Everybody Loves Our Town_ An Oral History of Grunge - Mark Yarm [58]
DAN PETERS I was at a show at the OK Hotel. Mark came running up to me, completely hammered, while I was standing in line at the bathroom. He’s like, “Green River broke up!” And he was totally psyched. He’s like, “Can I cut in front of you to use the bathroom?”
When he comes out, he goes, “All right, see you later.” I walk in, and he had puked all over the place. Obviously he had been celebrating the fact that Green River broke up, couldn’t handle it, and blew it all over the bathroom.
KURT DANIELSON (TAD/Bundle of Hiss bassist) I grew up in a small town called Stanwood, an hour north of Seattle. My dad was a journalist, and he owned and ran the town newspaper, the Stanwood/Camano News, and he was a respected pillar of the community. He found himself having to publish stories about certain acts of vandalism that were occurring around the city—he didn’t know who was responsible, but he could make a pretty educated guess judging from the style and the handwriting. When I was 15, I got kicked out of school for having pot and had to go to school in a different town.
I started playing bass at 17. My dad had a pressman, Gene Fleming, working for him who used to play bass with Loretta Lynn years ago. According to Gene, Coal Miner’s Daughter was fairly accurate, except that his character was completely expunged from the movie. I talked him into selling me his bass, and I began to learn how to play it. And then I formed a band with friends called Bundle of Hiss, which went through many moves and permutations. The constants were myself and Jeff Hopper, the guitar player, and Russ Bartlett, the original drummer who’d become the singer. I eventually ended up in Seattle, where I was a student at the University of Washington, and that’s where I graduated in ’86 with a degree in English.
When we moved to Seattle, around ’83, we were introduced to a drummer by a mutual friend, and he was just a little kid, 15 years old. I remember going to his house wearing clothes I’d bought at Value Village—psychedelic flares that were high-water, and these high-heel Elton John kind of shoes. I’m wearing a red, white, and blue sweater. I had a shaved head with weird chunks of hair growing out. I wanted to look like I’d been kicked in the head so many times I was brain damaged. And Dan opens the door and he took a look at me and wanted to slam the door in my face, but I wouldn’t let him. And from that point onward he was in the band.
DAN PETERS Kurt’s from Stanwood, which was separated from where I’m from, Camano Island, by a one-block bridge. It was absolute hell. Just total hillbilly action. I was probably around five when I got my first pair of drumsticks. I would sit around in my bedroom and act like I had a drum set and was the drummer for various bands. I’d practice every day in my make-believe world until I got a drum set when I was 14 or 15.
When my evil stepdad found out about the drum set, he threatened me with violence if he was anywhere around the house and heard it. Things got out of hand at my house, so I made the great escape and moved to Seattle to be with my dad. Then I got a call from Kurt, and he came down, gave me a tape. He had big, crazy, curly hair, and a big ol’ sweater with an American flag pattern.
KURT DANIELSON At some point, Russ quit and we were a three-piece, with my friend Jamie Lane doing vocals and guitar, me on bass and a bit of backup vocals, and then Dan on drums. At about this time, we learned of a new band that’d moved to town from Boise, called H-Hour. And that was Tad Doyle’s band. We did some gigs with those guys, and Tad was perhaps the most powerful drummer I’d seen play, ever. He’d have this look on his face—staring straight at the crowd, as if he had literally killed, stopped the heart of everybody in the room with one hit of his drumstick against the snare.
DAN PETERS I was way underaged. I couldn’t be in the club until it was time for us to play, and then I was allowed in the club to play, and then I was immediately booted out. Of course, I tried to hide out somewhere, but I was always found