The Days of Lore

Green River: Killer!

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX

Mark Arm is a wry kinda guy. It’s evident in his lyrics and in interviews. He also has sort of a perma-smirk which, aside from first names, we both share. Arm has kept the mighty rock ‘n’ roll U-boat (U-boat? Why not?) that is Mudhoney moving for more than two decades. He also has a day job as the warehouse manager at Sub Pop Records, the label that has put his band’s records out since the beginning.

Arm has also played in bands like Bloodloss and The Monkeywrench … he even fronted the reunited MC5 for a few shows. But it’s his band Green River that, according to legend, helped birth that silly little word “grunge” (a term Arm has been incorrectly associated with coining). It was likely Sub Pop, which described the band’s first full-length Dry As a Bone as “ultra-loose grunge that destroyed the morals of a generation.” Do they know how to sell a record or what?

Green River, named after the serial killer and which included(es) Mudhoney’s Steve Turner and Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, got back together for Sub Pop’s 20th anniversary party in July. They must be having fun. The band will play two more shows in November, including Friday, Nov. 28 at Dante’s in Portland and Nov. 29 at Seattle’s The Showbox with The Supersuckers. Oh yeah … Arm’s other band Mudhoney also has some dates lined up in December and January.

Mark Arm took a few minutes to answer a few of TDoL’s burning questions. Look for Taiwanese Theocracy at a Kmart near you.

TDoL: I’ve seen Bloodloss once, Mudhoney three or four times … loved them all. I haven’t seen Green River, The Monkeywrench or any of the other bands you’ve been in. Which band(s) have you had the most fun in?
Mark Arm: The fun I’ve had in any band is an impossible thing to quantify. I’ve had great times with all of the above mentioned bands, as well as others. Green River had been dormant for so long, and until recently I figured it would remain so. Getting together and playing with my old pals again is a total blast, as well as a time tripping mind-fuck.

How did the Green River reunion come about? Any recording plans?
Jonathan Poneman asked me well over a year ago if Green River would consider playing Sub Pop’s 20th Anniversary and as you know, everyone was down. We don’t have any recording plans as such, but we’ve talked about writing songs and recording them. It’s been 22 years since we first conceived of our next record, Taiwanese Theocracy. Trust me, it’s been worth the wait.

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “grunge.”
My crown.

Green River performing “P.C.C.” in Seattle 7.10.08 (Mark Arm, vox only)

Tags: Bloodloss, Dry As a Bone, Green River, Jeff Ament, Mark Arm, Monkeywrench, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Steve Turner, Stone Gossard, Sub Pop, The Supersuckers

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