Screaming Trees guitar sound from the early days?

The Shocker · September 30, 2011, 09:57:58 AM

Man I love that sound on their pre-major label albums. Anyone know the gear Gary Lee was using? Chovie D, did you know them back in the day?

Also, did Gary Lee actually use a Screaming Tree pedal?

Baltar · September 30, 2011, 10:40:52 AM

Yes. And I think he used JCM8's up until Dust, then he got Oranges and one of Chris Cornell's LP's with coil taps.

The Shocker · September 30, 2011, 10:47:15 AM

Found this:

http://screamingtrees.net/history/

Sounds like he is saying he didn't use a Screaming Tree. Check out the picture of Lanegan with the mullet!

xayk · September 30, 2011, 10:53:17 AM

Weird - I was listening to the 'SST Years' album last week and thinking about his tone. Just insanely awesome. Googling seemed to indicate he used a bunch of different amps and pedals, but seems to always have a LP and Firebird.

Baltar · September 30, 2011, 11:55:50 AM

I stand corrected. I've got one, but it needs a new transistor.

Chovie D · September 30, 2011, 04:04:30 PM

I didnt know em back then. Ive actually only met and talked to Gary once. Im more familiar with Van. My wife went to school with all of them and knows them all well.
Heres an early vid of the trees

and heres Garys new project, he lives in upstate new york now

actually I have to talk to Van later today, I will ask him if he remembers what kind of effects and amps they had back then.

Baltar · September 30, 2011, 06:29:52 PM

I talked to Van a few times too and Mark. But Van was really nice, I'd love to pick his brain.

Chovie D · September 30, 2011, 07:18:23 PM

Quote from: Baltar on September 30, 2011, 06:29:52 PM
I talked to Van a few times too and Mark. But Van was really nice, I'd love to pick his brain.

The thing about Van and most of the other guys Ive met that had good runs during the grunge era is that they REALLY are just normal dudes like the rest of us who wanted to get together with their friends and rock out. Theres very little pretense or rock star attitude about em and for the most part they are just music nerds ...like us.

These guys are my heros and embody the troo spirit of modern american music to me..Free, real, in your face with no apologies and no pretense.

Thats why i get bummed out sometimes at people who only caught the very tail end of the grunge expolsion and only know what they saw in their mall record store and on mtv and think these guys are industry douchebags or sellouts. That thread a few days ago on nirvana just hurt my head to read.

ANYWAY, here is Vans response to my inquiry on their early guitar sound..and its quite amusing as always.

"Well, funny but for the first few records he used a Peavey Renown! Then he had the Ampeg V4 with a 6x12 cab. He used a compressor, one of those red Ibanez for distortion and I think a Di'adario wah. Sometimes he had a Hendrix fuzz. He also used a Mutron thing and one of those space ship looking pedals. Fisk had all sorts of weird pedals. We also used to use speakers for mics and all sorts of weird things."

IM guessing the spaceship pedal he mentions was a roger mayer octavia? For the Hendrix Fuzz, im sure he means a fuzzface. "Fisk" would be Steve Fisk, well known local record producer and music maker. This album he did with poet Steve Jesse Bernstein is really great.

The Shocker · September 30, 2011, 07:28:16 PM

Cool info man, The Screaming Trees have always been my favorite grunge era band & I actually got into them from a SST sampler.

I knew the drummer from Blind Mellon and the main dude from Squirrel Nut Zippers from their Starkville band and they were the same way. Cool dudes to hang out with that were into cool music. Of course the 2 bands I mentioned weren't quite as awesome as the Screaming Trees.

That Nirvana thread was ruined by one douchebag. At least he doesn't post in Jam room.

Chovie D · September 30, 2011, 07:39:27 PM

Its awesome when you meet your musical heros and their personalities are as cool and as impressive as their music.
I worhsipped Tad Doyle for years befoer i moved to seattle. Loved those albums so much and still do, and the guys image is that of a big scarry retarded lumberjack. Then you meet him and he's like the sweetest most soft spoken, smartest dude youve ever met.

It really feels different out here than it did in NYC when I'd meet a bigwhig there and they were nice enough but also kind of standoffish, scene conscius, and distant too. Here i feel like its "welcome to the party... have a pbr!".

playing with Van in several bands now, there has been a long list of rotating gear. Those guys break everything they touch so nothing lasts long..and theres this attitude of "just use whatevers here". Theres not alot of corksniffing or deep thought involving gear choices...so it makes perfect sense they would be using the peavey early on ..its probably just what they had at the time.

The Shocker · September 30, 2011, 08:07:23 PM

Kinda like them all playing Mustangs, Duo Sonics and other cheap (at the time) guitars. Dude keep talking about all your scene rememberences. I'm not much of a musician, but I am a huge music nerd so all of this is awesome to me.

Chovie D · September 30, 2011, 08:28:49 PM

I'm a nobody and dont really have much to tell (that i havent already bragged about here repeatedly). These guys on the other hand , were able to create the kind of timeless, great and epic art Ive always dreamed of making myself but never could.
For all my years of trying Ive never even come close to that level of greatness...these guys seemed to just make great art almost effortlessly as if it couldnt possibly be any other way.

So Im incredibly jealous of that kind of talent because I definetly do not have it and I feel kind of embarassed that i talk about it like I know whats up...I dont......and to top it off even their personalities are better than mine ...haha

They couldve at least been assholes...but no.

Diddler and Baltar were actually in seattle back then and probably know muhc more about this scene than I ever will. I bet they got some amazing tales .

Off to have a few hundred beers, have a great weekend all!

xayk · September 30, 2011, 09:39:02 PM

Best thread ever? Probably.

Awesome to hear about the gear, and badass to hear that Tad is as awesome as I'd hoped he was. Hoping Brothers of the Sonic Cloth can hit the east coast sometime soon. But that's a hope for another thread...

Baltar · September 30, 2011, 10:21:53 PM

Oh fuck, Chov, I never lived in Seattle. Detroit and Phoenix, my ex lived in Seattle for a while. Don't get me started on her. Anyway, I'm of course a big fan of the Trees and most of the Seattle bands that were good. Thanks for the info bro, I'd kill to start a band with you if you have that attitude. Seattle in the '90s reminds me of Detroit in the '60s, same attitude and lots of energy.

Chovie D · October 01, 2011, 02:13:09 AM

sorry baltar somehow i thought you were from and still living here.
The Tad Documentary is pretty good..I enjoyed the movie "hype" as well..and the sonic youth movie "1991 the year punk broke" is good too if your interested in all these bands...and of course I love the amrep videos as well..and dont forget the touch and go bands.

Hype with subtitles for THAT CANADIAN FUCKER

if you can stand sonic youth speaking, this movie is worth a viewing..its kind if a big IF tho

amrep vid of Hammerhead

and the song they played after that interview...I was closer to this scene, minneapolis, madison, chicago-ish...

The Shocker · October 01, 2011, 09:08:42 AM

You mean Singles wasn't the definitive statement about Grunge?

RacerX · October 01, 2011, 09:57:59 AM

Chovis, please edit that to *illb or sump'n before he searches for his name & shows up here.

Please. I beg of you.

VOLVO))) · October 01, 2011, 10:02:13 AM

Quote from: RacerX on October 01, 2011, 09:57:59 AM
Chovis, please edit that to *illb or sump'n before he searches for his name & shows up here.

Please. I beg of you.

Fixt

the diddler · October 01, 2011, 06:16:35 PM

Content deleted, as apparently I am coming off like Douchey McCockenstain. Later.

The Shocker · October 01, 2011, 06:21:02 PM

Chad Channing?

So was Jason Everman as big an asshole as all accounts portray him?

the diddler · October 01, 2011, 06:48:53 PM

Quote from: deaner33 on October 01, 2011, 06:21:02 PM
Chad Channing?

So was Jason Everman as big an asshole as all accounts portray him?

*Deleted, per above note.*

bitter · October 01, 2011, 08:54:02 PM

cool stories guys.

grimniggzy · October 03, 2011, 02:29:28 PM

Quote from: Chovie D on October 01, 2011, 02:13:09 AM
sorry baltar somehow i thought you were from and still living here.
The Tad Documentary is pretty good..I enjoyed the movie "hype" as well..and the sonic youth movie "1991 the year punk broke" is good too if your interested in all these bands...and of course I love the amrep videos as well..and dont forget the touch and go bands.

Hype with subtitles for THAT CANADIAN FUCKER

if you can stand sonic youth speaking, this movie is worth a viewing..its kind if a big IF tho

amrep vid of Hammerhead

and the song they played after that interview...I was closer to this scene, minneapolis, madison, chicago-ish...

Thanks a lot. I quite enjoyed the TAD doc & the Hammerhead performance.