The importance of Mudhoney cannot be underestimated The Seattle based quartet rose from the ashes Of several infamous Punk bands, most notably Mr. Epp and Green River. Mudhoney's brilliant 'Touch Me I'm Sick" single brought Sub Pop to the lemming masses of drooling college radio fanboys and kicked off the 7" collector scum craze.

Mudhoney's eponymous album spawned such scuzzed out hits as "Flat Out Fucked" and "Here Comes Sickness." The band toured on the crest of Sub Pop mania, creating a travelling circus of musical chaos. The band subsequently has recorded several albums for Reprise Records, the latest being My Brother the Cow. The band has had an interesting career offstage as well, including visiting The White House and appearing in two movies, Singles and Tommy Boy.

Guitarist Steve Turner is proprietor of Super Electro records which has recently released a CD retrospective of Mr. Epp, the early 80's hardcore/art band that allowed Turner and frontman Mark Arm to refine their Punk rock skills before starting Mudhoney. A Conversation I had with Steve Turner hinted he had Some hilarious Mudhoney tour stories, so I sent Yak'uz'a assistant editor Audrey Hillyard to track down Turner to relate the Scoop on touring, life during Reagan, movie stardom and more. Dave McGurgan

What was the first Mudhoney tour like? How did it compare to your last tour?

The first Mudhoney tour was in the fall of '88. Most of the shows were very small, and we stayed on people's floors. But after 3 weeks or so, we hooked up with Sonic Youth for a couple of weeks. The shows got bigger then. Our last tour was June '95, and we stayed in hotels, and played bigger shows.

What are some of the differences between touring the USA and Europe?

In '89 and '90 the European crowds were different everywhere we went, but later, they all knew what to do at rock shows (like mosh and dive) so it got to be the same. Blame MTV I guess.

You mentioned to Dave an incident on tour where Dan shit his pants in the van. Is it true?

Dan shit his pants in the van. Yes. He was asleep and something happened. It smelled bad, and someone screamed and then we all screamed. Dan wouldn't admit he was the problem for a few minutes he just agreed that something smelled bad. But then he came clean, and we stopped the van and got out.

We stood around and laughed. Dan changed his pants, put the dirty pants in the rear bumper and got back in the van. When we got home a couple of weeks later, the dirty pants were still there. I asked Dan if he was gonna keep the pants. He said "no," so I took them, and washed them, and wore them for a while. They didn't fit me very well, so I gave them to Goodwill. Who knows where they are now.

You also mentioned skinheads slamdancing with giant cardboard boxes; is that the wackiest crowd behavior you've ever seen?

I'm not really sure what the skinheads slam dancing with cardboard boxes was all about. It was in Kansas City, and we had played an all-ages show, then went to a house party afterwards.

This was 1988, so a Kansas City Punk Rock House Party was culture shock to us. In the basement, there were five skinheads slamming with giant cardboard boxes, and diving into walls and screaming and cussing and spitting. The chicks were loving it, watching from the stairs. Boy, they really beat up those boxes.

Do you remember the best Mudhoney show? The worst?

I've no idea about the best Mudhoney show, or the worst. But I trust other people's judgement...

I read on the Unofficial Mudhoney page (top.monad.net/~cloutiers/darren/mudhoney) that Mudhoney won't be touring for a while because you wanted a break. Is that true? Do you still enjoy touring, or has it become a drag?

Yep, I wanted a break from touring. We never toured as much as some bands, like Soundgarden or NOFX, but it seemed like a lot to me. I don't hate it, I've just done enough to last me a while.

What do you like most about touring? What do you do on your days off? Touring is great in the beginning because you've never done it, then it's cool to go see the friends you have in different cities. I'm afraid I go to record stores on my days off on tour...or at least walk around a little bit.

Who have you enjoyed touring with? Anybody you'd like to tour with?

We've toured with a lot of our fave bands through the years, so of course we enjoyed ft! Nothing better than having someone like Dan Bohan, age 23, with you for months at a time.

You've made appearances in Black Sheep and Singles. Do you like working on movies and making videos?

I like movies, don't like videos. But we've never had Chris Farley in a video.

How would you compare touring larger venues with playing clubs? Most people seem to prefer smaller places.

Saying you like playing smaller venues is kind of expected, but it's true. I'd rather see a band in someone's basement. Rock shows are boring. Lollapalooza is marketed and designed to separate kids from their money. If the smart kids are smart, they'll stay away from it all. See you in the basement, man.

Have you ever met anybody that you consider famous? Ever had any celebrities show up at one of your gigs?

We almost met President Clinton, but he talked to Pearl Jam, and left us in the hallway. We did meet Ron Reagan Jr., though. He asked us about heroin in Seattle, I told him about all the hardcore songs about his dad.