This story is part of a number of 2013 Underground Music Showcase features of notable and headlining acts. See , and be sure to follow Reverb’s coverage ahead of and during the showcase on social media using #UMS2013.
For 25 years, has lived the pious life of an “underground band,” strict in its rejection of the mainstream, even when the band helped to discover the most popular sound of the 1990s.
Formed in 1988 and touting an outsider status, the band became a forerunner of the grunge scene and an early flagship act on the famed Sub Pop Records.
This creed has carried the band through more than two decades of relevancy, its ninth album out earlier this year and a headlining spot at the most appropriate of music festivals, .
On Friday, Mudhoney will play The UMS along with more than 400 upcoming local and national bands, many of whom are following in the footsteps of the grunge actap successful formula from the early ’90s.
“We were always much more focused on underground bands,” said Mudhoney vocalist and guitarist Mark Arm. “If you look at our collective record collections, we’ve been listening to stuff that wasn’t very big.”
Despite the longevity, he’s hesitant to call his band successful, and because of this, Arm said Mudhoney’s place in music history is somewhat of an anomaly.
“Itap not like we were beating our heads together trying to break through,” Arm said. “We never thought that we would be as big as the Stooges.”
Though Arm won’t be hanging around the UMS much, and he only occasionally gets a chance to converse with younger bands, he does have advice for the types of acts he’s sharing the bill with:
“Don’t worry about whatap popular today,” said Arm, a man who has never listened to the Lumineers or Mumford & Sons, two mainstream indie-folk acts. “Play music for the sake of playing music. If you’re looking for some sort of reward, you’re going to get disappointed.”
Now take a look at The UMS lineup, where you can see genres like the electro/hip-hop/rock of Kitty Crimes, the ambient electronics of Kevin Costner Suicide Pact or shapeshifting psych-revival from Tjutjuna. You’d never find these sounds in regular rotation on the average radio station.
Itap hard to mention Mudhoney’s name without associating the band with Sub Pop Records, the same label that also gave rise to Nirvana, Soundgarden and more recently the Shins and Fleet Foxes. This year, the iconic record label celebrates its 25th anniversary.
“The original focus of the label was local bands,” Arm said. And much like The UMS, local is still a focus, even though Sub Pop has grown into a professional, international operation.
And before the weekend really gets going, Arm has one last gem of wisdom about Mudhoney’s aloof path through the music business:
“We never took the industry part of things very seriously,” Arm said. “We never got caught up in trying to make it, and we were lucky enough to keep going for 10 years without having day jobs.”
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