Eastern Washington's Original Demoliton Band by Dawn Anderson Backlash, June-July 1989 Never underestimate boredom. The town of Ellensburg has one real record store, no real clubs, two movie theaters (a drive-in and a walk-in), and lots of college students. Unless you're the outdoors type, there's nothing to do but drink and cruise--and there isn't really anywhere to cruise. People try to cruise, though. There is one other option. You can form a band. The Screaming Trees are Ellensburg cutters Gary Lee Conner (guitar), Van Conner (bass), Mark Lanegan (vocals), and Mark Pickerel (drums). When they get bored, they wander into the town's one recording studio, Velvetone to cut some tracks with the town's only record producer, Steve Fisk. They must get bored a lot, because they've released three albums so far: Other Worlds (a 1988 SST re-release of 1984 sessions, formerly available on cassette only), Clairvoyance (1986) and Even If And Especially When (1987). Their new album, Invisible Lantern, should bwe out some time this summer. There are plenty of things about this record for Trees fans to get excited about: amazing guitar spazz-outs, distored in all the right places; reflective, non-cliched lyrics; dreamy vocals that strike every emotional pulse point between a murmur and a scream. The production of the new record is appropriately spare, but the performances are not. Lee's maniacal riffing tops anything he's put on vinyl so far. In other words, Invisible Lantern sounds pretty much like the Tree's earlier efforts, but it's got more gut and is truer to the band's live sound. This could be due, in part, to the influence of their label. "The first time we talked to SST, after Clairvoyance came out [on Velvetone records], all they said was 'good effort, guys; it's good you got a record out,'" Lanegan recalls. "They didn't think much of the record, I guess, but when they saw us play they got real excited and told us to make a live tape for them. So we gave them a tape and they called us back three days later. "It's a good thing, too, because we were about to sign with Pink Dust, which is defunct now." SST signed the band to the customary one-record deal and went on to release three so far, counting the Other Worlds re-release and the upcoming Invisible Lantern. The label also plans to re-release Clairvoyance. Being signed to the world's coolest independent label hasn't had many material rewards, but the Trees have had the opportunity to tour with some of the world's coolest bands: Firehose, the dBs, Opal. Stilly, they estimate they've only played 75 to 100 times since the band's inception in 1984. "We never even played a gig until after Clairvoyance was finished," Lee says. "Except for one gig at a retarded group home here." "We would have played sooner, if there were anyplace to play here," he continues. "We were supposed to play with some hardcore bands in Canada. We were ready to walk out the door, but we thought we'd better call them first and they said, 'Oh, we forgot to tell you, it got cancelled." THey get a little more respect these days, but life's still rough. They recently finished a tour across the south with Firehose, which they say went smoothly with the exception of a couple of mishaps, like Lanegan crashing the van twice. "I was the designated demolition driver," he explains. That was hardly their only problem. "We had to play some weird places. Places where people just stand and stare at you." Sounds like Seattle to me, but some of their experiences have been even worse. "We played in Savannah, Georgia, and right in the middle of the song this guy grabbed the mike back by the soundboard and said "guitarist, please turn down your guitar on stage!" Lanegan recalls. "I couldn't tell what he was saying," Lee adds, "All I see is Langen telling me turn the guitar up, so I did. Later I went up to the bar and asked for a drink of water and the bartender said [fake Southern accent], 'if you can't turn down your guitar, I can't give you any water.' He acted like he wanted to kick my ass." They don't generally have such problems in Ellensburg. "We don't get harassed by the locals, just the collge students." In Seattle, the Screaming Trees are genearlly respected. THe entire music scene tries to cram itself into the Central Tavern each time they play there (next time: June 3). For those of you who haven't heard this band, the Trees create music that may or may not be psychedelic (they say it's not.). They do admit their influences include psychedelia, as well as '70s guitar heros, early-'80s British new wave, the Beatles and (of course) punk. They absorbed the best of all the good stuff as they were growing up, because what else are you going to do in Ellensburg but listen to records? These guys just need some sort of tag for promotional purposes. As soon as some critic pronounces them the next something or other, they'll get all kinds of media atention. Then they'll get ot be real reock stars, or at least feel that way, like Seattle bands do. Since Soundgarden's being called The Next Led Zeppelin, I suggested to Lanegan that he should start calling himself the next Jim Morrison. It's a fair comparison, but the wrong thing to say. "Hey someone called me the next Robert Plant, way before Soundgarden," he insists. "My favorite comparison was to Jackie Gleason," adds Van. "They must have meant our personalities." Must have. [more articles]