Various MLB/Malfunkshun/Andy Articles

INTRODUCTION

What follows here is a small sample of the articles and album reviews I have that feature Andy or any of his bands. This has taken me hours to type up, so maybe one day I'll do another edition. I have 23 audio tapes (the rest of PJ's yield tour) to listen to and label, and 12 pj shows on videos to watch and label, as well all the other things life entails. So this�ll have to do for now. I hope this isn't boring, and I hope too many of you haven't read these articles before.
Have fun,
Randall
2000

* This article is from a 1996 issue of Kerrang! Magazine.

Things to look for in the article:
-Andy's denial (via projection) of his drug use
-During the discussion of Green River being influenced by Iron Maiden, Andy uses "we", even though he wasn't in Green River. Possible reasons I can think of are: 1. The journal meant Malfunkshun, not Green River, 2. Andy mentioned Green River, but meant that GR and Malfunkshun were both influenced by 80's heavy metal.
The article also has a side bar about Ed from PJ making the JEREMY video, but since this is an Andy list, I've not included it.

Ok, here's the article peoples! *

MOTHER OF PEARL

April 6 1989: the hottest band in Seattle are doing their first interview with a British journalist-they're led by a charismatic singer, they feature Stone Gossard on guitar and Jeff Ament on bass, and they're not PEARL JAM. They were MOTHER LOVE BONE, and seven years ago they told Phil Alexander that they owed everything to Guns N' Roses and Iron Maiden�

This week, Pearl Jam release their fourth studio album, "No Code". It's expected to enter the US Billboard Chart at Number One. They are now one of the biggest bands in the world. Seven years ago, their two founding members, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament, were wearing lipstick and eyeliner and playing in a band called Mother Love Bone.

Mother Love Bone sounded like a glorious collision between British glam rock legends T-Rex, early Queen, and a crash course in Eastern mysticism. Nothing like Pearl Jam, in other words. But there was one parallel between then and now: Gossard and Ament were working with an enigmatic and charismatic frontman. His name was Andrew Wood, and he is Seattle's tragic lost star.

Gossard, Ament and Wood formed Mother Love Bone in 1988, following the demise of Stone and Jeff's previous band, Green River. The line-up was completed by guitarist Bruce Fairweather and drummer Greg Gilmore.

At the time, grunge was something you found behind the sink rather than a mass-marketable term, Guns N' Roses were the hottest rock band on the planet, and Nirvana were still to release their first record "Bleach".

Rewind to the afternoon of April 6, 1989. I'm sitting in a magazine office in London. Andrew Wood is in New York. Mother Love Bone are supporting UK scuzz rockers Dogs D'Amour on the latter's first US tour.

The band have just released their sparkling, import-only "Shine" mini-album on what seems to be their own indie label, Stardog Records. They're being touted as America's "Next Big Thing", and word is that they've signed to major label PolyGram.

What follows is an hour-long interview I conducted with Wood. It never ran at the time; the powers-that-be felt there were better thing to write about than a two-bit band from Seattle. Sadly, within a year of our conversation taking place, Wood died of a heroin overdose prior to the release of Mother Love Bone's debut album, "Apple". Looking back, it's very weird to think that these are the events that led to Ament and Gossard forming Pearl Jam and going on to greater things�

How did Mother Love Bone get together?
"Me and Stone had been writing songs together a couple of years before Green River broke up. I was playing bass in (Seattle underground heroes) Malfunkshun. Greg was in a band called 10 Minute Warning, which Duff McKagen from Guns N' Roses played in. That's the worldly famous Guns N' Roses!
"Malfunkshun and Green River were like sister bands. We played a lot of shows together and we had a mutual respect for each other. I wanted to get a bass player in Malfunkshun and become the frontman, because I started to get frontman disease.
"When Green River came back from a tour, I heard a great rumour that they'd broken up. I kept on hearing that Stone and Jeff wanted me to start singing with them. It was quite a tough situation for me, because they didn't want to play with the other guys in Malfunkshun. One of them was my brother (Kevin Wood, now in Devilhead), and the other one was my best friend (Regan Hagar, now in Satchel), so it was really kind of scary for a few weeks. At first I didn't break up Malfunkshun, I was just saying I was singing with the Green River guys.
"We actually did a show with Regan in, where we were called The Lords Of The Wasteland. Then Greg came in. Fifteen months later, here we are."

When did you become Mother Love Bone?
"We didn't have a name for a long time because we figured that Lords Of The Wasteland was too Kiss-y. (The name is taken from a lyric from Kiss� "God of Thunder"-Ed) Or at least I did. I finally came up with Mother Love Bone one day when I put a bunch of words together that I thought sounded cool. That what I do a lot with lyrics, I just put stuff together. They just kind of spew from my head on good days.
"The others weren't game for the name, but I kept pressing. They came up with some real stupid names."

Such as?
"The Dum Dum Boys. I said I'd never be in a band called the Dum Dum Boys."

So how did you get "Shine" together?
"We did the whole thing in 10 days. We took some of our earlier songs and recorded them. In a way, it was like cleaning up the house."

Are the dates with Dogs D'Amour your first major tour?
"Oh, for sure. Green River toured everywhere, but I've never really been anywhere further than Vancouver.
"It's been an eye-opening experience watching the Dogs backstage. It's been a constant barrage of Jack Daniels every night. But they still play great"

What's the deal with Stardog Records? Isn't your next album going to be on PolyGram?
"Stardog is really a non-existent thing. We kind of made it up. We wanted to make it seem like we put the whole thing together, so we did it cheaply. In fact, Jeff did all the artwork. It's kind of what Guns N' Roses did with their 'Live Like A Suicide' EP, which came out on Uzi Suicide."

Should you be telling me about this scam?
Wood laughs. "I've been wondering about that! It wasn't my idea and someone'll probably come after me over this."

What's the difference between what you're doing in Mother Love Bone and what you did with Malfunkshun?
"Well, Malfunkshun was much more of a blatantly hard rock-influenced band, even though our playing was quite limited. Green River was more of a Stooges band, a messy band."
"Malfunkshun had two songs on a compilation which Green River and Soundgarden were on. It was called Deep Six on C/Z Records. It's an obscure album that's hard to find; I don't think I've even got a copy of it now."

In Mother Love Bone, there's more of an epic rock thing going on. But it's grittier that those LA hair bands. It's like rock is getting streetwise again.
"I think that's true. But I also think that bands like ours have been around for a while, but no one was paying attention to them. I think Guns N' Roses have opened the door much more, so we've got to thank them for that.
"With Green River, we were all influenced by all the early '80's hard rock bands who were a lot more metal, like Iron Maiden. But it died off pretty quick. Now, it's finally like we're doing what we wanted to do the whole time anyway."

How would you describe Mother Love Bone?
"As red liquorice! I'd also describe it as an escape, because we don't want to get serious and we don't want to remind people of what's real. We want to take them away from that.
"I think that's why we're-or at least I am- from the Bolan school. It's about taking people away with things that don't make sense, but which sound good.
"But then 'Crown of Thorns� (from 'Shine') is a message song, about people messing themselves up through drugs and stuff. A lot of my friends in Seattle are really confused. They seem to think that being a rock star, or being into rock, is about taking drugs at the same time. So that's our two cents' worth on that one."

When will Mother Love Bone record the first full-length album?
"We should be in the studio in May. We'll be doing it with Dennis Herring (now in-house producer at Gossard's Loosegroove label). He's never done a hard rock record, but he likes what we do."

What songs will be on there?
"A song called "Stargazer", which is an acoustic song I hope will become a smash hit nationwide because I wrote it. There's a song called "This is Shangrila�", which has been getting a good response on this tour. There's one called "Come Bite The Apple", which is about an Adam and Eve kind of thing."

With that, we wrapped things up. Andrew enthused about coming to England to tour later in the year.
"I can't wait," he said. "I guess we'll see you in September."

Sadly, that was not to be.

METALLIC-GARAGE FUNK?

With a name like Mother Love Bone, one really doesn't know what to expect. Their influences are as diverse as a band could get; from Neil Young and Cat Stevens to Kiss and the Cult. It's no wonder their style stretches beyond a label. Perhaps they could be called "metallic-garage funk" or as drummer Gregg Gilmore put it, "a cross between Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers".

Mother Love Bone was formed in early '88 from the ashes of Green River, a well-known Seattle-based band quite popular with college radio. Guitarists Stone Gossard and Bruce Fairweather, along with bassist Jeff Ament, managed to coax vocalist Andrew Wood away from a funk-trio called Malfunkshun. Drummer Gregg Gilmore, who earned a good reputation with his old band Ten Minute Warning, was last to join. "I knew Stone and Andy from just around. I didn't actually know Stone very well, we knew who each other was, and that was about it. I'd been travelling in Asia for five months, and the day that I got back I was walking around town and ran into Stone. He just asked if I wanted to come down and jam and see what happens."

Despite their short existence together, the quintet jelled very quickly, proven by the fact most of their songs are group efforts. "Songs happen at practice," explains Gregg. "They come out of jams. Stone works a lot on things at home musically, a lot of ideas, but it's very democratic."

They also managed to ink a record deal straight away, but as Gilmore claims, that was the main intention. "When we found out that labels were into it, all of a sudden it became a real thing. From the start everyone was feeling "we're into it and it's fun" but if something wasn't happening by September, we'd say fuck it�' and do something else. We would have been doing it long enough that we just didn't feel like beating our heads."

Their debut vinyl is in the form of a four-track EP (five cuts on the CD and cassette) titled Shine, released on their own Stardog Records through Polygram. Produced by Mark Dearnley (who most recently worked with Dogs D'Amour) the disc was put out for the sole reason to get the boys on the road. Coincidentally, they ended up supporting Dogs on a short club tour, which hit only the major cities. They will start sessions for their first album later this summer and hope to have it ready as early as October. Sure, this isn't the way most bands do it, but according to Gilmore, playing live has helped shape the band. "We're starting to develop an identity, and find out who we are as a band. We're getting tighter, not in a dry sense, but tighter so we could be wilder. The tour has been really great for that."

Being on the road has also helped them get their name out there as they haven't done a video yet. Rock fans as well as critics have been won over by their performances, adding fuel to the incredible buzz and the EP's success. The twisted humour within the lyrics extends through the live show, not to mention the hard-driving showmanship in the music.

"I like to see smiles," states the band spokesman. "I like for people to smile, and not everyone will. There's a lot of tongue-in-cheek, especially from Andy. The band's nature is pretty lighthearted, all in good fun. I know a lot of people don't get it. Like Andy's sort of clich rock poser style is all in jest. I know that there have been people at some of the shows that just couldn't figure it out. They guy was just too much for them and they were there to see a punk rock band. Not this poser bullshit."

"Contriving an image is bullshit and history shows that time and time again with bands that have a lasting effect. Those successful images have been simple people just being who they really are."

So, just who is Mother Love Bone? "Pretty honest," concludes Gregg. "Five guys sorta serious and fucking off at the same time. One thing I like most about music is when there's room to interpret. If somebody hands me a complete package with the image and every aspect of it, it's like "what is left for me�"

"This band is not into all the straight -faced, raise-a-fist rock. There�s nothing wrong with a laugh and a smile."

* This article really shows, in my opinion, how ambitious Stone is and has prolly always been! *

LOVE'S LOST CORE

Just out on Polydor is a cracking debut LP of ethereal biting hard rock called Apple. For MOTHER LOVE BONE-the band who made it-this would normally have been a cause for celebration. But things are sadly muted in the MLB camp because the release comes just months after the death of their lead singer, ANDREW WOOD. DON KAYE reports.

Andrew Wood is dead. He died aged 24 on March 19 of a heroin overdose, lapsing back into dark habits after rehabilitation.

He was the lead singer from Mother Love Bone, who could've been as big as Andrew's fictional childhood group but whose very existence is in doubt now.

I don't mean to get all preachy, but I have to say this: while I sympathise with his friends and bandmates, my sympathy doesn't extend to Andrew himself. He may have had his problems and his insecurities, but to drown them in smack was not the answer.

He was talented and, the one time I met him, I knew he had star quality. He risked pissing it all away and this time the razor's edge he walked cut too deep. What a Goddamn waste.

Andrew leaves behind a testament to his potential, in the form of "Shine", last year's debut EP, and the new full-length album, "Apple", which has finally seen the light of release (on Polydor in the UK) after some debate at PolyGram Records.

Gutarist Stone Gossard (who remains along with bassist Jeff Ament, guitarist Bruce Fairweather, and drummer Greg Gilmore) tells me he's talked about Andrew so much in the past few months that, at this point, he's just going through the motions, but he begins one more time:

"Andy was one of those kind of guys that I personally always felt seemed a little bit tragic. There was always something sad about his whole nature and his way of hiding it and dealing with it was being this flamboyant, over-the-top, happy guy.

"I don't think anyone expected Andy was gonna die of a drug overdose, especially three months after he got out of treatment and things were going so well-in that sense it was a shock."

During Andrew's attempt to come back from the vortex of heroin addiction, Stone says the band were fully aware of the problem and completely supportive of his struggle.

"If anything, we had as much to do with him going into rehab as anything else," sighs Stone. "He had been battling drug addiction as long as anyone could remember. Sometimes it was bad, sometimes he seemed okay. But it got to the point where he was gonna have to make some kind of decision about how he was gonna deal with the situation.

"So we were involved in the decision to a certain degree and we were ready to do whatever we could to make it work for him and keep him clean. If that meant that the band couldn't drink or anything on the road, we were ready to make that sacrifice."

Was there any clue as to why he fell back three months after rehab?

"It was kind of a classic Andy pattern. I think there was definitely some pressure from us to go and perform on the road, and I think his way of dealing with pressure sometimes was just to go fuck up.

"But normally he could fuck up and everyone'd get mad at him for a week then everything would be all right and he could settle back into his normal pattern.

"I think that's what addicts tend to do. When things get really rough, it's the easiest thing to do, when the pressure's really on or it's time to go to work"

Shortly after Andrew's death, PolyGram issued a statement saying that the fate of "Apple" was undecided. Three months later, its release was secured. I ask Stone how much of a role Mother Love Bone played in that decision.

"The band was always ready for the record's release," he says. "There was never any doubt in our mind that we wanted it out. I think PolyGram first and foremost believe it's a good album, and they probably also want to make their money back�"-a laugh-"but beyond that, a lot of people really love the band, and feel strongly about getting the record out, not just for financial reasons."

The band display a surprising amount of evolution on "Apple"-produced by themselves and Terry Date (also responsiblfor Soundgarden's Louder Than Love�)-moving into an ethereal yet biting area of hard rock that draws as much strength from its darkly beautiful melodies as it does from some hammering riffs. What's all the more surprising is that the band hail from Seattle, grunge capital of the world. Also, Stone, Jeff Ament and Bruce Fairweather were all in Green River, the spiritual inspiration for bands like Soundgarden, Tad, Nirvana and Mudhoney.

Even though Mother Love Bone have become closer than ever as friends, the fate of the group is uncertain at best.

"At this point, our status is pretty undefined," Stone admits candidly. "I've been writing a lot with Jeff, but right now things are kind of up in the air. Our main priority is that everyone's very excited about the record still. We're really interested in letting people hear what it was that made Andy what he was, and what made him so lovable and charismatic to us.

"First and foremost that's on our minds after that I think everyone just wants to take a breather. We've been going for two years now to get where we are, and it seems like it's been such a struggle for so long, we just have to not think about it for a few months. So I really don't know where the four of us will end up."

* And finally, a Devilhead article from (S)hit Parader *

PICK HIT-DEVILHEAD

If you didn't know better, you might get the impression that every band that ever appeared in a Seattle coffee shop late at night at some point during the last decade is now safely ensconced atop the charts with a major label deal in hand. Ahh, dear friends, if such was only the case. Alas, for every Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden that escaped the Emerald City to gain world-wide notoriety and uncounted wealth, there are dozens of bands still struggling to find their way out of the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Some of those still struggling bands have been luckier than others, however, and it's about one of those groups that we choose to focus upon now.
The name of the group in question is Devilhead, and in addition to a substantial major label deal, through which they've now released their second album, Pest Control, these Seattle rockers have a pedigree that makes them one of the most intriguing bands currently inhabiting the Space Needle scene. Featuring brothers Brian and Kevin Wood, who both appeared in the seminal Seattle unit Malfunkshun along with their brother Andrew way back in 1981, Devilhead's roots stretch deep into the recesses of the Northwestern rock scene. As many of you may know, despite critical kudos and loads of local attention, Malfunkshun never really made it on a national basis, but once Andrew Wood left to form Mother Love Bone with two guys named Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament in 1987, the Seattle Scene as we all know and love it was truly born.

"I was in Malfunkshun for like four days," Brian Wood said. "I was the drummer. They kicked me out. I couldn't even play. Kevin and Andrew were my older brothers, and I think they just let me try out for the band to keep me happy. I knew I couldn't play drums-but I also knew that this family had a lot of musical talent."

Unfortunately the Wood family suffered a heart-wrenching hit when the charismatic Andrew Wood died of a drug overdose soon after Mother Love Bone's debut album was released. Ament and Gossard decided to go off on their own, hire a guy named Eddie Vedder as their new vocalist, and start Pearl Jam. Kevin and Brian Wood had been playing together in a number of area bands during this time, not really taking life or their musical careers very seriously. But as soon as they started seeing many of their friends and musical comrades leave the area on successful world tours, their itch to get into a "real" band began to heat up. Thus the first incarnation of Devilhead was born. With original bandmates John McBain, Luke Kimble and John Waters, the Wood brothers recorded their debut album, Your Ice Cream's Dirty, in 1994 for Loosegroove Records, a label owned by the aforementioned Gossard and Satchel's Regan Hagar. It was a disc that unfortunately got as much notice for the distractingly attractive, bikini-clad girl on the front cover (who, by the way, had nothing at all to do with ice cream), as it did for the eclectic, hard rocking music contained upon their disc's shiny surface.

"A lot of people liked that album, and some people didn't," Brian stated. "We can live with that. In fact, we kind of make fun of the reactions the first album got by presenting some of the negative reviews, right along with the positive ones, in our press kit. We take what we do seriously, but that doesn't mean you can't have a little fun with it."

On their latest effort, Pest Control, the band's lineup has undergone drastic changes, with drummer Mike Stone, guitarist Tim Young and former Satchel bassist Cory Kane joining the Wood brothers in the Devilhead ranks. But despite these alterations, the band's musical focus remains as straight-forward and uncomprising as ever. Recorded right in the heart of Seattle at Heart's Bad Animals studios, this collection of rockers makes you think, makes you rock and even makes you wanna dance. Not bad for a bunch of guys from Seattle who are yet to even come close to tasting big-time success.

"If that kind of success comes, that's fine," Brian said. "If it doesn't, it won't change my life. We're not a bunch of 20 year-old kids looking for fun. We're a bunch of guys who are set in our lives and are out to enjoy ourselves. That's what our music is all about."

* COMPILATION OF ALBUM REVIEWS - these are miscellaneous MLB and TOTD album reviews. I've purposely avoided cutting down on reviews of compilation albums (like Deep Six and the Singles soundtrack) that have Andy on them just to make this more manageable. I have a lot more reviews and of Apple, TotD and the compilations, but this'll do for now! *

Temple of the Dog- "Temple of the Dog" from Rockpower magazine (this magazine was european, it is now defunct)

Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden got together, and their triumphant pageantry combined to produce the dark horse of 1991. Rotating it�s features mostly in a late sixties and seventies blues outback, lead off track �Say Hello To Heaven� set the standard. The album is slow and smooth, a work of feeling and dedication, heightened by controlled and thought provoking playing. Occassional over-indulgences toppled certain numbers into seeming jam sessions, but with Cornell�s superb vocals setting the platform, �Temple of the Dog� proved to be a smoky crawl of a record that howled at a decidely bluesy moon. A labour of love.

TRIBUTE TO BRILLIANCE!
The culmination of Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron (Soundgarden) and Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament (Mother Love Bone) and Mike McCready for this one-off project, TotD, has resulted in one of the finest albums to EVER grace my turntable. Dedicated to Andrew Wood, the now deceased singer who fronted MLB, the songwriting takes on an appropriate level of respect and sentimentality, with beautifully tear-inducing tunes such as the title track, �Say Hello To Heaven�, �Call Me A Dog� and �Hunger Strike�.

Chris Cornell�s voluminously undulating vocals combined with Stone Gossard and Mike McCready�s raw melodic guitar work, Jeff Ament�s thumping Seattle styled bass lines and Matt Cameron�s tight drumming make for a uniquely spellbinding and original end result.

One of the most significant aspects of this album, is that TotD have achieved a sound that neither band in their own right would be capable of. A tad mainstream for either camp, yet bearing the trademarks of both bands.

After listening to the ten heartfelt and tender compositions, there can be little doubt as to the amount of love and admiration all concerned had for their dear friend, Andrew Wood.

Meanwhile, Soundgarden and Mookie Blaylock are getting on with their respective careers, and we are left with an album that Mr. Wood would have most definitely been proud of.

A complete masterpiece!
Rating: 6 out of 5 * (yeah, no shit!) *

Malfunkshun-Return To Olympus from Adelaide, Australia, local street press rag Rip it Up.

Stone Gossard�s label (through Sony) has finally made Malfunkshun�s �Return to Olympus� available to the world. This was Andrew Wood�s band prior to MLB; who were themselves a band of enormous promise which due to Andrew�s OD, turned into the world crunching Pearl Jam. Even Eddie knows, that coulda been Andrew up there. It would�ve been different, but who knows? No one said should have though.

All the grandeur and sweeping pull-out-all-the-stops Love Rock of MLB is here. What�s more, it sounds magnificant. Just like a bought one! L�Andrew (the Starchild as he liked to be called) never sounded better. Malfunkshun rock louder than Love Bone, and must have stuck out like dogs balls next to The Melvins, Green River and Soundgarden. Honestly, Wood would (ha ha) have had to have nuts of iron to attempt something like this.

It�s awesomely self-indulgent, revelling in excess and the rock myth like a heavy version of Wood�s heroes: Kiss, Freddie Mercury, T-Rex. He was a star all right. His brother Kevin perpetrates some of the madness with him,sometimes matching him blow for blow. Check out the solo in �Make Sweet Love.� Oh yeah, they could turn it all on.

I loved it, and it was nothing like their stuff on Deep Six either.

Mother Love Bone-Apple-from an old issue of still going English metal mag, Metal Hammer

Not since Twisted Sister�s lop sided �Come Out and Play� opus have I encountered a record so divided as Apple. The band (now minus lead singer due to death) have with their debut LP recorded half a truly monstrous album. The first side is pure magic, loutish, indigestible, displaced vocals hover over shambling, stubble raising rhythms that are locked tight around erogenous riffing of the decidedly metal variety. The structures are determinedly loose limbed, the orchestration is deliberately manic. Unfortunately side two only reaches such heights with tracks aired on the bands first EP, �Capricorn Sister� and �Crown of Thorns�. The latter number is still the best thing MLB have ever come up with, bleakly evocotive, all gossamer glances and sightless emotion. If Guns N� Roses had taken the right drugs and been properly spiked by the sixties they might sound like this.
Rating 4 out of 5

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