Mudhoney

Grunge didn’t die, it just went away for a while.

And for fans of the first wave of that fuzzy, distorted goodness to come out of America it’s been a big year or more in Hobart. A damn big year at that.

As if the visit of Dinosaur Jr a while back wasn’t enough of a treat, having groundbreakers of the Seattle sound,Mudhoney, front up for a night at The Brisbane was downright awesome.

The gig sold out a good month in advance – another indication of how pumped the local scene was to welcome the four-piece to town – and it was no surprise I couldn’t make my way far past the door when I arrived with minutes to spare before the set kicked off.

The crowd was as I expected. Plenty of folks who’d been fans of the band in their first flush of youth and plenty of others who looked more likely to have been introduced to the chunky guitar goodness more recently, perhaps by cool older siblings.

Mudhoney were soon ushered past me and onto the stage. Four fairly average looking dudes who were about to make an above average racket to the assembled and hooting fans.

Moments into the set, hands and fists and elbows and knees were appearing above the sea of heads at the front of stage.

Among the first barrage of tracks was ‘Poisoned Water Poisons The Mind’, its bluesy lick and Mark Arm’s caustic vocal cutting through the room.

Steve Turner and Guy Maddison looked to be cruising along and while I couldn’t see drummer Dan Peters above the crowd in front of me, it sure sounded like he was giving his kit a hell of a time.

With a massive back catalogue at their disposal it was always going to be a big night of big sound and Mudhoney didn’t disappoint, leaving punters with just one more question.

Who’s next?

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