See also:
Mark Lanegan
Based out of
Seattle and coming to popularity during the
grunge era didn't seem to have much effect on the sound of this uncompromising group. In contrast to their
heavy metal-influenced contemporaries, Screaming Trees blended
psychedelic rock with
punk and
blues and
folk music to form a wonderfully rich sound which flows easily from screaming
guitar solos to soothing vocal melodies. Lanegan's rich, bassy voice in combination with grooving, never over-busy guitar licks and solid backing from bass and drums makes for incredible driving music, and made the band an important entity in the early-90's music scene.
Screaming Trees was founded in late 1984 by brothers Van and Gary Lee Conner, Mark Lanegan, and Mark Pickerel. The brothers Conner and friend Pickerel had played in a series of rock bands during high school. A few years after graduation, Van Conner, then leading a band called The Explosive Generation with Pickerel on vocals and Lee on drums, got a call from Mark Lanegan, who wanted to join up. Immediately following this call, Van and Lee got in a fight, and Van kicked Lee out of the band, so Lanegan became the band's drummer. Soon after, however, the brothers reconciled, and everyone realized that Lanegan was a much stronger vocalist than Pickerel, so the final lineup consisted of:
Van Conner: bass
Lee Conner: guitars
Mark Pickerel: drums
Mark Lanegan: vocals
The band, now renamed Screaming Trees (name taken from a
distortion pedal), began writing and in 1985, released an
eponymous demo, which was followed in 1986 by an EP titled
Clairvoyance. It was produced by the now-ledgendary Steve Frisk, who quickly convinced
Greg Ginn (yes, the guitarist from
Black Flag) to sign the band to his SST label. The band's first full length album, titled
Even If and Especially When was released in late 1986, and the band went on tour to support the album early in the next year.
In 1988, the band released their original demo tape under the title
Other Worlds. In the following year they recorded and released two more albums under the SST label,
Invisible Lantern, and
Buzz Factory. The band then moved over to
Sub Pop records and quickly released the album
Changes Come.
Conflict within the band resulted in a
hiatus in which Lanegan released the breathtaking album
The Winding Sheet, which featured Pickerel, as well as
Cobain and
Novoselic of
Nirvana,
also as well as
Mike Johnson of
Dinosaur Jr. and
finally recording ledgend
Jack Endino. The Conner brothers both formed new bands,
Soloman Grundy (Van), and
Purple Outside (Lee).
The band then re-formed and signed a deal with
Epic Records. In early 1991 the band released
Uncle Anasthesia, which was produced by
Terry Date and
Soundgarden frontman
Chris Cornell. The band toured, but Van Conner took another break from the band to tour with Dinosaur Jr.. Then Pickerel left the band to join
Truly (and now plays in
Valis with former
Mudhoney man
Dan Peters), and was replaced by monster drummer
Barrett Martin (formerly of
Skin Yard). Van returned to the act, and the band recorded
Sweet Oblivion, which featured the song "
Nearly Lost You," which became a hit after its inclusion on the
Singles movie soundtrack.
Then they took another break.
Lanegan recorded another solo album,
Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, and Martin joined up with the
Mike McCready/
Layne Staley project
Mad Season.
In early 1995, the band reunited
again and recorded the mindblowing album
Dust, which reached relative fame with the success of the song "
All I Know." The band toured with
Lollapalooza in 1996, but then broke up again.
Screaming Trees were officially dissolved in 2000.
SOURCES:
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-263691-bio--Screaming-Trees
http://www.angelfire.com/sk/seattlebands/strees.html
http://www.mp3.com/screaming-trees/artists/4628/biography.html
http://screaming-trees.biography.ms/
http://icebergradio.com/artist/5379/screaming_trees.html
http://www.100xr.com/100_XR/Artists/S/Screaming_Trees.htm
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/screaming_trees/artist.jhtml