Mark Arm

Mark Arm
Mark Arm in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Mark Thomas McLaughlin
Born	(1962-02-21) February 21, 1962 Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, U.S.
Genres	Grunge alternative rock garage punk hardcore punk heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, Warehouse manager
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Sub Pop, Reprise, C/Z, Homestead, Tasque Force
Spouse	Emily Rieman
Website	mudhoney.net

Mark Arm (born Mark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for the grunge band Mudhoney. His former group, Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along with Malfunkshun, Soundgarden, Skin Yard, the U-Men, and others. He is also the manager of the Sub Pop warehouse and previously worked at Fantagraphics Books.

Early life

Arm was born February 21, 1962, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and was raised in Kirkland, Washington. As a child, he was a member of Boy Scouts of America. He graduated from Bellevue Christian High School in Bellevue, Washington.

In 1985, Arm earned an English degree with an emphasis in creative writing from the University of Washington.

Early career

Arm first entered the Seattle rock scene in 1980, when he formed a band while still in high school, called "Mr. Epp and the Calculations" with singer Jo Smitty, and Peter Wick, who wrote and recorded their first song,"The Pigeon in the Fountain bed," which caused local radio DJ Stephen Rabow to declare them, "The worst band in the world." The band played its first show in 1981, opening for the band Student Nurse. In 1982 they released a 7-inch EP entitled "Mohawk Man", produced by Johnny Rubato (of Rubato Records, a local used record shop for more than 30 years). The next year they added a second guitarist, Steve Turner, and released a cassette described on the lyric sheet as a "combination of art and hardcore." The cassette featured one side of live recordings and a flip-side of studio recordings and experimental sounds; a sonic amalgamy described in a 1984 issue of Revenge Against Boredom 'zine (produced by notable skateboarding historian Jocko Weyland), as "45 or so minutes of Pillow Fights, Jokes, some songs, preachers' garbled talking. And you get to find out what you get if you give up your personality."

Mr. Epp and the Calculations also played with Ten Minute Warning and the Dead Kennedys at the Eagles Auditorium in April. The band came to an end the following year.

After Mr. Epp and the Calculations ended, Mark Arm and Steve Turner (who had become close friends) joined the band Limp Richerds for a few weeks. Afterward, Arm and Turner took on future Pearl Jam members Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, as well as Alex Vincent, to form the band Green River. Green River released two EPs and a full length album before disbanding. Steve Turner left the band to finish college, and Arm was forced to find a new band again. After Turner returned from schooling, they resumed their Green River side project, The Thrown Ups.

Mudhoney

Arm and Turner took on drummer Dan Peters, and bassist Matt Lukin, formerly of Melvins. The new band renamed themselves Mudhoney. In 1988, Sub Pop released Mudhoney's first single, "Touch Me I'm Sick". After extensive touring and an EP album, Mudhoney released their self-titled full length debut in 1989. Their next album, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge came out soon after, just before the explosion of grunge spearheaded by Nirvana's seminal Nevermind. At the time, Sub Pop, their record label, was "on the verge of bankruptcy, having trouble paying its flagship band, severely delaying the release of the album to July 1991." In 1992, they signed to a major record label, Reprise and released Piece of Cake. The album did not sell well, due to a combination of the band's uncompromising sound and an oversaturation of the genre; according to Stephen Turner, the album references "how easily things had come to them...the songs were kinda half-baked... and Mark wasn't at his best."

Although they never achieved the fame of some of their contemporaries, Arm and Mudhoney have made significant contributions to grunge music. Mudhoney is one of the few grunge bands that continue to release albums; in 2002 they released Since We've Become Translucent, The Lucky Ones followed in May 2008, Vanishing Point came in April 2013, and, most recently, Digital Garbage came out in September 2018. All of these releases have been on the Sub Pop record label.

Solo and side projects

Arm released "The Freewheelin' Mark Arm", a solo single in 1990.

He was a singer and guitarist for the group Bloodloss and singer for the Seattle supergroup The Monkeywrench. Monkeywrench members include Arm, Turner, Tim Kerr (Lord Hi Fixers, Big Boys, Poison 13), Tom Price (Gas Huffer) and Martin Bland (Bloodloss). He has also made guest appearances on several albums, most notably on Alice in Chains' 1992 EP Sap.

In 1998, he made an appearance on the motion picture soundtrack for the film Velvet Goldmine with Ron Asheton, Mike Watt, Thurston Moore, and Steve Shelley under the name Wylde Ratttz.

In 1999, he recorded the vocals for the song "I Need Somebody", a cover of the song by The Stooges, featured on Nebula's first album, To the Center.

In 2000, Arm, Turner, Peters, Scott McCaughey, Tom Price and Bill Henderson recorded the album "The New Original Sonic Sound" under the band name The New Strychnines. they recorded a compilation of 16 songs by the legendary mid-1960's Seattle garage band The Sonics. The album was released by Book Records.

In 2004, he toured with MC5, standing in for the late Rob Tyner on vocals.

In 2013, he contributed vocals on The Scientists' cover version of "Set It on Fire" from Melvins' album Everybody Loves Sausages.

Personal life

When grunge exploded in the early 1990s, Arm wrote a comedic nonfiction essay about smoking pot and going to the Clinton White House with Pearl Jam.

In 2008, he told the Washington Post's Express, "I don't smoke pot all that much. I did get stoned last night, though [laughs] – after the show. I'm not opposed to smoking pot or to people smoking pot. Every now and again I smoke a joint, but I don't get stoned and come up with creative ideas. I usually get paralyzed on the couch."

According to an article in the magazine Mojo, Arm started using heroin in 1987 and by the summer of 1989, "...it had all caught up with me". Apparently, the band had little patience for his addiction, so he would "use heroin when Mudhoney were off the road, then stop as they prepared to leave. 'So I was real used to quitting,' Arm says. 'You go through these flu-like symptoms for a couple of days, then you think about it for months.'" Arm hit his nadir on New Year's Eve 1992 when he overdosed for the fourth time. He stopped using heroin in 1993 upon becoming involved with Emily Rieman, now his wife.

Further reading

• Michael Azerrad, Our Band Could Be Your Life, (USA: Little Brown, 2001, ISBN 0-316-06379-7) has a chapter on Mudhoney.

External links

• Mark Arm interview on theskinny.co.uk (February 2006)
• Long 2008 interview with the Washington Post's Express