Seattle Years Disclaimer: As I enter the Seattle years in this music blog, the above disclaimer goes double, because so much happened and there are so many details to cover in this 14 year period; so many shows, so many bands, so many friends and so much change in my life. As a result of this and the fact that the four of us who formed Treepeople found ourselves in the midst of a scene which blew up around us and attracted the eyes of the world just 2 years after our arrival, not to mention the 12 years I played music following that, I am bound to, hell, I will forget something.
This means two things: I will be coming back to entries and adding things to them over the months following publication, and, that the part of the above disclaimer where I ask for help from people in keeping me honest and in remembering things is crucial to them. I thank anyone ahead of time who was there, and, those who weren't there who have access to valid info, for helping me to correct errors in dates or chronology. Yes, I have the Internet, but many bands, scenes and things I will cover did not receive the attention I feel that they deserved and thus I will recall them mostly from memory, or rather, memories; mine and those of friends. Also, friends who were in bands which I do not happen to mention, please don't take it personally, just remind me. I have created a monster in undertaking this blog, one which I am determined to ride until the end!
Lastly, as mentioned, this scene gained national attention, and thus, needless to say and as we all know, many bands/people became famous, became rock stars, were/are admired by millions, etc and etc...This makes another part of my original disclaimer even more important. This memoir is intended to tell my story, from my perspective. I have no intention of creating a place where people can seek gossip about famous people, nor is it about 'name-dropping'. I write of my impressions of people, bands, and the Seattle scene from the '90s into the early 2000s. I protect those who are my friends fiercely because a symptom of being known is frequent intrusion into their lives beyond a level that I feel is acceptable. Thank you for indulging me this disclaimer.
A short disclaimer on the Seattle Punk entries: I am not a rock journalist (by any stretch of the imagination) and I know that others have covered the subject of Seattle Punk much more thoroughly. I am adding these sections as I thought it was important to add background to the overall history I am telling, and to give Seattle Punk bands who existed during the 'grunge years' more attention. In the spirit of the rest of this blog, it is based mostly on my experiences within the Seattle scene. And before I need to change the title of this blog to 'Disclaimer'...Onward>>>
Crusty/Crust Punk
One cannot discuss the Seattle Punk scene, especially in the '90s, without talking about 'Crusty Punk' (also called 'Crust Punk' or 'Gutter Punk') which is most often defined as a melding of punk rock and metal, specifically, according to some definitions, 'Extreme Metal', a genre that a wikipedia entry describes as an umbrella term for a number of heavy metal music sub genres that have developed since the early 1980s which are characterized by 'sonic, verbal and visual transgression'; "...The term usually refers to more a abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound associated with the doom metal, speed metal, thrash metal, black metal and death metal genres...Though many extreme sub-styles are not very well known to mainstream music fans, extreme metal has influenced an array of musical performers inside and outside of heavy metal..."
Wikipedia's definition of 'Crust Punk' is as follows; "...Crust punk (or simply crust) is a form of music influenced by hardcore punk and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the mid-1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills. The term "crust" was coined by Hellbastard on their 1986 Ripper Crust demo. Crust is partly defined by its "bassy" and "dirty" sound. It is often played at a fast tempo with occasional slow sections. Vocals are usually guttural and may be grunted, growled or screamed. Crust punk takes cues from the anarcho-punk of Crass and Discharge and the extreme metal of bands like Venom, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and Motörhead. While the term was first associated with Hellbastard, Amebix have been described as the originators of the style..." Until reading the above, I was unaware of the term originating in England, and had never heard of Hellbastard.
Helbastard - Images retrieved, rerespectively, from:
&
These definitions fit with my understanding of the genre, though I am sure others have different definitions and may take issue with what I have presented here (as is always the way). The band that ultimately defined the genre for me which was admired by every Crusty Punk I knew in Seattle was Neurosis. After doing this 'Crusty Research' and finding definitions like the above, I now realize that Neurosis came a bit later, but, as I have said, this view of Seattle Punk history, like every entry in this blog, is seen through what I call 'The Wayne Filter'.
Neurosis - Image retrieved from:
This
is a logo I always associate with Seattle Crusty Punks, as I often saw
it on large patches sewed on to the backs of their black hoodies and
sleeveless denim vests
Crusties had
a kind of 'uniform' in that way that young people involved in
'movements' often do, anyway. That is to say, a similar style of dress
that they all adopted. In the case of Seattle Crusties, this generally
consisted of all black clothing, black denim jeans, black boots or
tennis shoes, black band logo T-shirts, and sometimes a denim jacket
with the sleeves torn off, most often worn over a black hoody
sweatshirt. Jackets were covered in band patches, either home made or store-bought. There were also influences from metal fashion, such as spiked belts, bullet belts and spiked wrist bands.
Below: Some examples of Crusty Punk fashion
Image retrieved from:
Image retrieved from:
This is hilarious and actually pretty accurate
Another trait, or ideology/lifestyle common to Seattle Crusty Punks was veganism, something I now realize was carried over from the British influences, particularly the vegan, anti-vivisection, animal rights bands that Crusties often listen to, some of which are listed in the above definitions, like CRASS, Amebix (another band logo I often saw worn by Crusties) and Conflict. There was definitely a hippy punk element to Crusties, also carried over from movements founded by CRASS and others. The founders of CRASS actually were hippies first in the '70s before forming a cohesive style and ideology specific to Punk and that particular musical shift. The funny thing to me about veganism among Seattle Crusties, a lifestyle that is in large part motivated by being healthy, was that they were simultaneously doing heroin! Ironic in the extreme, and, the source of many jokes among myself and my friends.
CRASS - Image retrieved from:
As often happens with youth movements, some who may have been considered Crusty Punks were more into the music and fashion aspects rather than the political ideologies
listed above. That said, many of the people involved were very strict
vegans and animal rights activists who would not even wear leather
(often they wore a leather substitute made of rubber) or use any kind of
animal-based product. They also rescued abused animals and gave them new lives full of love. I admired them for this honorable stance, one I did and still do support.
Many of my friends in the Seattle music scene were or soon became Crusty Punks. Treepeople played shows with some of the bands, like Chritsdriver and Subvert (from Tacoma). Many of the people in the scene that Whipped and Christ on a Crutch were from were Crusties as well. At any given Treepeople show you would see Crusties, Hardcore Punk kids, indie rockers and what I will call 'Pre-Hipsters' at the risk of borrowing the, in my opinion, over-used moniker of Hipster; kids who would later go on to become devout fans of bands such as Built to Spill, Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie.
Admittedly, I may have spent a bit too much space on Crusties here, I guess I am kind of fascinated with them, and, I assume many folks are not familiar with them, and, as I mentioned, I feel it is crucial to understand them in order to understand the Seattle Punk scene in the '90s.
Admittedly, I may have spent a bit too much space on Crusties here, I guess I am kind of fascinated with them, and, I assume many folks are not familiar with them, and, as I mentioned, I feel it is crucial to understand them in order to understand the Seattle Punk scene in the '90s.
Treepeople's sound was becoming harder and more punk than when we started out, and this shift was inevitable for reasons I have stated before, and really, it was more a shift back to our roots rather than us adopting something new. Playing in the Seattle scene tended to move bands to a harder sound as it had done with our Boise Brothers, H-Hour (leading to the influential hard band that formed from them, TAD, also well-liked among Crusties.)
Seattle Punk Clubs
Image retrieved from:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9qbbKwj1yrjmxhfbRtYZbTWOKgG6WdFn9A5UiOCYRx_mKdjqqg9KrfGz_1Qs9PUMQVUDnmVf2hssQwFpx9922rxujcUkkc7B0IBv3vqcSryF8cwn6qOQi3uGxaY9KJV89TnvSrfqMOU/s1600/comet5.JPGThe term above implies that there were specific clubs that exclusively held Punk shows, but this was not at all the case. More accurately, there were clubs which were willing to put on Punk shows in addition to other types of shows (this just isn't as snappy a section header!). Most often the venues were bars, and some were cafés, but there were also different halls that Punks could rent out, either bands or Punk promoters like my friend Paula Sen. And of course, there were always plenty of house parties where bands could play.
Above: Punks getting busted for fighting outside the Lake Union Pub.
Below: Stage diving at RCKCNDY
Below: Stage diving at RCKCNDY
Images retrieved, respectively, from:
&
The clubs themselves were often dive bars with cheap beer and a cheap cover charge, a sort of market economy response to the demographic, I suppose (to use the parlance of economics.) The clubs that were putting on Punk shows in the time frame of about 1989 to 1998 (a time frame that I am focusing on for the Seattle Punk entries) that I and my awesome friends who helped me remember (thank you!) were (I encourage anyone to send me more!):
The Backstage
The Black Cat Cafe
The Blue Moon Tavern (also famous for its literary history)
The Break Room
Cafe' Paradiso
Cellophane Square (a record store in the University District)
Central Saloon
The Black Cat Cafe
The Blue Moon Tavern (also famous for its literary history)
The Break Room
Cafe' Paradiso
Cellophane Square (a record store in the University District)
Central Saloon
Chicago's
The Colour Box
The Comet Tavern
The Colour Box
The Comet Tavern
The Crocodile
The Ditto
The Easy
Fallout Records
The Funhouse
Gibsons Bar & Grill
The Lake Union Pub
Linda's Tavern
The Easy
Fallout Records
The Funhouse
Gibsons Bar & Grill
Gorilla Gardens
Kelly'sThe Lake Union Pub
Linda's Tavern
Lucky's
Moe's
My Suzy's Lounge
The Offramp
The OK Hotel
The Rainbow
The Rainbow
The Rebar
The Rendezvous
Rock Candy (aka RCKCNDY)
The Store Room
The Sunset Tavern
Rock Candy (aka RCKCNDY)
Second Time Around
Skoochie's
Sit n' Spin
Squid RowSkoochie's
Sit n' Spin
The Store Room
The Sunset Tavern
The Velvet Elvis
The Vogue
The Vogue
The Weathered Wall
Uncle Rocky's
Under the Rail
Under the Rail
Some halls...
Washington Hall
The Party Hall
Oddfellows Hall
And houses...(need more of these!)
The Comb House
Goathouse
The Hellhound House
House of Wong
The Rat House
And houses...(need more of these!)
The Comb House
Goathouse
The Hellhound House
House of Wong
The Rat House
Anti-Flag (from Pittsburgh) playing at the Lake Union Pub, Seattle
Image retrieved from:
'The Year Punk Broke'
The irony of the Seattle Punk scene not getting as much press as Nirvana and 'grunge' is that without that scene, those things would never have existed. As I mentioned in Part I of the 'Seattle Punk' entries, Kurt Cobain definitely acknowledged the band's Punk roots, and sometimes played covers by lesser known Punk bands like The Vaselines and The Raincoats, and to my memory he also was good about telling folks about Punk bands in the Northwest like Fitz of Depression and Karp, among others. He never shied away from his Punk roots, to his credit, and to the credit of his bandmates, who did pretty much the same.
That said, the Seattle Punk scene and many of the bands I describe were not much known to Kurt, as he had become a rock star by the time they were thriving. In many cases, Seattle Punk bands formed in part as a reaction to the 'major label feeding frenzy' and onslaught of indie rock bands relocating to Seattle following the explosion of Nirvana. Many Seattle Punks felt that they were literally being invaded by bands who cared only about 'making it' or 'being the next thing', and I think they were correct. Treepeople lamented about this as well, and there were actually smaller, transplanted scenes in Seattle from places like Kansas and Ohio (The Gits being a prime example of the Ohio contingent). Treepeople collectively felt that, since we were technically from the NW, and since we moved to Seattle before everything blew up, we were not part of this invasion. Others may disagree.
"...Things were starting to get really weird in Seattle, what with this
new yarl-filled rock coming out of long-haired bands with shirtless lead
singers. I saw it coming, and I started running..." - Fred Speakman
(to be fair, this is a photo of Chris Cornell, singer of Soundgarden, not a 'yarler', and Fred likes Soundgarden, however, in doing a google image search for 'shirtless grunge singers', the best photos were of him, so, here we are).
(to be fair, this is a photo of Chris Cornell, singer of Soundgarden, not a 'yarler', and Fred likes Soundgarden, however, in doing a google image search for 'shirtless grunge singers', the best photos were of him, so, here we are).
Image retrieved from:
My friend Fred Speakman, a phenomenally talented Seattle guitarist with whom I now have the pleasure of playing with in the reformed band Commonauts, and who came up playing in the awesome Seattle hardcore band Last Gasp puts it best in his entertaining and hilarious 2012 entry on Seattle Punk in the blog 'Blackhole Magazine'; "...Things were starting to get really weird in Seattle, what with this
new yarl-filled rock coming out of long-haired bands with shirtless lead
singers. I saw it coming, and I started running..." Read the entire entry here:
And for an entertaining definition of 'yarling', see Jack Endino's take here: http://www.endino.com/archive/yarl.html
What I am getting at overall in this entry (oh so slowly!) is that there was a lot
going on in music in Seattle during the whole 'grunge explosion' that
never saw the light of day nationally. In some ways it is actually a
compliment that this was the case, at least when one considers the ethos
of Punk, and how non-commercial and 'anti rock star' it was. Cobain was not an enemy to Seattle Punks, however (maybe to some) and my sense is that most of them respected him for,
at the very least, being uncomfortable with his fame and all that it
brought, and at most, for the clear and unrepentant Punk influences in
his songwriting and his prickly resistance to playing the game the way major controlling interests wanted him to. Nirvana is claimed to have ushered in the beginning of 'The Year Punk Broke' but I think that is really just the journalistic label machine in action. Like Cobain's heroes The Pixies, Nirvana took Punk into new territory and mixed late '70s Punk with early '70s rock and a smattering of early '80s New Wave. But was Nirvana a Punk band? Hardly. And I am pretty sure Cobain would agree.
Kinda Punk bands of the Seattle Punk Scene
7 Year Bitch (RIP Stefanie Sargent)
There were many bands who I wouldn't call Punk bands, per se, but who played music influenced by Punk, and, played Punk shows as easily as did Treepeople (who I would also put in this group of bands). An example, 7 Year Bitch was a great band, and I know that many people consider them a Punk band, but, as I have covered at length, everyone has their own definition. I would say they were close to Punk, but were more hard rock & roll to my mind, in the modern, post-Zepplin sense of the term. The band was made up of women from the Seattle scene who were very active not only musically, but politically as well. I don't want to write of them too much here, as I plan on doing an entry devoted to women musicians in the Seattle scene. I sort of knew some of the members of 7 Year Bitch from crossing paths in the music scene, and, when I worked at the Pike Place Market, a couple of them also worked there. Whenever I interacted with them, they were always really cool to me, and I looked up to them as people, and as musicians.
Kinda Punk Bands (Send me suggestions for more!)
¡Tchkung!
7 Year Bitch
Ac Autolux
Adickdid
Alcohol Funnycar
Bell Jar
Blood Hag
Bone Cellar
Bundle of Hiss
Catbutt
Crisis Party
Coffin Break
Faintly Macabre
Flop
Gas Huffer
The Gits
Gorilla
Hammerbox
Holden Payne & the Agonies
Imij
Juned
The Kent III
Kill Sybil
Los Hornets
Love As Laughter
Modest Mouse
Monroe's Fur (transplants from Australia, great guys)
Mudhoney
Murder City Devils
Pointy Birds
Pure Joy
Scarcrow
Seaweed
Shug
Sourpuss
Steel Wool
TAD
Treepeople
Truly
Violent Green
Punk Labels (I am including labels outside of Seattle here, as these labels also put out Seattle bands, I am, however, limiting it to within Washington State)
Aroma
Bag of Hammers
Black Label
CZ
Empty Records
Estrus
Fallout
Green Monkey
K
Kill Rock Stars
My Fat Ass
Outcast
Penultimate
Piss Poor
Pot Pie
Pulp Records
Punk in my Vitamins
Regal Select
Rx Remedy
Sub Core
Super Electro
Up Records
Vague Vinyl
Random Seattle Punk Memories
For this section, I am going to employ something akin to stream-of-consciousness free writing on my 'Punk memories' from my time in Seattle. One Punk show that stands out in my mind was at a hall in the Central District called 'The Party Hall'. The Party Hall was a small, one room hall located on Madison, just at the crest of the hill that dips down and eventually, after a few miles, ends at the beach on the west side of Lake Washington. Treepeople played there with Screeching Weasel and Whipped, Paula Sen put it on, I believe. We played our set and I think we had to leave right after to go play another show that night.
We later heard that someone who lived in the neighborhood entered the hall with a shotgun and fired it into the ceiling a couple times, scaring the holy hell out of people at the show. At that time, the neighborhood was a mostly black part of town, largely a mellow residential area, but the beginnings of gentrification had begun there, and people were already getting priced out of homes which they had lived in for years. My assumption is that people seeing white Punk kids gathering and hearing their obnoxious music blaring out of the hall and into residents' homes added insult to injury, and as in all communities, some people are imbalanced and can react violently. I encourage those who were at this show during this incident to help me keep the story accurate!
Punk show at The Party Hall
One of my favorite shows ever in Seattle (or anywhere) was a show at the Washington Hall that Treepeople played with Whipped, Bone Cellar (an amazing band that played heavy, angst-filled dirgey punk metal, one of the more underrated bands from that time) and a Sub Pop band called Love Battery. The show was well-attended, and all the bands played excellent, engaging sets. There was friendly slam dancing and sing alongs. This must have been around 1990 or possibly even 1989. I know it was one of the first big shows we played in Seattle, put on by Paula Sen. To me, it was a defining moment, a moment when we saw the potential of punk/alternative rock's power to draw people in. The crowd was diverse in terms of types of people. It was also one of the first shows that a large amount of people from the Punk scene saw Treepeople. After this show, we felt like we had truly arrived in that scene, and people seemed to really dig what we were doing.
I attended Whipped's last show in about 1997, after the drummer, Drew Quinlan (RIP) decided to quit the band. I was in the band Violent Green with Drew at the time. The show was at a little punk club called Uncle Rocky's. I drank one Guinness after another and became very emotional about Drew quitting Whipped. I felt like it was the end of an era, and I became so drunk that my emotions were majorly amplified and I made a scene, throwing some tables over and crying. I was kicked out of the bar (understandably) and ended up at Drew's apartment, next door to where I used to live, lying in one of his roommates' beds and crying myself to sleep. Needless to say, I felt the fool when I woke up.
Final thoughts on Seattle Punk
This feels a bit like the end of a college paper, where I sum everything up in a neat conclusion, and I suppose that is the result of feeling like I always felt at the end of said papers; I must have missed so much here. This became a bit overwhelming in that regard, and reiterates to my disclaimer that I am not a music journalist. I know for a fact that I have left out bands, clubs, and stories. As always, I appeal to you to help me make this blog better; more accurate and more inclusive (especially in these Seattle Punk entries).
As I have mentioned (well more than once!) I feel that the Seattle Punk scene in the early '80s/Late '90s was (and is) thriving and was overshadowed by the 'Grunge' years and the rise of Nirvana and their wannabe followers and imitators. Again, this may be by design if you consider the ethos of Punk, so, I am not saying that this was some 'conspiracy' against Punk, or that the Punks in Seattle at the time had dreams of being rock stars, but it would have been nice for them to sell more records, get some press and get better tours and local shows, to be sure. But mostly, it would have been nice if these bands had been properly acknowledged for their place and influence in all of music history, at a time and in a city that so many consider important to it. I hope, in a small way, I was able to give some of them at least that.
