‘Us’ half of a wicked one-two punch
MUDHONEY STILL STICKING. AROUND.
The voice on the other end of the phone says, “Sub Pop warehouse …”
Thus begins a conversation with Mark Arm, singer and guitarist in Mudhoney, which remains the lean dog that has outlived most other creatures that wandered around Seattle starting 30 years ago. Mudhoney didn’t cash in on the grunge trend in the ’90s, which meant no windfall. So Arm works at the label that has released his music for decades. Of Mudhoney, he says, “I don’t think of it as a career. It’s not how any of us survive or pay food or rent or what have you. Nobody’s putting kids through college with Mudhoney.”
No grunge windfall also meant no grunge albatross. Mudhoney’s sound was always rooted in a more rawboned rock ’n’ roll sound, and the group never took itself so seriously as to be a wet towel. Trends come and go, and Mudhoney every few years puts out another set of sharp Mudhoney songs. The latest is “Digital Garbage,” which finds Arm, guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison and drummer Dan Peters presenting songs with a little more snarl to go with the sneer, a reaction to cultural trends and happenings that confound, irritate and spark ridicule. Arm discussed the album as well as his long-gone days as an Eagle Scout.
Q: Something about the vibe of this record reminded me of a conversation I had with George Carlin a few months before he died. He was in a state about how we’ve organized ourselves all wrong. And planned for a miserable now instead of thinking about the future. It
wasn’t funny, per se …
A: Right, but his humor came from that. He didn’t sit around all day making jokes. He thought, ‘Oh, the world, holy (expletive) …’ And yeah, we get into some of that, the ways we’re making the planet uninhabitable, for our form of life and others. There’ll be something left in the future, but nobody knows what. I was reading the other day about a massive insect extinction. You think those things will live on no matter what. But if the insects die out, birds and other animals have no food. It gets complicated quickly.
Q: A lot of punk or post-punk in the ’80s had this outward expression of discontent. And a lot of what came along in the ’90s felt more internalized. This record reminds me more of the ’80s stuff, bands like, well, in Houston, a band like Really Red.
A: Man, Really Red was one … not even was, they remain one of my favorite bands of all time. ‘Teaching You the Fear’… I cannot stress how much I listened to that record. The music was fantastic, and they were really, really smart. They were one of the few political bands that actually understood what they were talking about. I think maybe it’s because they were a bit older than a lot of other hardcore bands. A 16-year-old singing about Reagan? Eh. But they knew what they were talking about.
Q: Is it difficult to finish a song like ‘Prosperity Gospel’ after writing the line, ‘Let ’em eat death’? I feel like I’d call it a day after that.
A: (Laughs.) That one came pretty easy. That just feels like the attitude with some of those people. They don’t give a (expletive) as long as they’re making money. All those people are terrible, and you should think so if you have any background at all (expletive) reading the Bible. And I do because I grew up in the church, went to a Christian high school. I had all that pounded in. I don’t understand how anybody that preaches prosperity gospel proclaims to follow Jesus. It’s antithetical to what’s in those pages. People are easily suckered by the hope of material things. But the idea, ‘If I give this guy more money, I’ll get more money’ … (laughs) … You have to be an idiot to believe that.
Q: I can’t tell if “Oh Yeah” is a hopeful ending. But “I wanna climb and leave this mess behind” has a certain vibe that eludes hopelessness.
A: Yeah, I guess it’s about trying to get through the day without thinking about the future. It gets back to that Carlin thing. “(Expletive) all this, I’m just going to go skate or surf or ride a bike.”
Q: Were you really a Boy Scout? I’m having a difficult time imagining that.
A: Eagle Scout! I found all my meritbadge books recently. I got one for basket weaving. Rifle shooting. Some random (expletive). Canoeing. Knottying. I’ve forgotten all of those, though.
Q: Do you find yourself needing the knots?
A: Yeah, it would be great to know now. (Expletive), I could use a bowline every now and then. But I don’t remember which way the rabbit goes around the tree.