News for Mudhoney

NEWS : THU, JAN 10, 2019 at 6:57 AM

Listen To The Remastered Title Track From Green River’s ‘Rehab Doll,’ and “Unwind” From ‘Dry As a Bone’

The Deluxe Editions of Rehab Doll and Dry As a Bone will be available Friday, January 25th worldwide via Sub Pop.

You can now hear remastered versions of the riff heavy title track from Green River’s Rehab Doll, and the bluesy grind of “Unwind”from Dry As a Bone. Both albums will be available as expanded and remastered deluxe editions from Sub Pop on CD/2xLP/DL worldwide January 25th, 2019. Jack Endino served as the executive producer for the project excavating & restoring tapes, mixing, remixing & mastering both packages.

LP preorders of each album through Sub Pop Mega Mart and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser editions of Dry As a Bone on forest green vinyl and Rehab Doll on opaque lime green vinyl (while supplies last).

Rolling Stone had this to say of Rehab Doll: “Proto-grunge at its best, its mud-dipped tracks breaking down and building themselves back up in real time. Frontman Mark Arm (later of Mudhoney) sounds like he gargled with lye before cutting tracks like the boogie-gone-bad “Together We’ll Never,” while the band’s rip-roaring cover of David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch” (originally only available on the album’s cassette release) hints at the wry humor that would animate much of the Seattle scene’s best moments.” And Magnet Magazine offers this, “Not only did Green River exemplify the collision of punk, metal and classic rock that became the early Seattle sound’s calling card, it eventually spawned some of the most recognizable faces of the grunge era....Green River sound is exactly what you would expect, with the tension of competing styles (Arm’s unhinged, punk-rock shriek vs. Gossard and Ament’s bluesy metal wanking) forming a singular, if combustible, mix....The impact is something akin to a beer bottle to the head, and it still reverberates 20 years later.”


[Photo Credit: Charles Peterson]

About Green River’s Dry As a Bone and Rehab Doll

The story of Seattle’s rise to global rock supremacy in the late ’80s and early ’90s begins with Green River. Made up of Jeff Ament (bass), Mark Arm (guitar/vocals), Bruce Fairweather (guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar), and Alex Shumway (drums), the quintet put out three 12”s and a 7” single during its brief existence. But Green River’s influence on Seattle’s music scene spread far and wide—thanks to the members’ dispersion into bands including Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, and Love Battery, as well as the punk-glam-sludge-rock songs they left behind (read more here).



Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : THU, NOV 8, 2018 at 6:59 AM

Sub Pop To Reissue Green River’s Classic Releases ‘Dry As a Bone’ and ‘Rehab Doll’, Both as Expanded, Deluxe Editions, Worldwide on January 25th, 2019

Listen to tracks “This Town” (from Dry As a Bone) and “Forever Means” (from Rehab Doll).

Sub Pop will release Green River’s Dry As a Bone EP, and their final offering the Rehab Doll LP, as expanded and remastered deluxe editions on CD/2xLP/DL worldwide January 25th, 2019. Jack Endino served as the executive producer for the project excavating & restoring tapes, mixing, remixing & mastering both packages.

Rolling Stone had this to say of Rehab Doll: “Proto-grunge at its best, its mud-dipped tracks breaking down and building themselves back up in real time. Frontman Mark Arm (later of Mudhoney) sounds like he gargled with lye before cutting tracks like the boogie-gone-bad “Together We’ll Never,” while the band’s rip-roaring cover of David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch” (originally only available on the album’s cassette release) hints at the wry humor that would animate much of the Seattle scene’s best moments.” And Magnet Magazine offers this, “Not only did Green River exemplify the collision of punk, metal and classic rock that became the early Seattle sound’s calling card, it eventually spawned some of the most recognizable faces of the grunge era....Green River sound is exactly what you would expect, with the tension of competing styles (Arm’s unhinged, punk-rock shriek vs. Gossard and Ament’s bluesy metal wanking) forming a singular, if combustible, mix....The impact is something akin to a beer bottle to the head, and it still reverberates 20 years later.”
 
LP preorders of each album through Sub Pop Mega Mart and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser editions of Dry As a Bone on forest green vinyl and Rehab Doll on opaque lime green vinyl (while supplies last).

About Green River’s Dry As a Bone and Rehab Doll

The story of Seattle’s rise to global rock supremacy in the late ’80s and early ’90s begins with Green River. Made up of Jeff Ament (bass), Mark Arm (guitar/vocals), Bruce Fairweather (guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar), and Alex Shumway (drums), the quintet put out three 12”s and a 7” single during its brief existence. But Green River’s influence on Seattle’s music scene spread far and wide—thanks to the members’ dispersion into bands including Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, and Love Battery, as well as the punk-glam-sludge-rock songs they left behind. 

“By ‘83, ‘84, there was definitely a movement that was happening within hardcore, like Black Flag slowing down for My War,” says Arm. “The Replacements and Butthole Surfers were rearing their heads, and they’re very different bands, but they’re not hardcore—the Replacements are pretty much straight-up rock, and Butthole Surfers were God knows what. Sonic Youth’s Bad Moon Risingwas around, and a lot of really interesting post-hardcore things were happening, Big Black, Scratch Acid.” 

Green River, which formed in 1984, was part of that evolution, with a sound that straddled a lot of different genres—blues, punk, boozy straight-ahead rock. The mini-LP Dry As A Bone, which came out in 1987, and the LP Rehab Doll, which came out in 1988, were released as a single CD with a few bonus cuts, including their sneering cover of David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch” and their marauding version of Dead Boys’ “Ain’t Nothin’ to Do,” in 1990—but they’ve been unavailable on vinyl for years. Now, these slices of Seattle music history are not only back in print, they’re accompanied by items from the from the vaults that had been forgotten about for decades.   

Dry As A Bone, originally released as a mini-LP, was recorded at Jack Endino’s Reciprocal Recording in 1986, and it shows the band in furious form, with Arm’s yowl battling Fairweather and Gossard’s ferocious guitar playing on “This Town” and “Unwind” opening as a slow bluesy grind then jump-starting itself into a hyperactive chase. The deluxe edition includes Green River’s cuts from the crucial Seattle-scene compilation Deep Six, as well as long-lost songs that were recorded to the now-archaic format Betamax. “Jack actually got his hands on one of those old players and was able to revive and mix them,” says Arm.

Dry As a Bone
Tracklisting
1. This Town 
2. PCC 
3. Ozzie 
4. One More Stitch *
5. Unwind 
6. Baby Takes 
7. Searchin’ # 
8. Hangin’ Tree *
9. Together We’ll Never @
10. Ain’t Nothin’ To Do @
11. Bleeding Sheep *
12. Bazaar $
13. Thrown Up *
14. This Little Boy *
15. 10000 Things ^ 
16. Your Own Best Friend ^

* = Previously unreleased
# = Previously released onDry As a Bone / Rehab DollCD (Sub Pop)
@ = Previously released as a 7” (Tasque Force Records)
$ = Previously released onAnother Pyrrhic Victory compilation (C/Z Records)
^ = Previously released onDeep Six compilation (C/Z Records)

Rehab Doll was released around the time the band split up in 1988. The album, recorded largely at Seattle’s Steve Lawson Studios, bridges the gap between the taut, punky energy of Dry As a Bone and the bigger drums and thicker riffs that were coming to dominate rock in the late ’80s. “None of us had been in a 24-track studio at that point,” says Arm. “There were a lot of weird things that we did in the recording of Rehab Doll that we had never done in any other studio. I remember doing the vocals for ‘One More Stitch’ underneath a piano that had its strings mic’d—so I was singing and that was being recorded, but the reverberation from the strings was being recorded at the same time.”

Rehab Doll includes the menacing “Forever Means,” which front-loads Arm’s yelp amidst waterspouts of guitar and a swaggering rhythm section, the cavernous “One More Stitch,” and “Swallow My Pride,” which would go on to be covered by fellow Sub Pop outfits Soundgarden and The Fastbacks. This new edition of Rehab Doll includes a remixed version of the album + 8 songs recorded to 8-track at Endino’s Reciprocal Recording, which features a more accurate depiction of how the band sounded when they played live. (“We generally didn’t have a gated snare sound,” notes Arm.) “When I listen to these mixes, I think, ‘This is how we actually sounded—this is the kind of energy we had,’” says Shumway. “It’s much more raw, and it’s much more real.”

Rehab Doll
Tracklisting
1. Forever Means
2. Rehab Doll
3. Swallow My Pride
4. Together We’ll Never
5. Smilin’ and Dyin’
6. Porkfist
7. Take a Dive
8. One More Stitch
9. 10000 Things *
10. Hangin’ Tree *
11. Rehab Doll * ^
12. Swallow My Pride # ^
13. Together We’ll Never * ^
14. Smilin’ and Dyin’ * ^
15. Porkfist * ^
16. Take a Dive * ^
17. Somebody * ^
18. Queen Bitch * ^

* = Previously unreleased
^ = Reciprocal 8-track versions
$ = Previously released on the Hype! Soundtrack (Sub Pop)
# = Previously released on the Dry As A Bone / Rehab Doll CD (Sub Pop)


[Photo Credit: Charles Peterson]

Green River’s place in American music history is without question, but these recordings paint a more complete picture of the band—and of rock in the mid- to late-’80s when punk’s faster-and-louder ideals had begun shape-shifting into other ideas.


Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : WED, SEP 26, 2018 at 6:59 AM

Social Media Stumbles into the Crucifixion in Mudhoney’s New Video for “Kill Yourself Live” - ‘Digital Garbage’ is out this Friday, September 28th

SOLD OUT PNW shows September 28th & 29th with European dates to follow in November.

On September 28th, Sub Pop is excited to release the new Mudhoney album Digital Garbage, the band’s 10th full-length in 30 years. In the satirical new video for the Digital Garbage single, “Kill Yourself Live,” director Carlos A.F. Lopez presents a social media system update of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.




Mudhoney will play two SOLD OUT shows in September, on the 28th in Portland, OR and on the 29th in Seattle, WA, before heading to Europe Nov. 11th, for a 19-date European run, with a performance at this year’s Le Guess Who? festival in Utrecht Netherlands and club shows in Berlin, Frankfurt, Rome, Vienna, Paris, London, and Glasgow, among others. See below for a full list of shows.

“…raw and irreverent as ever.” Uncut

“their filthy tones are as sweet as they ever were” Classic Rock

“Cometh the hour, cometh the band” Mojo

“reinvigorated…” Record Collector

“…every bit as vital, inspiring and exciting as ever …thrilling” The Arts Desk


Pre-orders of the album are still available through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers. Purchasers will receive the limited Loser edition on seafoam green vinyl while supplies last.

Mudhoney Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Sep. 28 - Portland, OR - Dante’s @
Sep. 29 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre %
Oct. 13 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw ^
Nov. 11 - Utrecht, NL - Le Guess Who Festival
Nov. 12 - Groningen, NL - Vera *
Nov. 13 - Berlin, DE- Festaal Kreuzberg &
Nov. 14 - Hamburg, DE - Fabrik &
Nov. 15 - Koln, DE - Gebaude 9  &
Nov. 16 - Luzern, CH- Schuur &
Nov. 17 - Vevey, CH - Rocking Chair &
Nov. 19 - Frankfurt, DE- Zoom Club &  
Nov. 20 - Munchen, DE - Strom &  
Nov. 21 - Bologna, IT - Locomotiv &
Nov. 22 - Roma, IT - Largo (IT)  &
Nov. 23 - Milan, IT - Santeria Social Club &
Nov. 24 - Zagreb, HR - Mocvara &
Nov. 25 - Vienna , AT - Arena Big Hall *
Nov. 27 - Paris, FR - Le Trabendo &
Nov. 28 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2 #
Nov. 29 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom #
Nov. 30 - Leeds, UK - Leeds Beckett University !
Dec. 01 - Glasgow, UK - Lukes Church !

@ The Scientists and Eat Skull
% The Scientists and Tom Price Desert Classic
^ Pissed Jeans and Art Gray Noizz Quintet
* Zeke and Please the Trees
& Please the Trees
# Masonics and Thee Hypnotics
! Wildebeests and Thee Hypnotics


Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : WED, AUG 15, 2018 at 7:00 AM

Listen: “Kill Yourself Live” is the Latest Single From New Mudhoney Album, ‘Digital Garbage’

On September 28th, iconoclastic, PNW rock and roll quartet Mudhoney will release Digital Garbagethe 10th album from the band in 30 years. Their latest offering “Kill Yourself Live,” segues from a revved-up organ solo into a bleak look at the way notoriety goes viral.


[Photo Credit: Jim Bennett. Live at SPF30]

Mudhoney have a string of dates in the Pacific Northwest starting Sep. 15th in Vancouver, with shows in Portland and Seattle before heading to Europe on Nov. 11th. See below for a full list of shows. 

 

Pre-orders of the album through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on seafoam green vinyl (while supplies last).


Mudhoney Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Sep. 15 - Vancouver, Canada - Rickshaw Theater (Westward Music Festival)
Sep. 28 - Portland, OR - Dante’s @ 
Sep. 29 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre %
Oct. 13 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw ^ 
Nov. 11 - Utrecht, NL - Le Guess Who Festival
Nov. 12 - Groningen, NL - Vera *
Nov. 13 - Berlin, DE- Festaal Kreuzberg & 
Nov. 14 - Hamburg, DE - Fabrik & 
Nov. 15 - Koln, DE - Gebaude 9  & 
Nov. 16 - Luzern, CH - Schuur & 
Nov. 17 - Vevey, CH - Rocking Chair & 
Nov. 19 - Frankfurt, DE - Zoom Club &  
Nov. 20 - Munchen, DE - Strom &  
Nov. 21 - Bologna, IT - Locomotiv & 
Nov. 22 - Roma, IT - Largo (IT)  & 
Nov. 23 - Milan, IT - Santeria Social Club & 
Nov. 24 - Zagreb, HR - Mochvara & 
Nov. 25 - Vienna , AT - Arena Big Hall * 
Nov. 27 - Paris, FR - Le Trabendo & 
Nov. 28 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2 #
Nov. 29 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom #
Nov. 30 - Leeds, UK - Leeds Beckett University ! 
Dec. 1St - Glasgow, UK - Lukes Church !
 
@ The Scientists and Eat Skull
% The Scientists and Tom Price Desert Classic
^ Pissed Jeans and Art Gray Noizz Quintet
* w/Zeke and Please the Trees
& Please the Trees
# Masonics and Thee Hypnotics
! Wildebeests and Thee Hypnotics




Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : THU, JUL 26, 2018 at 12:00 PM

Father John Misty, Hot Snakes and Bully to join SPF30: Sub Pop’s 30th Anniversary Party on Saturday, August 11th along Alki Beach in Seattle

Plus, Sub Pop’s “SPF30 Singles Spectacular”: 4 limited-edition commemorative split 7” singles featuring new songs from Mudhoney, Shabazz Palaces, Hot Snakes, Frankie Cosmos, METZ, LVL UP

We are delighted to share more details for SPF30 and Sub Pop’s 30th Anniversary weekend (<- click to see the very, very official website of SPF30), happening Friday, August 10th and Saturday, August 11th, 2018 in beautiful Seattle, Washington. 
 
Father John Misty, Hot Snakes, and Bully have just been added to the lineup for SPF30 on Saturday, August 11th. The newly announced groups will join Beach House, Clipping, Kyle Craft, Fastbacks, Jo Passed, Loma, LVL UP, METZ, Moaning, Mudhoney, Shabazz Palaces, Wolf Parade, Caspar Babypants, The Not-Its!, and The School of Rock West Seattle House Band over four stages along incredibly scenic Alki Ave. in the Alki Beach neighborhood of West Seattle. 
 
Stage names and set times are as follows:

LOSER STAGE (@ Bathhouse West) 
1:30 - Moaning
3:15 - Bully
5:15 - Fastbacks
7:00 - Wolf Parade
9:00 - Father John Misty
 
THE FLIPPITY-FLOP STAGE (@ Bathhouse East) 
12:45 - LVL UP
2:30 - Loma
4:15 - Clipping
6:00 - Shabazz Palaces
8:00 - Beach House

HARSH REALM STAGE (@ 57th Street)
12:00 - Jo Passed 
1:45 - Kyle Craft 
3:30 - METZ 
5:15 - Hot Snakes 
7:00 - Mudhoney 
 
PUNKY STAGE (@ Whale Tail Park)
1:00 - Caspar Babypants
2:00 - The Not-Its! 
4:00 - The School of Rock West Seattle House Band


SPF30 Singles Spectacular

Also on August 11th at SPF30, Sub Pop will offer the “SPF30 Singles Spectacular”: 4 limited-edition commemorative split 7” singles featuring as-yet-unreleased tracks from 8 artists on the label. Each of these singles will be on colored vinyl, in an edition of 1,000, with covers featuring SPF30 artwork by Rick Froberg (of Hot Snakes). This collection of 7”s will be available individually and as a set. (limit: 2 per-person) And those savvy enough to buy all four will be delighted to find that the interiors of the covers combine to make one complete SPF30 poster-like image.


SPF30 Singles Spectacular tracklist:
1. Mudhoney “One Bad Actor” b/w Hot Snakes “They Put You Up to This”
2. Shabazz Palaces “The Blue Tiger” b/w Chad VanGaalen “Friendly Aliens”
3. Frankie Cosmos “Home Is Where” b/w LVL UP “Orchard”
4. METZ “Escalator Teeth/On and On” b/w Clipping “Club Down”


More about SPF30:

SPF30 is a free, all-ages event and will also have…A record fair-type thing! A PaperStock poster exhibit and sale! Food trucks! Beer gardens! A true bonanza of new Sub Pop and SPF30 merch! (The t-shirts, records, posters, food and beer and wine and soda or whatever, you will have to pay for! These parts are not free!) Good times and opportunities to embarrass yourself and those who’d always hoped for better for you! 
 
Also joining us at SPF30 will be a stellar group of nonprofit organizations doing incredible work, and offering tools that we believe can help us as individuals lead healthier, safer and more informed lives. Organizations at SPF30 include Motley Zoo, Puget Soundkeeper, Seattle Derby Brats, Skate Like A Girl, Totem Star, Vera Project, Village of Hope / Black Prisoners Caucus, Washington Bus, Washington Ceasefire, West Seattle Helpline, and YouthCare. There will also be anti-sexual assault and safe consumption organizations on site, and free advice with therapists Galeet & Geri.  These community organizations enact positive, systemic change in the world, and we at Sub Pop couldn’t be more proud to have them all present at SPF30.
 
Seattle’s Alki Beach boasts some of the most awesome territorial (city/water/mountain) views the city has to offer, along with the occasional whale sighting, a somewhat diminutive replica of the Statue of Liberty, and some of the best local businesses to boot. We are honored to be welcomed by the Alki Beach neighborhood. And while we want everyone to have fun, we also want everyone to be respectful of those who live there. We’d also like to thank our SPF30 beneficiary Southwest Seattle Historical Society for their support in planning this event.
 
And closing out our festivities is a late show celebrating the unbelievably “coincidental” 15th anniversary of Pissed Jeans at the Crocodile in Seattle. This show is 21 +, and doors are at 8pm. Tickets are still available for $16 here.
 
SPF30 and the Pissed Jeans 15th Anniversary Show on Sat., Aug. 11th, are preceded by two events on the evening of Friday, August 10th. The Afghan Whigs, Mass Gothic and Yuno are playing a free, all-ages outdoor concert at the Mural Amphitheatre, presented by KEXP and Seattle Center (starting at 5 pm). Later that same evening, we are presenting A Night of Comedy From the Cast of Bob’s Burgers at The Moore Theatre: A Benefit For Youth Care, featuring H. Jon Benjamin, Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, Larry Murphy and John Roberts. This event is happening at The Moore Theatre and is sold out (7 pm).
 
It is our hope that SPF30 and Sub Pop’s 30th Anniversary Weekend will serve as a super fun and sincere “thank you” to our local and global music community for supporting Sub Pop and our artists for the past 30 years (and the next 30!). 
 
In addition to celebrating a dynamic, inspirational roster spanning three decades, we also wish to create a sense of uplifting togetherness where we not only listen to great music but we become better at listening to each other as well.


Schedule of Things Happening

JULY 26 / AUGUST 2ND / AUGUST 9TH
SUB POP TURNTABLE SESSIONS  
KEXP Gathering Space • FREE • 6-8pm • ALL-AGES

The Sub Pop Turntable Sessions are three distinct panel discussions highlighting multiple facets of Sub Pop’s history in celebration of the label’s 30th anniversary. Each session will review snippets of past label happenings and works while discussing how they relate to the label and our society’s future. The first session will be on July 26th, featuring Sub Pop LOSER Scholarship winners. The next will be on August 2nd and will feature Seattle-based collective Black Constellation. And for the third session we’ll be bringing in the Sub Pop’s own Mudhoney, as they also celebrate their 30th anniversary this year as well.  Session 1: Sub Pop Loser Scholarship WinnersSession 2: Black ConstellationSession 3: Mudhoney’s 30th.
 
AUGUST 10TH
SUB POP’S BIG 30TH ANNIVERSARY KICK-OFF SHOWCASE • THE MURAL AMPHITHEATRE • 5PM • ALL-AGES • FREE!!!
A special Concert at the Mural presented by KEXP and Seattle Center 
with The Afghan Whigs, Mass Gothic, Yuno
 
A NIGHT OF COMEDY FROM THE CAST OF BOB’S BURGERS • 
THE MOORE THEATRE  • 7PM DOOR  • ALL-AGES [***SOLD OUT***]
Featuring H. Jon Benjamin, Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, Larry Murphy, John Roberts
 
AUGUST 11TH
SPF30: SUB POP’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL• ALKI BEACH, WEST SEATTLE • NOON - 10PM • ALL- AGES • FREE!!! 
Beach House, Bully, Clipping, Kyle Craft, Father John Misty, Fastbacks, Hot Snakes, Jo Passed, Loma, LVL UP, METZ, Moaning, Mudhoney, Shabazz Palaces, Wolf Parade, Caspar Babypants, The Not-Its!, and The School of Rock West Seattle House Band

THE CROCODILE • 8PM DOOR • 21 AND OVER • $16
The Unbelievably “Coincidental” 15th Anniversary of Pissed Jeans


More info and updates for you here:  spf30.subpop.com




Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : TUE, JUL 10, 2018 at 6:57 AM

Listen: “Paranoid Core” Is The First Single From ‘Digital Garbage,’ The Roaring, Incisive New Album From Mudhoney

Digital Garbage will be available worldwide September 28th, 2018 on Sub Pop.

On September 28th, the beloved, PNW rock and roll institution Mudhoney will release Digital Garbagethe 10th album from the band in 30 years, a barbed-wire-trimmed collection of sonic brickbats. You can listen to the new album’s premiere offering, “Paranoid Core” by clicking that play button up there.

Pre-orders of the album through megamart.subpop.comMudhoney.org, and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on seafoam green vinyl (while supplies last).


Digital Garbage
Tracklisting
1. Nerve Attack
2. Paranoid Core
3. Please Mr. Gunman
4. Kill Yourself Live
5. Night and Fog
6. 21st Century Pharisees
7. Hey Neanderfuck
8. Prosperity Gospel
9. Messiah’s Lament
10. Next Mass Extinction
11. Oh Yeah


[Photo Credit: Emily Reiman]

Since the late ’80s, Mudhoney – the Seattle-based foursome whose muck-crusted version of rock, shot through with caustic wit and battened down by a ferocious low end – has been a high-pH tonic against the ludicrous and the insipid.
 
Thirty years later, the world is experiencing a particularly high-water moment for both those ideals. But just in time, vocalist Mark Arm, guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison, and drummer Dan Peters are back with Digital Garbage, a barbed-wire-trimmed collection of sonic brickbats. Arm’s raw yawp and his bandmates’ long-honed chemistry make Digital Garbage an ideal release valve for the 2018 pressure cooker, its insistent rhythms forcing movement and Arm’s sardonic lyrics offering a funhouse-mirror companion to the ever-more-ridiculous news cycle. “My sense of humor is dark, and these are dark times,” says Arm. “I suppose it’s only getting darker.”
 
Digital Garbage opens with the swaggering “Nerve Attack,” which can be heard as a nod both to  modern-life anxiety and the ever-increasing threat of warfare. The album’s title comes from the outro of “Kill Yourself Live,” which segues from a revved-up Arm organ solo into a bleak look at the way notoriety goes viral. “I’m not on social media, so my experience is somewhat limited,” says Arm. “But people really seem to find validation in the likes—and then there’s Facebook Live, where people have streamed torture and murder, or, in the case of Philando Castile, getting murdered by a cop.”
 
“In the course of writing that song,” he adds, “I thought about how, once you put something out there online, you can’t wipe it away. It’s always going to be there—even if no one digs it up, it’s still out there floating somewhere.”
 
Appropriately enough, bits of recent news events float through the record—”Please Mr. Gunman,” on which Arm bellows “We’d rather die in church!” over his bandmates’ careening charge, was inspired by a TV-news bubblehead’s response to a 2017 church shooting, while the ominous refrain that opens the submerged-blues of “Next Mass Extinction” calls back to last summer’s clashes in Charlottesville, although Arm’s brutal delivery helps twist it into an indictment. Arm also went back to the pre-Mudhoney era for the titular insult of the stinging “Hey Neanderfuck.” ”National Lampoonmade several comedy records in the 70s, and in one skit  someone gets called a ‘Neanderfuck,’” Arm laughs. “I’ve always loved that insult and wondered why it never became a part of the American lexicon—it’s so brutal. It was high time to use that.”
 
Mudhoney’s core sound—steadily pounding drums, swamp-thing bass, squalling guitar wobble, Arm’s hazardous-chemical voice—remains on Digital Garbage, which the band recorded with longtime collaborator (and Digital Garbage pianist) Johnny Sangster at the Seattle studio Litho. The anti-religiosity shimmy “21st Century Pharisees” builds its case with Maddison’s woozy synths. “It adds a really nice touch to the proceedings,” Arm says of Maddison’s synth parts. “And Guy has really learned his way around his machines playing in a synth trio the past few years.”
 
The shuffling “Messiah’s Lament” is the band’s first song in 6/8—and it’s told from the point of view of a world-weary Jesus. And Digital Garbage closes with “Oh Yeah,” a brief celebration of skateboarding, surfing, biking, and the joy provided by these escape valves. “I would’ve really just loved to write songs about just hanging out on the beach, and going on a nice vacation,” says Arm. “But, you know, that probably doesn’t make for great rock.”
 
Mudhoney, however, know what does make great rock—and the riffs and fury of Digital Garbage will stand the test of time, even if the particulars fade away. “I’ve tried to keep things somewhat universal, so that this album doesn’t just seem like of this time—hopefully some of this stuff will go away,” Arm laughs. “You don’t want to say in the future, ‘Hey, those lyrics are still relevant. Great!’”

Mudhoney Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Mudhoney will embark on a world tour beginning on Aug. 11th at SPF30, Sub Pop’s FREE 30th Anniversary Festival and Party at Alki Beach in West Seattle. They will then play a string of dates in the Pacific Northwest starting Sep. 15th in Vancouver, with shows in Portland and Seattle before heading to Europe on Nov. 11th.
 
Tour Dates:
Aug. 11 - Seattle, WA - SPF30 (Sub Pop’s FREE 30th Anniversary Festival and Party at Alki Beach! From noon to 10pm.)
Sep. 15 - Vancouver, Canada - Rickshaw Theater (Westward Music Festival)
Sep. 28 - Portland, OR - Dante’s @
Sep. 29 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre %
Oct. 13 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw ^
Nov. 11 - Utrecht, NL - Le Guess Who Festival
Nov. 12 - Groningen, NL - Vera *
Nov. 13 - Berlin, DE- Festaal Kreuzberg &
Nov. 14 - Hamburg, DE - Fabrik &
Nov. 15 - Koln, DE - Gebaude 9  &
Nov. 16 - Luzern, SZ - Schuur &
Nov. 17 - Vevey, SZ - Rocking Chair &
Nov. 19 - Frankfurt, GE - Zoom Club &  
Nov. 20 - Munchen, GE - Strom &  
Nov. 21 - Bologna, IT - Locomotiv &
Nov. 22 - Roma, IT - Largo (IT)  &
Nov. 23 - Milan, IT - Santeria Social Club &
Nov. 24 - Zagreb, HR - Mochvara &
Nov. 25 - Vienna , AT - Arena Big Hall *
Nov. 27 - Paris, FR - Le Trabendo &
Nov. 28 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2 #
Nov. 29 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom #
Nov. 30 - Leeds, UK - Leeds Beckett University !
Dec. 1St - Glasgow, UK - Lukes Church !

@ The Scientists and Eat Skull
% The Scientists and Tom Price Desert Classic
^ Pissed Jeans and Art Gray Noizz Quintet
* w/Zeke and Please the Trees
& Please the Trees
# Masonics and Thee Hypnotics
! Wildebeests and Thee Hypnotics


Posted by Rachel White