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INTERVIEW: Mark Arm of Mudhoney

Posted 6/3/2008 1:31 PM by David Bevan

Tags: Indie, Rock, Garage, Grunge

So the record’s finally out. Are you jazzed?
Well, the actual release date doesn’t seem nearly as important as making everything come together. Like writing the songs and going into the studio and recording them, you know? When there’s kind of a long wait, which there was for the new record, which we basically finished in November, then it sort of seems like, “It’s done!” There isn’t that feeling you get like that putting something out there instantly like you do when you play a show. The weight is probably way more excruciating when you’re a younger band and just sort of chomping at the bit to go out on tour. A month or two one way or the other may seems like a huge difference but for us, it’s like, “Heeey, we can wait until say, late May.”

What differences do you feel being in the band now as opposed to being in the band when you guys first started, when you were much younger?
You know, I don’t know. It’s been a long time and I was often pretty drunk or fucked up. So my recollection of 20 years ago isn’t very tangible. It’s not right there at the tip of my fingers, I can’t just pull it back and go like, “Oh yeah, that’s exactly how I felt.” I wish I had a better answer for you. At least in our head, there was no intent to becom a world force. It was more like, “Maybe we can go to Europe. It would be great to go to Europe. Green River never made it to Europe. Or maybe we could complete a US tour.” Green River completed an entire US tour.

Was that a goal?
Our only goal when we first formed was to put out a single. Our goals now? I guess our next goal would be to get to Chicago and start our tour. You know, our goals are modest if they exist at all. We’ve never been a band to aim for something. We basically had two goals—and this is basically a joke— and one of them was to put out a single and the other was to be on David Letterman. This was back when being on David Letterman meant you had to play with Paul Schaffer’s band and only half the band got to play. So we wanted to experience that: me and Steve [Turner] playing with Paul Schaffer’s band while Dan [Peters] and Matt [Lukin] watched from the sidelines.

You’re playing with Green River for the Sub Pop anniversary party, right?
Yeah.

Are you guys rehearsing?
We’ve had two practices so far but Pearl Jam left town and now so are we. I think we won’t have any practices until the beginning of July. So we’ll have two weeks of intensive practice.

Butterflies?
No, because the practices went really well actually. It’s more a matter of pounding old lyrics into my head. But I was kind of surprised how most of them just kind of came back, still filed away somewhere in my brain.

Do you feel totally different when fronting that band?
Well, anytime you step out on stage you go from Clark Kent to Superman. Not exactly Superman, but you don’t want to be just flashing your superpowers when you’re talking to people during the course of the ordinary day, like when you’re in the middle of a transaction at the drugstore. You don’t scream it at them.

It’s funny. I was able to talk recently with Charles Peterson about the photo for that Bigmuff Superfuzz single’s cover art and he was telling me about how incredibly fit you’ve kept just by doing yoga…
You know, when I was a kid, I was never able touch my toes. And when I started yoga maybe eight years ago, I still couldn’t touch my toes. So yeah, there’s definitely a benefit to it now.

How do you think it has affected Mudhoney?
It’s definitely built up my core strength so that I can scream longer!

Download: Mudhoney - I'm Now

Download: Mudhoney - In 'N' Out of Grace

Stream:  Mudhoney - Mudride (Live in Berlin, 10/10/88)

Stream: Mudhoney - Touch Me, I'm Sick (Live in Berlin, 10/10/88)

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