by Epic Records
On a new Epic album entitled DUST, Screaming Trees rise above and beyond outmoded labels and meaningless categories--"alternative," "grunge," "Seattle," and the like--to take their place among the great rock & roll bands. Ten years after the release of their debut LP, the Trees have grown to full musical maturity with their restless creative drive intact and their collective vocal and instrumental powers at a new peak.
DUST is Screaming Trees' first new album since 1992's Sweet Oblivion, which sold more than 300,000 copies and catapulted the Ellensburg, Washington quartet to a new level of national and even international prominence. Produced by George Drakoulias (Black Crowes, Jayhawks, Tom Petty) and mixed by Andy Wallace, Dust is also the best-sounding Screaming Trees record yet. Songs like "Halo Of Ashes," "Witness," "Dying Days," and the premier radio and video track "All I Know" reveal the heightened emotion in Mark Lanegan's vocals as an array of instrumental touches--a Hammond organ part here, a Mellotron string line there--that color the fierce and fiery playing of Gary Lee Conner (guitar), Van Conner (bass) and Barrett Martin (drums).
These sounds, says Van Conner, "were things we'd always wanted to try, and whoever we were working with would always put us off it. The hard part, in mixing, was deciding what not to use from all these cool sounds."
Among Dust's guest musicians are Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) on Mellotron, organ, piano and electric piano; classical cellist Milori; guitarists Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) and Jeff Nolan; and Chris Goss (Masters of Reality) on background vocals.
"It seemed like everybody involved in this whole project was tuned into the same wavelength," Van enthuses. "Everybody was real loose and wanted to try different things. Anything was an option on this record."
Dust closes with one of the most ambitious pieces in the band's repertoire. "Gospel Plow" begins as a traditional Southern Baptist hymn, but spiced with tabla drums and a tamboura-like drone. It breaks into pure Screaming Trees riff-rock, laced with eerie Mellotron overtones, then returns to the hymn section for a gentle but unsettling fade-out. A complete aural acid trip in 6:32, "Gospel Plow" is enough to convert almost any sentient listener to the cult of the Screaming Trees.
The triumph of Dust didn't come easy. Following the release of Sweet Oblivion in September 1992, Screaming Trees toured for a solid year: as club head- liners, then in tandem with Alice In Chains, across the US and then throughout Europe. In June '93, the Trees joined Soul Asylum and Spin Doctors on MTV's "Alternative Nations" tour.
Van Conner recalls the latter excursion as "pretty bizarre--we played amusement parks, family entertainment places. Almost all of them were seated, and almost all the people who'd come to see us bought the cheap seats and were about a mile away!"
"Sometimes crazy stuff would happen. At one show in Canada, there were thousands of people who came early, and there were huge mosh pits forming way at the back, with people smashing into the fence and security freaking out. Other times, we'd be warned about using 'foul language' on stage. On a couple of nights, Lee ended up jumping out into the crowd during our last song. Then he'd try to get backstage again--and security wouldn't believe he was in the band. They'd try to haul him off and throw him out of the venue!"
In September '93, the band came off the road and immediately set to work on new material. In the spring of '94, the Trees entered Bad Animal Studios with producer Don Fleming and engineer John Agnello, with whom they'd worked on Sweet Oblivion.
An entire album was recorded but then rejected by the Trees themselves, who were certain they could do better.
"Those sessions didn't work for several reasons, and I put blame on the band more than on Don and John," says Mark Lanegan. "I just think we weren't ready to make the record--our hearts weren't in it. 'Dying Days' is the only song that was recut from those sessions and made it to this album, and it ended up a very different song. All the rest [of Dust] we wrote between that aborted record and this one."
In a process that began with the making of Sweet Oblivion, the four musicians began collaborating on a new set of songs hammered out from hundreds of pos- sible riffs, beats, and melodies.
Van Conner: "You start writing on your own and you get a couple of songs you like--say, a four-track version with a vocal, cut with a drum machine. You take it to the other guys, and somebody might take that tape home and do something completely different with it. Then we'll say 'this album needs something more scary' or 'something heavier,' and go on from there."
"Sweet Oblivion was the start of the process I'm describing. In the past we'd just go record the thing--now we actually consider whether we like the song or not! In the old days, it was like 'hey, somebody's gonna give us money to make a record--let's go make one!' Now we want to cut something you'd hear in ten years and it would still sound good. That's why we took so long with Dust, trying to make something timeless."
But the decision to start over meant additional unexpected delays. "We had to wait another six months for George [Drakoulias] while he worked on the Tom Petty box set," Van explains. "But we did come up with another couple of cool songs. Then when we started, George said 'This will take six weeks.' Well, it took six months! There were rehearsals, pre-production, recording, and then the holidays were in there too."
Band members filled their down time with a variety of outside projects. Barrett Martin formed Mad Season with Mike McCready, Layne Staley, and Baker; their Columbia album Above was released in March '95 and certified gold in June.
Mark Lanegan released his second Sub Pop solo album, Whiskey For The Holy Ghost, in January '94. With a band that included Barrett Martin, Mike Johnson and Jay Mascis of Dinosaur, Jr., and Mudhoney's Dan Peters, Mark also opened for Johnny Cash on shows in Seattle and Portland in the summer of '95.
"I was really, really afraid to play a solo show," the singer admits. "I did it as a gift for my father. It was the high point of his life to see Johnny Cash live."
This same lineup (minus Mascis, plus Dave Kreuger) backed Lanegan on his version of Willie Nelson's "She's Not You," released January '96 on the Justice Records compilation Twisted Willie.
With Dust finally settled, Screaming Trees will return to the road with two weeks of headlining club gigs beginning June 11, 1996 in Boston, Massachu- setts. On June 27, the Trees will begin the Lollapalooza tour (through August 9), appearing on the main stage bill with Metallica, Rancid, Soundgarden, and the Ramones.
"I'm looking forward to playing again," says Mark Lanegan. "It's been a long time since we've done any intense touring. It's the kind of thing you can't stand when you're doing it, but you miss it when you're not."
"Playing with the Ramones is like a childhood dream come true," adds Van Conner. "I told my dad we were playing with them on Lollapalooza. He said, 'You know, that's all you cared about when you were 16 years old: Playing on the same bill as the Ramones.' Now we're doing that...and a whole lot more."