The Making of SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF by Mudhoney - featuring Mark Arm and Steve Turner

12/13/23 • 60 min

For the 35th anniversary of Mudhoney’s first 12-inch record, SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Mark Arm met Steve Turner at a show in Seattle, they became fast friends and began playing in multiple bands together. They started Green River with Jeff Ament and Alex Shumway and eventually added Stone Gossard on second guitar. Tensions over the musical direction of the band eventually caused Green River to dissolve with Ament and Gossard going on to form Mother Love Bone and Arm and Turner deciding to form Mudhoney. With Mudhoney, they had a vision for fuzz drenched guitars and blending 60s garage with punk rock. They eventually added Dan Peters on drums and Matt Lukin on bass and had their first practice on New Year’s Day in 1988. Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop offered to pay for some studio time with Jack Endino so he could hear the material they were working on. From those sessions, they released the "Touch Me I’m Sick" single in the summer of 1988. At that point, they went back into the studio with Jack Endino to work on the songs that would become SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF.

In this episode, Mark Arm describes his approach of “vocalizing” rather than singing, and how playing guitar with this band changed how he thought about song arrangements. Steve Turner talks about his discovery of vintage fuzz boxes and how they informed the Mudhoney sound at a time when fuzz pedals were out of fashion. From the early days of Sub Pop to rocking baby blue 60s guitars to Dan Peters’ unique drum patterns to Matt Lukin’s relief of playing simple songs to Sonic Youth knighting them as the next big thing to a pivotal moment in Seattle music, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

Previous Episode

The Making of CHUTES TOO NARROW by The Shins - featuring James Mercer

For the 20th anniversary of The Shins’ second album, CHUTES TOO NARROW, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After getting their start in Albuquerque in the early nineties as a band called Flake, James Mercer, Neal Langford, Marty Crandall and Jesse Sandoval eventually morphed into The Shins. Mercer had first conceived of The Shins as an outlet for his quieter songs that weren’t working for Flake. Sandoval joined him initially and when Flake called it quits in the late nineties, Langford and Crandall also ended up joining The Shins. They caught the attention of Sub Pop, who signed them to a deal and released their debut album, OH, INVERTED WORLD in 2001. The album was a result of a year of recording at home with inexpensive gear that managed to reach a large audience. For their second album, Mercer had left Albuquerque and moved to Portland, Oregon, where he set up a basement studio with some better quality gear and recorded the majority of the record at home. Ultimately, the band finished the record with Phil Ek co-producing and mixing at Avast! Recording Co. in Seattle.

In this episode, James Mercer describes the pressure he was putting on himself to prove that The Shins weren’t just a fluke. With the goal of making a career in music, Mercer talks about this intense period when he was challenging himself as a songwriter to come up with interesting chord progressions and unique lyrics. Mercer also talks about the interpersonal relationships and shifting power dynamics in the band and how his close friendship with Neal Langford fell apart at this time. From wanting to make a stripped down and honest record to working with Phil Ek in a proper studio to the lineup change of Dave Hernandez replacing Langford to staying up all night to write a song at the very last minute to finding inspiration from a thrift store copy of Neil Young’s Harvest, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

Next Episode

The Making of I SEE A DARKNESS by Bonnie "Prince" Billy - featuring Will Oldham

For the 25th anniversary of the first Bonnie “Prince” Billy album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. Will Oldham grew up studying acting but decided to pursue music while he was attending Brown University. In 1992, he released his first single with Drag City under the name Palace Brothers. A series of albums followed under several variations of the Palace name, which reflected Oldham’s unique approach to treating the album, rather than the artist, as the primary entity. In 1998, he had an epiphany that he could inhabit a new character named Bonnie “Prince” Billy for his music moving forward and put his concerns about an artist identity to rest. He began living in his father’s farmhouse in Shelbyville, Kentucky along with his brother, Paul, who had been studying recording and set up a makeshift studio. In this isolated environment, Oldham worked on writing songs and had the freedom to record himself in a way that he never had before. Eventually, Oldham invited other musicians including Peter Townsend, Bob Arellano, Colin Gagon and David Pajo to flesh out the songs that would make up the I SEE A DARKNESS record.

In this episode, Will Oldham describes a newfound approach to making music at this time and how he viewed his former Palace work as his apprenticeship years. As Bonnie “Prince” Billy, he found that he could portray a larger than life character who had the power to sing songs across the emotional spectrum. The Bonnie character opened up his approach to songwriting as he began to incorporate some traditional elements like bridges and dramatic builds. From a growing confidence in his singing to a deteriorating relationship and the decision to form a sub label to a love of post-apocalyptic landscapes to adding humor as a release valve to taking inspiration from contemporaries like PJ Harvey to the unlikely events that led to Johnny Cash covering the title track, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.