Where have all the grunge bands gone? What happened to the days when groups from Seattle were all flying the flannel and recording on Sub Pop? Come on, you know the answer. Kurt Cobain got famous and everybody in the Pacific Northwest was quickly signed to a major label in hopes of achieving success close to that of Nirvana's classic Nevermind. Since Mr. Cobain ceremoniously checked himself out, high-profile bands like Soundgarden and Alice In Chains either imploded, got bored, or just plain self destructed.

While second-generation grungers Pearl Jam evolved into one of the most important arena-rock groups in America, the only bands that have really endured since the original era are the Screaming Trees and Mudhoney. Speaking from his West Seattle home, Mudhoney's Mark Arm agrees to discuss a full decade of music-making as well as his band's new album, Tomorrow Hit Today (Reprise). "It was 1988, that's when all four of us got together," Arm recalls. "The Screaming Trees pre-date Mudhoney by several years; of course, they've gone through different drummers and we've kept all the same people."

Those people, in case you didn't know, are singer-guitarist Arm, guitarist-guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Matt Lukin, and drummer Dan Peters. Since their inception, they've put out a grand total of six albums, a slew of EPs, and numerous singles. They've toured with everyone from Sonic Youth to Pearl Jam and really haven't changed all that much since their first single, "Touch Me I'm Sick/Sweet Young Thing," was released by Sub Pop in the summer of 1988. "When we first got together, we figured we knew two people who were starting up labels, and we could probably do a single with either Amphetamine Reptile or Sub Pop. It was almost the impetus for us being a band. All we really wanted to do was get a single out and that was it."

One contributing factor to Mudhoney's ability to survive the notorious adversity of today's music business is the band's tendency to take long breaks in between albums (and tours). "After the last record came out (1995's My Brother the Cow (Reprise)), we took a full year off," Arm explains. "We didn't speak to each other except for these threatening phone calls from each other's lawyers (laughs) ha-ha, funny joke. Then we got together in the late summer of '96 and slowly started working on songs. There just didn't seem like any great pressure to put out a record." Perhaps as a result, on the new disc the band's frenetic, post-metal/punk aesthetic triumphantly emerges both energized and exquisitely refreshed.

Another vital ingredient in Mudhoney's latest venture was the unanticipated appearance of Memphis-based producer Jim Dickinson. While Dickinson's noteworthy production credits include records with Big Star and the Replacements, it was his work with a little-known band named Clawhammer that led to this collaboration. "They worked with Jim and I thought that recording was definitely the best thing they had done. We'd mostly worked with the same two people from this area (who we love), Jack Endino and Conrad Uno, but we figured it was time to do something different."

The combination of Mudhoney's over-the-top grunge excess and Jim Dickinson's notorious Memphis Mojo has thankfully resulted in the band's most powerful effort since the seminal debut EP Superfuzz Bigmuff (1988, Sub Pop). Massively distorted electric guitars still clash and shudder while Arm sings/screams in an urgent voice that would hospitalize most modern vocalists. "I guess I've just got an iron esophagus or something," he comments.

While Tomorrow Hit Today is a strange confluence of Mudhoney's caustic sonic identity and inspired professionalism, credit to Jim Dickinson's unusual production genius cannot be overemphasized. "Jim really didn't want to leave Memphis," Arm explains. "He says things are different down there, and he can make things happen that won't occur anywhere else." although most of album was recorded in Seattle, the band did go down to Memphis to re-record some vocals and add a few overdubs. The results were far more exciting than Arm had anticipated. "To tell you the truth, when we went down there I thought I'd re-do the vocals on three or four songs. I ended up doing like twelve because things were going so well."

After a full decade's worth of touring and recording, Mudhoney's collective sense of humor remains undiminished. Songs like "Beneath the Valley of the Underdog" give a psychotronic nod to X-rated filmmaker Russ Meyer as well as the immortal jazz maestro Charles Mingus. Concurrently, "This Is the Life" is an shining example of astute social commentaryÑMudhoney styleÑas the band aggressively confronts the current sub-mentality of stripmall America. "If you drive around the country, things are the same all over the place, and that's not a good thing," says Arm. "It's kinda gross, all these places are losing their character, and there's a McDonalds and 7-Eleven on every corner. One of the weirdest things occurred when we were eating dinner in Atlanta. We looked down at the table to see that someone had carved the Nike Swoosh. What kind of a moron would be so into Nike that they would actually bother to carve the Swoosh? It's bizarre." Spoken like the true standard-bearer of a musical cause many have abandoned.

although Mark Arm and his right-hand men have been churning out state-of-the-art grunge for more than ten years, Mudhoney shows little signs of slowing down. But will Arm someday follow in the footsteps of Screaming Trees' vocalist Mark Lannegan and record a solo album filled with moody, acoustic-based material? Don't bet on it.

"Mark Lannegan has one of the best voices in the entire world and I really like his new album, but no, not me. "I work better in a group of people whom I feel I can trust, and who are better musicians than I am."

And that, my friends, is as apt a description of the Mudhoney collective that you will ever need to hear. Four guys who like and respect each other and make good music to boot. Something tells me that long after Eddie Vedder has taken off his Pearl Jammies to make a million-selling solo record, Mudhoney will still be alive and well and superfuzzing things up.