Seaweed (band)

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Seaweed
General information
origin Tacoma , Washington , United States
Genre (s) Grunge , punk
founding 1989, 2007
resolution 1998
Founding members
Aaron Stauffer
Clint Werner
Electric guitar
 Calf Neal
John Owen Atkins
Bob Bulgaria
Current occupation
singing
 Aaron Stauffer
Electric guitar
 Clint Werner
Electric guitar
 Calf Neal
Electric bass
 John Owen Atkins
Drums
 Jesse Fox
former members
Drums
 Alan Cage

Seaweed is an American grunge and punk rock band founded in 1989 from Tacoma , Washington , near the grunge stronghold of Seattle .

history

Aaron Stauffer had already been active as a singer in high school when he included his guitar-playing friend Clint Werner in his new band project Seaweed in 1989 at college . The guitarist Wade Neal, the bassist John Owen Atkins and the drummer Bob Bulgrien completed the band, which now - as they said themselves - consisted entirely of celebratory, but financially weak “middle class kids”.

Atkins briefly ran a small label called Leopard Gecko around 1989 . The band's first three 7 "vinyl releases appeared there, but the label was also able to publish a single by the Melvins . There was a huge lack of performance opportunities - in contrast to nearby Seattle. There was a single club in town, but it did after three Months had to close again. There were only college parties and basement concerts for live performances. With the single Deertrap , which was released as part of the international pop underground singles series on K Records, the band later played in of the region and brought the Seattle-based grunge independent label Sub Pop to the attention of Seaweed.

The album Despised , the three songs from the first EP contains, was by Jack Endino in Reciprocal Studio in Seattle produced . It appeared in 1991. In the following year, Endino again produced the successor Weak . The band then completed a grueling European tour with 69 concerts, rarely with a day's break in between. In June 1992, 22 concerts were given in German-speaking countries. Sub Pop wanted to exploit the recognizable marketing potential, which is why their A&R department continued to push Seaweed: The band was supposed to perform at the second Lollapalooza festival , but was physically exhausted and the label did not fulfill this wish. The next album with the name Four , which does not reflect the release sequence, was self-produced to save costs, because guitarist Werner had set up his own studio on credit. Sub Pop was able to shift the investment to the video shoot for Losing Skin . That title actually became a success in 1993.

Seaweed signed a major deal with Disney's Hollywood Records after delivery of the contractually agreed three albums for Sub Pop . Nirvana , White Zombie , Helmet and Sonic Youth producer Andy Wallace was hired for the album Spanaway (1995) . After the release, Seaweed was part of the first Warped Tour with Quicksand , L7 , No Use for a Name , Sick of It All , Sublime and No Doubt, among others . After unsatisfactory Spanaway sales despite good press reviews , Seaweed was dropped from Hollywood Records.

The band got a new chance at Merge Records in 1998 . Bulgrien had since dropped out and was replaced by Quicksand drummer Alan Cage. The album Actions and Indications was recorded with him, but the band broke up immediately after the release. Stauffer then teamed up with the former Screaming Trees bassist Van Conner. Under the name Gardener they released an album in 1999 and a single in 2000 with a significantly less punk influence. In 2003 they separated again.

In 2007 the founding members reunited , except for the drummer. Jesse Fox filled his post. Sporadic appearances and a 2011 single, titled Service Deck / The Weight after the pieces on it , have since made a mark. Aaron Stauffer now lives in Mendocino and works as a nurse in a hospital. Wade Neal works as a lawyer. All Seaweed musicians are also active in smaller bands.

style

Seaweed claims to play punk rock. The greatest influence came from Black Flag and Wasted Youth . The Misfits and Circle Jerks also played a certain role in the style development. Aaron Stauffer was never interested in English punk because this European style was more rock 'n' roll oriented and less metal- based. In addition, English punk bands would have placed more emphasis on the political text messages than on the mastery of instruments and good riffs .

Markus Kavka called Seaweed in Metal Hammer an “ alternative band with a slight punk touch”. Reinhard Schielke from EB / Metronom compared the band with Hüsker Dü , an alternative / punk band. His colleague Peter Scharf determined "3/4 punk" and "1/4 noise rock ". Cam Lindsay described the music on noisy.vice.com as "punk with a bit of grunge, pop-punk, hardcore and metal". "Hardcore with metal-inspired riffs" was what the editor of magnetmagazine.com said . Uwe “Buffo” Schnädelbach named the three styles of rock hard punk, grunge and “ indie guitar rock ”. Three issues later he summarized the styles to the compound "Punkgrunge". Jan Jaedicke emphasized the hardcore aspect in the free magazine Iron Pages (“melodic almost hardcore”) and Jason Alkeny on the online music platform Allmusic (“well-honed, rhythmic hardcore approach”).

The texts deal with adolescence issues and can therefore be described as "hormone-controlled".

Discography

  • 1989: Inside / Stargirl / Re-think / Love Gut (EP, Leopard Gecko)
  • 1990: Just a Smirk (single, Leopard Gecko)
  • 1990: Seaweed EP ( Compilation EP, Leopard Gecko / Tupelo Recording Company)
  • 1991: Despised (Album, Sub Pop)
  • 1991: Deertrap (single, K Records)
  • 1992: Weak (Album, Sub Pop)
  • 1992: Bill (single in various formats, sub pop)
  • 1992: Measure (single in various formats, sub pop)
  • 1993: Losing Skin (single in various formats, sub pop)
  • 1993: Four (album, sub pop)
  • 1993: Go Your Own Way (single in various formats, sub pop; re-released in 1994 with the addition of Music from the Motion Picture "Clerks" , Columbia Records )
  • 1993: Kid Candy (single in various formats, sub pop)
  • 1995: Magic Mountainman (single in various formats, Hollywood Records)
  • 1995: Start With (single in various formats, Hollywood Records)
  • 1995: Spanaway (album, Hollywood Records)
  • 1995/1996: Free Drug Zone (single in various formats, Hollywood Records)
  • 1998: Actions and Indications (Album, Merge Records)
  • 2011: Service Deck / The Weight (Single, No Idea Records)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Reinhard Schielke: Seaweed. Industrial Wasteland Children . In: EB / Metronome . 39, August / September, August 1992, pp. 15 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jason Ankeny: Seaweed. Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny. In: allmusic.com. Retrieved November 18, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d [Uwe] "Buffo" [Schnädelbach]: Seaweed. Cheers to the piggy bank! In: Rock Hard . No. 81 , February 1994, p. 108 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Cam Lindsay: Rank Your Records: Seaweed's Aaron Stauffer Rates the (Mostly Dormant) Band's Six Albums. A look back on the catalog of the Seattle band who missed the Seattle wave. In: noisey.vice.com. July 9, 2015, accessed November 18, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Sound carrier and tour advertisement Seaweed . In: EB / Metronom , No. 38 from June / July 1992, p. 55.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Lost Classics: Seaweed "Four". In: magnetmagazine.com. Retrieved November 18, 2018 .
  7. ^ Gardener (2). In: discogs.com. Retrieved November 18, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Markus Kavka: Grunge is dead. Background story grunge . In: Metal Hammer . The international hard rock & heavy metal magazine. March 1996, The Here and Now, p. 134-137 , here p. 137 .
  9. ↑ Peter Scharf: Green Magnet School. Blood Music. Seaweed. Weak . In: EB / metronome . 38, June / July, June 1992, Just for the Record, pp. 52 .
  10. ↑ [Uwe] "Buffo" Schnädelbach: Seaweed. Seaweed . In: Rock Hard . No. 78 , November 1993, p. 76 .
  11. ↑ J [an] J [aedicke]: Seaweed. "Weak" . In: Iron Pages . The World City Mag. 18, July / August, July 1992, record reviews, p. 32 .

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