Recent Stories with tag andrew wood

If you've ever hummed a Malfunkshun, Mother Love Bone, or Pearl Jam tune, you owe it to yourself to grab a copy of Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story when it's released on DVD later this year. (As you do if you've ever abused a substance, played a KISS record, plucked a guitar, or appreciate music in the least.) The touching documentary first played in Seattle via SIFF five years ago; it will finally get its available-to-the-masses due in August.

To celebrate the release, director Scot Barbour, Malfunkshun guitarist (and Andy's brother) Kevin Wood, and his mother, Toni Wood, presented the film at the new Hard Rock Cafe last Friday. And then Kevin, vocalists Shawn Smith and Tom Mick, uber-producer Jack Endino, and several other old friends and colleagues briefly recalled Andy's talents and lovingly played his "love rock" tunes—along with some new ones.

Malfunkshun captivated a sit-down crowd (peppered with visitors from Bainbridge, where the band formed 30 years ago) while the restaurant chain's logo bounded around TV screens all around its airy second floor. And the doc's heavy subject matter—the short, drug-fueled life of a talented vocalist and musician and the much shorter life of his two bands, Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone—elicited tears from family members and fans alike.... (more)

Malfunkshun's Hard Rock gig poster

Some 30 years ago, brothers Kevin and Andrew Wood and Regan Hagar formed the "love rock"-pioneering band Malfunkshun. Thanks to Kevin's scorching guitar, Regan's thunderous drums, and Andy's songwriting and charisma, the trio's music was one of the few things born in the '80s that didn't suck. (The face paint and stage antics, I think, sucked by design.)

That's why a resurrected Malfunkshun, and a forthcoming documentary about Andy and the band, aren't simply artifacts of nostalgia.

No, there's much more significance and depth to Malfunkshun the band, Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story, and all that's come between and since. Andy passed away in early 1990, just as his next band, Mother Love Bone, was on the brink of serious success. His void and the local music community's celebration of his short, bright life before it, you could argue, changed the world.

Kevin and Regan have continued making music in other bands, and at times with each other—even to play Malfunkshun songs with Shawn Smith at the mic (as From the North and All Hail the Crown). Kevin set up his own independent label, Wammybox, to distribute Malfunkshun-related music. And the film, which debuted at 2005 film festivals (including a Neptune Theatre-hosted SIFF sellout) and then disappeared as quickly as its subject, is finally getting a release.

Next Friday's Malfunkshun event at the Hard Rock Cafe brings the film and the band—with a "surprise" vocalist singing Andy's original lyrics—back to the spotlight. (Tickets are available for both the music half and film screening/music whole.) I recently checked in with Kevin about this special evening and what will follow.

What’s going on with Wammybox? Looks like you’ve been busy.

Yeah, I got some distribution. The From the North Monument CD will be released commercially in August and be available in retail, iTunes, etc., and online at wammybox. I'm ready to support it as well in the flesh. I'm working with a cat in L.A. who is helping open some doors. I'm putting out All Hail in October, and have plans to release my brother Brian's CD in early 2011. [It is] co-produced by Stone Gossard. I'm also working on a solo Andy limited-edition vinyl LP.... (more)

Axeman Kevin Wood told me several years ago that if his Mother Love Bone-fronting brother Andrew was still alive, he’d probably be a "talk show host or a reality series panel judge." Even if he were a living TV personality, I suspect Andy would be appearing at the (original) Showbox on Wednesday, when the reunited Brad and Satchel, along with the remaining members of MLB, will take fans back two decades.

News of Satchel's return (including a new record) hit late last year, and after much local grassroots hype, the reunited trio rocked the Croc February 18. Though dissolved for 13 years between gigs, Shawn Smith, Regan Hagar, and John Hoag sounded sharp—and heavy.

A sardine-packed thirty- and forty-something crowd was all smiles and shouts throughout the night. Stuck On A Bus, a seriously talented School of Rock quintet featuring Hagar's daughter on vocals, induced the giddiness with Led Zeppelin ("Whole Lotta Love," "Kashmir") and Black Sabbath ("War Pigs") covers, among others. (The kids, who'll rock the High Dive on Friday, effortlessly outshined sandwich act With Friends Like These.)

And then came Satchel and its effects pedals. You haven't heard a true "wall of sound" until you've heard Smith and Hoag's axes duel. That and Hagar's pounding kit (and guest bassist Jeremy Lightfoot's groove) had everyone stomping. The band killed tracks from their 90s albums EDC and The Family, barely pulling punches for the latter's softer songs. (Smith did settle behind the keys and croon unaccompanied through several songs) At least half the nearly two-hour set featured heavy new tunes, presumably off Satchel's new record, Heartache and Honey. They've since played the Sunset, and will follow Wednesday's show with an April 30 High Dive gig.... (more)

If the enigmatic Andrew Wood hadn’t died on this day in 1990, Seattle’s world-dominating grunge phenomenon, ironically, might not have been so big. The Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone frontman’s latter, glam-leaning band was poised for stardom when he passed—at a time when the sound that would define a generation was still defining itself. Check them out.

 

 

Had he lived, there would have been no Temple of the Dog (formed by MLB members and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell). There would have been no Pearl Jam (formed by MLB members and a San Diego gas station attendant named Eddie Vedder). Grunge “fashion,” if it came to exist, might have meant loud colors and white face paint.

And everyone who knew Andy or knows of him would trade all that rose from his void for the living man himself.

As you raise your glass this Friday night, toast the Man of Golden Words. Not that he’ll hear; he’s having too much fun romping around Olympus.