Mudhoney Return To Sub Pop, New Album On The Way

Seattle grunge rock pioneers Mudhoney have begun work on a new album, to released this fall on Seattle's Sub Pop, the label where it all began. The group includes original members Mark Arm (vocals/guitar), Steve Turner (guitar), and Dan Peters (drums), with new bassist Guy Maddison (Lubricated Goat, Bloodloss) replacing Matt Lukin, according to a Sub Pop spokesperson. The album is being recorded at a number of Seattle studios, including Egg, Gravelvoice and Jupiter. The original Mudhoney guys, who first jammed together on New Year's Day 1988, played prototypical grunge; their sound was a deadly mix of Stooges punk and garage rock, with a touch of sludgy metal. Their defining moment to date is still the "A side" of their first single, "Touch Me I'm Sick," a desperate scream bleeding frustration and self-loathing, released in the summer of '88. After recording a number of albums for Sub Pop, the group made the leap to major label Reprise, perhaps hoping for Nirvana-like success. It never came. Their last studio recording, Tomorrow Hit Today, was released in 1998. "In '88, '89, Mudhoney would blow Nirvana off the stage," Sub Pop founder Bruce Pavitt told "Our Band Could Be Your Life" author Michael Azerrad. "They were the great band. They blazed the trail for Nirvana." — Michael Goldberg [Friday, March 1, 2002]