and I wasnt’ taking advantage either. I really just wanted to enjoy the show. She was just wanting to move! It wouldn’t have mattered who was standing near. Of course her high heel pressed firmly into my Chuck’s, and her chopstick-turned-hair stick poking me in the face wasn’t all that much fun either. She was kind though. What, no number? She needs to make that up to me. Umm, on second thought, escaping with my life, and little scars, was thanks enough.

Damn, the energy of that show, still has me going.

They covered a number of tunes from their new album as well. The new CD “Under a Billion Stars” is therir first real attempt at political lyrics. Every song is a slap in the face of our government, at a time when the artists of this nation need to come out and have their voices heard.

Oh, I remember what they opened with, “When Tomorrow Hits”. Excellent opening.

From the new CD they played “Where is the Future”, “It Is Us”, “Blindspots”, and my favorite from this new release: “Hard On For War”. As a matter of fact the reason last nights blog entry didn’t get uploaded, was because I wanted to upload that song onto it, and the blog wouldn’t respond in kind. I back paged it, and everything was deleted. I think I’ll copy this time, just in case.

What a night. I was thrilled to be there. I felt like a kid. I am a kid. Not one drop of disappointment. The poster for the show was done by Scott Johnson and Amesia Doles. “Bloody Bunnies” They have “12″ on there, but no “Galaxies”. Hmmm. Mysterious.

Perfect timing, the CD is almost over, and so is this entry. Enjoy the pic, and if everything goes as planned, the tune too.

See you on the air.
Words by the one and only, John Hell

Audio
Mudhoney : Hardon for War
Mudhoney : Blindspots
Mudhoney : Sonic Infusion
Mudhoney : The Straight Lif
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Video
Mudhoney : It is Us