mudhoney | birmingham | 1989

i wasn't a big subpop fan really. in fact i only really liked tad.
but i REALLY liked tad (there's a story about them too...but it can wait for now).
they appealed to the heavy metal side of me that, though deeply buried, had never really left me.



but the membranes were supporting at edwards no. 8 in birmingham and john robb had asked me along.
it wasn't a memorable gig musically.
but something happened that evening that still makes me laugh when i think about it.

edwards no. 8 had a really nice backstage area - it was in fact a seperate bar that i presume was opened during certain nights, but was solely for the use of the bands on gig nights.

dog faced hermans had just released "every day timebomb" on john's label vinyl drip and i was sat at a table with the membranes discussing just how f*cking astonishing a record it was.
(and it was).



mudhoney were sitting at the next table with their entourage.
a brummy journalist came in, had a quick look around, and made a beeline for the membranes.
he introduced himself and we all said hello and then he started interviewing john.
now, for those of you that don't know (though i'm sure a lot of you do as he's all over the TV nowadays) john has a particularly broad lancashire accent.
the journalist's opening question was, "so are you enjoying the UK?".
"erm, yeah - it's alright", john replied, and the interview continued.
it went on for a good 15 minutes as i remember.
and from that first question it was obvious that the journo thought the membranes were mudhoney regardless of the fact that at the next table a bunch of longhairs sat drinking beer and talking in loud american accents.