The Interconnected Saga of the Bands on Loosegroove
by J. Letkemann
The histories of the bands on Loosegroove
are long, chummy, and inextricable intertwined. On first glance, the only
Pearl Jam connection is the fact that the label itself is Stone's, but
look further than that and it's immediately apparent just how everything
is linked to everything else. Loosegroove, as a result, seems like a presentation
of these connections, as well as a forum for the previously undiscovered
cool music that Stone has come across. Oh yeah, and there's a good reason
Stone named it Loosegroove, cuz that's exactly what the music is.
So without further ado, here is the saga. Pay close attention, or you
may get lost.
Let's start with Malfunkshun, one of the lesser known Pearl Jam precursors.
Malfunkshun was Mother Love Bone front man Andy Wood's earlier band. Mother
Love Bone, which featured both Jeff Ament and Stone, was the band that
mutated into Pearl Jam after Andy's unfortunate demise in 1990. Several
of Malfunkshun's songs, these recorded back in '83, have now been corralled
into a compilation and released on Loosegroove. Listening to this music
is odd because, you can begin to see the first hints of sound that came
into focus in Mother Love Bone, and in Mother Love Bone you can hear musical
elements that are in practice in Pearl Jam to this day. Aside from Andy
Wood, his brother Kevin Wood and Regan Hagar (who went on to be in Brad,
Stone's side project from two years ago, and now he's in Satchel with
another member of Brad, Shawn Smith). Regan Hagar is also a co-founder
of Loosegroove. Whew!
On to Critters Buggin, where the overt PJ connections continue. The band
consists of Skerik on sax and guitar, John Bush on percussion, Brad Houser
on bass and clarinet, and Matt Chamberlain on drums. Now, Matt Chamberlain,
whose from San Pedro California just like Mike Watt, was actually Pearl
Jam's drummer for a while in the early days. After he and Brad and John
left Eddie Brickell and The New Bohemians (remember them?), Matt went
on to play in the Saturday Night Live Band for a season. But ended up
in Seattle in the summer of '91 to jam with some guys named Stone, Mike,
Jeff, and Eddie after their first drummer jumped ship. Matt played drums
for the boys from Mookie Blaylock for one tour, and yes, that's him in
the "Alive" video. PJ found Dave A. and Matt ran off with his
old band mates Brad and John. They jammed, and soon called themselves
Critters Buggin, and recorded their tunes in Stone G's basement 24 track
studio. Their sound is something else completely. The CD out on Loosegroove
now, Guest , is nearly completely instrumental, but it's an odd fusion
of rock, funk, jazz and a little twist of hip-hop. Impossible to categorize,
but cool to hear. Go figure.
Okay, then there's Devilhead, If Andy Wood went onto be the frontispiece
of Mother Love Bone, his bandmate and brother Kevin, went on to form Devilhead
with their third brother Brian. There's a Soundgarden connection thrown
in here too, cuz as far as I can gather, Ben Shepherd, SG's bassist, rounded
up Devilhead guitarist and bassist, John McBain and John Waterman respectively,
for his 1993 side project, Hater. The two brothers Wood also formed a
band with an unnamed ex-Nirvana drummer for a while before forming Devilhead,
but that must've been a disaster cuz they've refused to go into any details.
So Devilhead, which also includes drummer Luke Kimble, is a weird musical
amalgam with a confusing history. The music, if the tunes on their Loosegroove
debut Your Ice Cream's Dirty are any indication, is a crazy kind of hook
heavy scatological lounge-grunge. Shawn Smith, from Stone Gossard's side
band Brad and later, Satchel, appears on the Devilhead song "Troubled
Moon."
The Brad CD, Shame, which was released in 1993 on Sony Epic, has also
been reissued on Loosegroove. But that connection has already been sufficiently
explained.
Prose and Concepts and Weapon of Choice are the two Loosegroove bands
who were not connected to Stone or PJ in any way. Stone just dug their
music a great deal, and wanted to do something to help get their sounds
more widely heard. Weapon of Choice is a five piece hip-hop-esque groove/funk
crew from Los Angeles. Their debut, Nutmeg Sez Bozo The Town , is full
of their musical "feelosophy," an idea they call "nutmeg,"
which roughly translated to "music untamed." Prose and Concepts
are a big part of the tiny Seattle hip-hop scene. DJ Ace, Beatnik, MC
Dope (one of PAC's vocal masters), Shark E, Mic Dub, and Rawi. Their music
is based on the pursuit of the "rawness necessary to be a tight MC,
and the intelligence necessary to be original." Their Loosegrove
release is called "Procreations."