How are you gonna write an article about Mudhoney without talking about Green River? Singer Mark Arm and guitarist Steve Turner were two of Green River's founding members (and were responsible for most of the good songs on the band's first EP), but Turner, unhappy with the groups direction, left the band after their first record, while Arm stayed around until the final breakup late last year.

The two had also collaborated on the Thrown Ups, Seattle’s lewdest and rudest combo of punk/sludge porn rockers, so starting a new band together seemed like an obvious step, especially since Turner was already jamming with ex-Bundle of Hiss drummer Dan Peters. Ex-Melvins bassist Matt Lukin was hanging out in Aberdeen following the breakup of that band and presto-chango a band was created.

A Seattle scene supergroup? Mark just laughs at that suggestion. "I don't look at it like that," he said, in a phone interview from L.A., during the band's just completed West Coast tour. "Any new band is put together from people who've played in other bands. It's not like we're Eric Clapton or somebody like that."

Mark, who hadn't played guitar onstage since his days with Mr. Epp, took up the axe again "because Steve demanded that i play guitar." This suited Mark just fine, because he wanted two guitars in the band, but said he always had a hard time getting guitarists to make some of the sounds he likes best, like hitting a chord and holding it for a long time. "They'd refuse to play it, they'd say 'It's too simple,'" he said.

Too much guitar nonsense was behind Turner's decision to quit Green River as well, departing the band right before their first tour. The band’s sound had "changed drastically," he said, from the simple riffs they had started with to long, overblown songs more reminiscent of Iron Maiden or Venom than anyone, said Steve.

The Thrown-Ups, whose songs cover subjects ranging from sex to more sex, have a well-earned reputation for their bizarre onstage antics. Antics like throwing dirt all over the floor of the men’s bathroom at the Central, adding water, rolling in it and playing their set. This incident, though, was not the inspiration behind the name Mudhoney, which is taken from a 1965 Russ Meyer movie of the same name.

Mark was also lengendary for his stupendous stage leaps, like the time he earned a perfect ten for ruining the evening of a couple at the old Rainbow Tavern, who could have sworn they were out of his range until he landed in the iddle of their table like a heat seeking missile. But, even with a guitar to hold him down, he hasn't calmed down much, as the live photos on the band's new EP, Superfuzz Bigmuff, demonstrate.

"Superfuzz Bigmuff," for you non-musicians out there, are brand names for distortion units. I can remember the revelation of getting my first $11 fuzztone in the mail ("so THIS is how those rockstars do it!") and can only assume that Mudhoney is still happily wallowing in the oceans of fuzzzz those little boxes can turn out.

"GRUNGE ROCK" is becoming the common term for the swinging garage sounds hitting vinyl everywhere of late, a style which Mudhoney are Seattle's undisputed kings. Steve speaks eloquently in defense of this charge: "I'm not just into grungy, two-chord rock, I'm into, uh, less grungy two-chord rock too." Well put guy.

The grunge rock label is kind of the band's fault anyway, Steve admits. "We picked, I think, our two grungiest songs for the single," he said. The band members were surprised by the massive amount of interest around the country in their first single, "Touch me, I'm sick," which is set for re-release on black vinyl "with a big hole and even a cover," notes Mark. "It's kind of surprising it took off as fast as it did," agrees Dan. "we didn't start off all that serious about it."

But, of course, that could be the trick to the band's rapid acceptance. Dan, whose former group never really toured outside of Washington state, has already played L.A. and Berlin with Mudhoney and the band is set to tour Europe May and June with Sonic Youth. Instead of hungering for a big label deal, the band actually credits a lot of its success to their handling by Seattle's Sup Pop label. "It's nice to be able to keep in contact with them," says Dan. "Another label might be more prestigious, but they've got like 500 bands." Not that there's any hard feelings about other Seattle groups signing big deals. "I think it's great my friends are getting money off of fat rich guys," says Mark.

Coming up is a Mudhoney / Sonic Youth single, which will feature each band covering a tune by the other band. Steve and Mark even joined Sonic Youth and Red Kross onstage for a jam during their tour. Sonic Youth met Mark and Steve on the several occasions that Green River opened shows for them.

In fact, for a band that hasn't even been saddled with a nice guy reputation, the members of Mudhoney didn't really have harsh words for anyone or anything, except for maybe the cities of Los Angeles and Portland.

Mark tells the classic L.A. story of the band dropping by the club where Green River played their final show. The owner greeted him enthusiastically, asked why Green River hadn't played here on this tour and even seemed interested in the fact he was in a new band on tour. Until he asked for a break on the club's steep cover charge. "No," he said flatly and stomped off.

But can even L.A.'s weirdness and Portland's boredom keep this band down? Down bet on it, honey.