Mudhoney @ Meow Nui, Wellington
Seattle grunge dads Mudhoney rock out like it's their mate's garage, with Delaney Davidson's looping postmodern blues in support.
Back in the 90s I bought a stack of vinyl from Colin Morris Records on Lambton Quay before it shut down, and one of those records was Green River's Come On Down EP. I'd vaguely heard of them because of their Pearl Jam connection, but I played that record a lot. It was raw grunge - simple, angry, discordant - and you could feel the anti-establishment in it, the backlash against the overly produced radio rock of the late 80s. From there I found my way to Mother Love Bone, the Melvins, Mad Season, Temple of the Dog... it was an early milestone of a record. Mudhoney themselves I never really gave too much time to, but half of them - Mark Arm and Steve Turner - were in Green River, and that link was enough to get me along to this show. I was glad I did.
I went by myself. Meow Nui didn't feel as full as other nights I've been there, and I don't think it was sold out.
Delaney Davidson
Delaney Davidson is a solo blues guy, and he was looking pretty dapper in a shirt and tie. He played a Fender Jazzmaster (I think - possibly a Jaguar) through an Orange amp, with lots of distortion and feedback. Postmodern blues, heavy loop pedal use, growly tones and growly vocals, and quite percussive, with that "railway train" style of blues dominating. The sound reminded me of Cam Cole quite a bit, with a bit of Lou Reed's Waiting for the Man mixed in too. He also played a Mudhoney cover, Sweet Young Thing (Ain't Sweet No More), a song Mudhoney then played themselves in their own set. For the last song he mixed it up, going much more electronica and experimental, quite crazy with the samples and loops. A couple of times during the set he encouraged the crowd to vote in the upcoming election, too.
He's no spring chicken, but there are still plenty of years to go. The good thing about blues musicians is they tend to get better the older they get, and Delaney is no exception. I'd heard of him a fair bit before now, but this was my first time hearing him live, and on this evidence I'd be keen to catch him do a headline show at some small, intimate little venue if I ever get the chance.
I recorded his set on my phone, feel free to download the recording if you like - the Mudhoney cover is at 13 minutes in.
Mudhoney
Mudhoney and Pearl Jam share the same roots. But where Pearl Jam found stardom on the back of the huge singles from their debut album Ten, Mudhoney never did, and on the evidence of this gig, nearly forty years into their career, I think I can see why. Mudhoney feel like a band that never wanted to be stars. You get the sense they could have written a bunch of smash hit grunge anthems, they just didn't want to. There's no rock star about them at all, no airs or graces.
They walked out on stage casual as anything, like they live just down the road and this is a rehearsal space show. Then they laid down a primo set of phat guitar based rock - edgy, with that Seattle whine through the lyrics and the tones, hitting riffs, easy on the lead solos, and just enough originality in the arrangements to stand it out from the rock of yesteryear. No hype, no drama, no high production - just four guys having a rock out in the garage. A bit arty, a lot angry. Well, used to be angry a couple of decades back, more reminiscent now than raging.
They present like a bunch of dads, and it really does feel like you're sitting in your mate's band's rehearsal space. You have physics teacher dad on lead guitar (Steve Turner), I'll-fix-your-car-if-you-ask-me-to dad on bass (Guy Maddison), and I'm-going-bald-but-I'm-not-admitting-it-so-I'm-wearing-a-small-hat dad on drums (Dan Peters). And on vocals and guitar, Mark Arm, who looks a bit like an elf - as if Legolas from Lord of the Rings thought to himself, to heck with this forest and sword shit, I'm gonna go play guitar in a garage grunge band. A bit older than Legolas, and with a touch of Iggy Pop about him too - elf Iggy Pop bastard child dad, if you like.
Any one of them looks like the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with.
It took Mark ages to crack even one smile. Six or seven songs went by, very serious, until he put his guitar down for a few tracks and just sang, and some life came into him then. Consummate professional of course, he just didn't interact, never smiled, said very little to the crowd. Plenty of personality, just not a lot of warmth.
So Mudhoney are basically just four guys having a rock. But they fit together so well because it's four guys who have been having that same rock, more or less, every day for decades - although Guy only joined in 2001. The songs that met with the most crowd approval - Suck You Dry, Touch Me I'm Sick, In 'n' Out of Grace - could have been the B sides of smash hits. As it turned out they ARE the hits, and that's fine too.
When you include a song about not liking the chardonnay on the rider backstage, you do have to cede a little of your anti-establishment ancestry. That, along with the song about the band owning little dogs, shows how the years, and the steady income stream that comes with who they've become, have inevitably moved these four dad rock grungers into the middle class mainstream. Just like most of their audience. Looking around the room there were plenty of silver foxes rocking out, and I'd say most people there had a history of Doc Martens, ripped jeans and flannel shirts from their heyday, just like me.
All in all a great show. I'd highly recommend seeing Mudhoney if you get the chance, but you probably do want to be a bit of a fan, or at least a fan of the Seattle sound, for it to really resonate.
I recorded their set too, feel free to download the recording if you want.
Photos from the gig
