2019-07-01_Uncut_UK

82 • UNCUT • JULY 2019

“I

twasourbigmoment,”

saysMarkLanegan,“butin

thescopeofthings,ourbig

momentwasreallyjusta

speckofdust.”

Asphilosophicalastheformer

Screamingtreessingermaybeaboutthe

periodtoday, 1992 sawthegroupriding

a wavestirredupbyNirvana’ssuccess,

allthewayfromWashingtonState’s

windiesttowntoNewYork’sfanciest

hotelsandstudiostorecordtheirexcellent

SweetOblivionalbum.“Itwasthisweird

momentinmusicbizwherea scruffyrock

bandfromEllensburgcouldmovefrom

anindiepunklabeltoa majorlabel,”says

producerDonFleming.

thealbum’sleadsingle,“Nearly

LostYou”,evenbecamea surprisehit

after it featured on the soundtrack to

CameronCrowe’sSingles. “therewasno

expectationatthelabel,though,”says

bassistVanConner.“‘Whatdowedowith

thisband,twobigfatguysandthisred-

headedguywhosingsreallyloud?’

Welookedlikelumberjacks.”

“Fuckyeah,it stoodout!”saysengineer

JohnAgnello,recallingthealbum

sessions.“Iknewthatwasthehit.I

rememberbeingblownawayathowgreat

theperformanceswereonthewhole

album.I knewthiswouldbeoneofthe

bestrecordsI’deverbeinvolvedwith.”

Yetthebandtookfouryearstofollowup

SweetOblivion, bywhichtimemomentum

waslostandtheworld’sfocushadmoved

onfromthePacificNorthwest.“NearlyLost

You”– moreclassic-rockprecisionthan

grungemessiness– remainsa stunning,

accessible song to this day, though.

Onthevergeofquitting,theSeattle“lumberjcks”switch

gears for their biggest hit – and then give it away for free

Nearly L ost

Yo u by Screaming Trees

“Itwasa hitsingleforthatsoundtrack,”

lamentsLanegan,“butwhenouralbum

cameout,it wasoldnews.Ourrecord

sold300,000copiesandthesinglesold,

whatever,twomillion...NotthatI’msalty

aboutit,’cos,youknow,it’soldnews,

butthatis thewayit wentdown– we

essentiallygavethema hitsinglefor

nothingandshotourselvesinthe foot

intheprocess.”TOM PINNOCK

MARKLANEGAN:Wesignedwitha major

label[in 1990 ] beforethewholeexplosion

oftheSeattlething.Hairmetalwasstill

king,andI don’tthinktheyreallyknew

howtomarketus.Wewereanoutlier.

VANCONNER:It wasa weirdtime!

I rememberbeingat[Mudhoneydrummer]

DanPeters’househavinga barbecue.

NirvanahadjustgotbackfromLAwhere

they’drecordedNevermindandthey

broughtthetapein.Weallsatonthisold

carseatwiththestereocranked.Wewere

alllike,“Ibetyou’llsell100,000andbe

thenewHüskerDü.”Littledidweknow

thatwithina fewmonthsit wouldjust

bea wildride,man.

LANEGAN:I hadalwaysthoughtNirvana

wasdestinedforsuccess,butofcourse

nothingcouldhavepreparedanyonefor

thesortofsuccesstheyhad.thatwasa

surprise,tohavethemexplodeonsuch

a hugelevel.AliceInChainswerethe

firstbandtohavethatsortofmajor-label

success,andthenPearlJam.It wasweird,

becausethereweresomanybandsfrom

whatwasessentiallya smallprovincial

cityallsuddenlyhavingsuccessinthereal

world,onthebigstage.

JOHNAGNELLO:If you’dhaveseenthe

treeslivearoundthen,youwouldhave

thoughttheywouldblow up! their energy

was off the map.

key players

Gie Knaeps/Getty imaGes; travis Keller; chucK smith;

MarkLanegan

vocals

GaryLeeConner

Guitar

VanConner

Bass

DonFleming

producer

JohnAgnello

engineer

TheTreesin

1993:(l - r)

BarrettMartin,

GaryLee

Conner,Mark

Lanegan,

Van Conner