Everybody Loves Our Town_ An Oral History of Grunge - Mark Yarm [164]
ELIZABETH DAVIS-SIMPSON That whole time following Stefanie’s death is really hazy to me. I remember the three of us going from place to place to place, hanging out with different people and drinking and being really, really sad. I don’t even remember, was I going to my job? What was I doing? I can’t even remember it.
SELENE VIGIL-WILK After Stefanie died, Eddie Vedder really helped me through it. One night, when I was really distraught, I was at the pier downtown with him and I was way too drunk, and I either fell or I slipped off the dock. And I was so drunk I would’ve just drowned. It’s a blurry recollection, but I remember sliding into the water and him grabbing me and pulling me up. I was drinking Crown Royal, and I don’t normally drink whiskey like that. I was gone. I was crazy.
VALERIE AGNEW I lived in a studio apartment by myself, and I kept this altar up of Stefanie for a really long time. I’d set up candles and photographs of her and things that she’d cared about. The rest of the band was like, “You have to take that down. It’s not healthy anymore.”
We only had six or eight songs recorded for our first album when Stefanie passed away. So the CD ended up being this weird mishmash of recordings. Stuff we wouldn’t have put on there had she still been there to rerecord some songs or write new ones.
The decision to go on was like a survival instinct. To not would have been like a whole other loss. I don’t even remember us having a doubt. It was never “Should we?” It was “When will we?” or “How will we?”
ROISIN DUNNE I was friends with Kim Warnick, and she recommended me to the band. I showed up for an audition, and I remember I went into it feeling very nervous and awkward and weird out of respect for their loss. They were like, “You can plug in to that.” And it was Stefanie’s amp. They had clearly done a lot of processing together. It was time for them to play again.
They had sent me a tape of the songs ahead of time. So I pulled out my guitar, and we played. They were great. Then Selene said, “Okay, let’s go to the Comet.” And that was the audition.
BARRETT MARTIN (Screaming Trees/Mad Season/Skin Yard drummer) The irony was, by the time that the whole Seattle thing was catching on and major labels were starting to call us, Skin Yard had run its course. When Dan Peters went back to Mudhoney, Van Conner called me and said, “Hey, I heard Skin Yard broke up, do you want to come audition?” They offered me the job when I hadn’t even met Lanegan yet, ’cause Lanegan told them, “Well, if he’s good and you like him, then just offer him the gig.”
The first time I met Lanegan, I remember he was kinda being surly with me, and I just sort of laughed it off, because he’s a big guy, but so am I, and I wasn’t physically intimidated by him. And I didn’t know what his reputation was, because I can’t say that I was reading the fanzines and gossip columns about the band.
KIM WHITE (Screaming Trees manager) I was at the Gorge for Lollapalooza and a couple different people had come up to me and said, “Mark Lanegan wants to have a meeting with you.” At that point, they were being managed by Susan Silver, but she really wasn’t doing anything for them; Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were the priority.
I went to Mark’s apartment, and we talked for about three hours and by the end of it he asked me to be their manager, and I said yes. They had the reputation of being a little wild, but I had worked with some of the most difficult bands out there, including the Chili Peppers. This is the funny part: He said, “You have to say it out loud in order for it to be real. I want you to say, ‘I am the new manager of the Screaming Trees.’ ”
I said, “Okay. I am the new manager of the Screaming Trees.” When I said those words out loud, I kind of felt like, My life is over.
BARRETT MARTIN Once the bands all started to get on major labels and were touring around the