Friday night a piece of Seattle music history will be celebrated at Hard Rock Seattle when the documentary Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story is screened.
For those unfamiliar, Malfunkshun is the 1980s pre-grunge band started by brothers Kevin and Andy Wood, the latter of which went on to be the frontman for Mother Love Bone. Andy Wood died of a drug overdose in 1990 and some members of MLB went on to form a band you may know called Pearl Jam. Malfunkshun recently resurfaced for a brief set during the Brad and Friends show at Showbox at the Market. The same show saw all the members of Mother Love Bone reunite on stage to perform a three-song set with Shawn Smith of Brad/Satchel/Pigeonhed on vocals.
Brad continued its recent flurry of activity leading up to the late-summer release of its fourth studio album, “Best Friends?,” during the final night of a two-night stint at The High Dive Wednesday.
Within the past few months the band – which features the soulful and at times beautifully falsetto vocals of Shawn Smith and the guitar heroics of Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard –performed a high-profile show at the Showbox and landed a main stage slot at the Sasquatch! Music Festival. That’s quite a bit of activity for a group that only surfaces every few years. The two High Dive shows were less-hyped occasions with a more intimate environment and if the new material previewed at the High Dive is any indication, especially the excellent “Every Whisper,” the new record scheduled for released on Aug. 10 will be one of the band’s strongest offerings to date.
The Showbox at the Market hosted the most buzzed-about band rehearsal ever in Seattle Friday night when the reunited Soundgarden played its first show in nearly 13 years.
Being away from the stage for nearly a decade and a half didn’t seem to phase Soundgarden, which is gearing up for a headlining spot at Lollapalooza in August and other tour dates. Once the band hit its groove a few songs into its 18-song set the seminal grunge rockers were on top of their game and the ecstatic sold-out crowd was on top of the world. For 90 minutes they took a group of fist-pumping, mosh-pitting, hair-swinging fans on a ride filled with hits, deep album cuts and rarities.
All the pieces were in place for the makings of Soundgarden’s monstrous hybrid of straight-ahead rock and powerful, dark metal. Kim Thayil’s massive riffs, Chris Cornell’s wailing vocals, Ben Sheperd’s booming bass licks and Matt Cameron’s thunderous drumming all played equal roles in the band’s triumphant return. Things kicked off with “Spoonman” signaling what could’ve been a safe set of radio staples. But the minute the heavy, droning opening notes of “Gun” began, which was the second song of the set, it was clear the show wouldn’t be a romp through the hits (“Burden in My Hand,” “Black Hole Sun” and “Jesus Christ Pose” were noticeably missing from the set list). Soundgarden not only proved they are back they also made a statement that they’ve come back on their own terms, and those terms don’t necessarily involve catering to the members of their fanbase who know them best because of commercial radio.
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