Everybody Loves Our Town_ An Oral History of Grunge - Mark Yarm [110]
JAMES BURDYSHAW We get to L.A., and by this time I was not getting along with David. We were getting into shouting matches and fights. He liked to pick on me a lot. My bandmates would tease me all the time, talk shit about me. When Donita told me, “I’ve never seen a lead guitar player treated with so much disrespect,” that’s when it really started to make me feel like I couldn’t take it anymore.
In my mind, David and me were supposed to be the leaders of the band, and instead it was David and Danny. Danny was the newest member of the band and he could barely play the guitar, and I was writing all of the songs, everything on that Cat Butt record except for a few little bits.
We finally get back to Seattle and played a welcome-home show that nobody came to. It was like the worst attendance we’ve ever had. This is welcome home?
Then the Babes in Toyland come to town, and I started a mini-fling with the bass player, Michelle Leon. Beautiful girl. We were hanging out, and they played a Halloween show with Lubricated Goat. Somebody had some fuckin’ mushrooms and I got really high, and we were all in the Babes in Toyland van headin’ to this party. I’m trying to give directions, but I’m really wasted, and David and Dean are also in the van, and David says, “Don’t listen to him, he doesn’t know a goddamn thing” to the girl that I’m trying to impress, and I just went off. I started yelling, “Fuck you!” All of a sudden David punched me in the face.
I got out of the van, and I told Dean, “I’m quittin’ this band!” We were so high. Michelle and Guy Maddison from Lubricated Goat run up to me, “Are you okay?” Michelle told me, “Don’t play with that asshole. Fuckin’ quit his band.” And I did.
DAVID DUET How can I put this delicately? It’s no secret that James can be a very hard person to work with, and I really made strong efforts. Tried to be very diplomatic. But at times I couldn’t handle it. It was Halloween night, and I punched him. James was bein’ a prick. I was drunk. I think there were psychedelics involved.
Then things started getting weird. Drugs were becoming more prevalent in the Seattle scene. I decided to get away from Seattle ’cause everybody was getting incredibly strung out. I checked myself into a five-day-detox wino hospital. Stayed there about three days. L7 was playing down the street, and I convinced the nurse to let me out, that it would be better for me to go play rock and roll, and she did. It was amazing. I hobbled down the street, got on stage with L7, did a Frank Sinatra version of “Strychnine” ’cause I was so looped out from all the medications they had me on, jumped in the van with L7, went to Canada. Came back from Canada, packed up all my stuff. Flew down to Texas for what was gonna be a month visit and ended up staying for four years.
KEVIN WOOD The last time I saw Andy alive? I remember that distinctly because it happened to fall on the third day of the third month, 1990. He’d set up a deal where he was gonna get a solo album, and he invited me to do preproduction rough mixes for it. So he was pulling me back in and rectifying things.
After working on preproduction that day, we were heading downtown when we ran into Regan just by chance. We mentioned that it was a 3/3 day, that’s about it. It wasn’t a long meeting. And that was the last time me and Regan and Andy were together.
XANA LA FUENTE Andy and I had gone to see Aerosmith Wednesday night, but we didn’t go backstage and meet them. We were with all the other kids that buy the book at the show with pictures of the band. On Friday, all the members of the band except Steven Tyler and Joe Perry came into my store. And I said, “We came to your show. What are you guys still doing here?” They spend about $3,000, and I gave them a Mother Love Bone tape. I said, “We’re touring with you in a few