Pics courtesy of Sub Pop Records
Mudhoney bring their worldwide tour to the Institute in Birmingham, on Wednesday 27th May. Tickets are £16.50 (advance) and doors open at 7pm – as presented by MAMA & Eastside.
Formed back in 1988, Mudhoney are veterans of the Seattle Grunge scene, with their first single, ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’, released on Sub Pop in August the same year.
Original members Mark Arm and Steve Turner were previously in the locally recognised bands Mr. Epp & the Calculations and Green River – the former once introduced as ‘the worst band in the world’ on Seattle’s KZAM radio station, with the latter’s two other members, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, going on to form Pearl Jam with Eddie Vedder.
Mudhoney hold an earned reputation as one the bands to have triggered Seattle’s Grunge movement, with Mark Arm even cited as the first person to use the term.
Kurt Cobain listed Mudhoney’s debut Superfuzz Bigmuff EP as one of the records that inspired Nirvana’s sound, they spawned 33% of the original/current Pearl Jam line up, whilst Adam Pease and Ryan Short’s 2012 documentary, I’m Now: The Story of Mudhoney, includes further testimonials to the fact from Soundgarden. IMDB even dubbed Mudhoney as ‘…the founding fathers of grunge’ in the film’s online profile.
Following the release of their second album, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, Mudhoney signed to the Warner subsidiary (and Frank Sinatra founded) Reprise Records – releasing My Brother the Cow in 1995.
Following this with Piece of Cake, in 1992, neither of Mudhoney’s LPs on Reprise grabbed the 
attention of their Sub Pop predecessor, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge – an album which had been successfully promulgated through the increasingly Grunge hungry UK music press. Birmingham’s Dale End venue, then called The Hummingbird, saw Mudhoney on stage in October 1992 – nearly a year after Nirvana had played there on their Nevermind UK tour.
In a 2008 interview with Mojo magazine, Stever Turner is quoted as saying: “There was a backlash after Kurt [Cobain] killed himself. The English press were so angry that we were still around. Those were some of the worst reviews we’d ever gotten. We were mocked for still existing.”
Mudhoney released one more album through Reprise in September 1998 – the Jim Dickinson produced, Tomorrow Hit Today.
After touring Tomorrow Hit Today, and several subsequent years on the road, Mudhoney left Reprise – returning to Sub Pop for their 2002 album, Since We’ve Become Translucent. Staying with Sub Pop, saw the release of Mudhoney’s ninth studio album – the 10 track LP, Vanishing Point.
Released in April 2013, Vanishing Point was met with a spectrum of reviews, with the UK’s Mojo claiming ‘Vanishing Point might be the best of this bunch’, whilst the LA based Under the Radar counters with ‘think Ash covering Nirvana and you’ll have an idea of just how bad an idea this album is.’
On Wednesday 27th you, Birmingham, get to stop, look & listen for yourselves.
Mudhoney come to the Institute in Birmingham on Wednesday 27th May – as presented by MAMA & Eastside. For further gig info & tickets, visit http://theinstitutebirmingham.com/listings/upcoming-events/17581/mudhoney/
For more on Mudhoney, visit http://www.mudhoneysite.com/
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For more from Sub Pop, visit https://www.subpop.com/
For further listings from the Institute, visit http://theinstitutebirmingham.com/
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For more on MAMA, visit http://www.mamaco.com/
For more on Eastside, visit http://www.eastsideevents.co.uk/