Seattle grunge is state of mind SEATTLE (AP) — Ah. to b« young and grungy in the spring time. In .Seattle, the Wonderland of Grunge, them's not a day on the calendar when you can't be blasted into dreamy-eved obliv ion by super-fueled guitar, gut wrenching bass and drums that pound, pound, pound It's Nirvana. Actually, it's not anymore. You'll have to pay close to $30 to see those? grunge rockers gone golden, but there are plenty of bands still in the city belting it out nightly. What is a grunge band, any way? Like life, grunge is hard to define, but it has certain recog nizable characteristics. Grunge often sounds like Engine Kid, whose show and record release party I caught recently at the Weathered Wall. Sure, the lead singer had a Brady Bunch haircut and was wearing a green polyester shirt buttoned to the top, but the music was fierce Seemingly every song went from clean, gently plucked notes to pound ing borre chords and shouted, sometimes screamed vocals. No guitar solos — a characteristic of true grunge. (Solos are for posers, heavy metal guitar heroes and Eric Clapton wannabees.) Engine Kid was preceded by Dirt Fishermen, a group fronted by two female guitarists and singers that's begun to develop a loyal following. Are they grunge, too? Sure. The clothes fit the grunge image, and the guitar, running from nifty start-stop rhythms to fairly complex scale runs, fits the grunge criteria In other words, it's loud. How about the Kent 3? I saw their show at the Off Ramp recently. The music is sweaty, shirtless thump more akin to punk rock than the smooth, dis torted chunk of Nirvana. Pearl Jain and other great big grunge acts. But then, if Nirvana weren't punk rock when they were working the Seattle circuit. I don't what to call them. Sure, the Kent 3 is grunge. The Family? This band fea tures a wall of guitar noise no earplugs can take you over, and a Charles Manson lookalike wandering around the stage in prison coveralls. A wad of gui tar-hero type solos in every song make it more like thrash metal, but when it's so loud, who can tell? The Bumping Uglies, a thumping three-piece that opens its set with a tightly poetic round of swearing, is most defi nitely grunge. You can tell by the knit stocking caps. No Good No Evil is grunge, even though all their songs have catchy hooks and tasty guitar Mob fights end show by Screaming Trees YAKIMA. Wash. (AP) _ A concert by the alternative music (Mind The ScreamingTrees was stopped early when fights broke out in a mob that had rushed the stage. Police were called to quell the Tuesday night violence in the crowd of about 500 There were no arrests or serious injuries, but seats were smashed in the Capitol Theater The hand, formed in nearby Ellensburg, has made recent appearances on Lute Sight with David Ij’tterman and 1 h? Tonight Show with lay Lena They had played just a few num bers before music was stopped about 9:30 pm. when fans jumped on stage At least 15 police officers formed a wall across the stage short ly after band members announced they wouldn't play anymore. Trouble began during the opening performance of the Seat tle band l-ove Battery, when a crew member hurled a fan off the stage into the crowd. Some fans grablied the crow member and toned him into the crowd, causing others to rush the stage Theater management and Screaming Trees singer Mark Iana gnn tried to quiet the mob. "Stay in your seats. It’s cool with us," lanegun said, but the crowd did not comply. Brett Eliason. tour manager for the Screaming Trees, said the incident was unusual for the (wind and blamed inadequate secu rity. Theater manager Steve Caffery said there had bueu minor inci dents in past concerts, but "we didn't think something like this would happen." Damage was a dozen broken theater chairs and a broken light. Caffery said. He said it would lie the last such concert in the l.SOO-mat the ater. a restored vaudeville-era house more accustomed to sym phonies and traveling Broadway productions. Caffery said the Screaming Trees quit playing voluntarily when things got out of hand. “The band was concerned about the safety of the kids," he said. licks; The Rhino Humpers are grunge for their attitudes alone — not so much a sneering at the crowd as a disdainfulness that hardly recognizes the others in the room. Hand of Sand, a hand from across Puget Sound in Poulsbo. is grunge, despite tight three part harmonies, a female drum mer who makes percussive mag ic and songs good enough to listen to without earplup. Heck, they've got the grungy look and ves, they're loud. My own band could tie lumped into the grunge catego ry, despite a lot of guitar-hero solos and songs with fairly com plex changes. We're loud enough for grunge, and we re not pretty. Bathtub Gin. who sound more like a good, clean hard-rock Iwnd. are grunge because they're from Seattle and they dress down. Their non-label demo tape is getting some solid airplay on a lota I FM rock station Even whitemaleguilt is grunge (sorry, guys), despite oodles of smoothly textured guitar and soaring vocals, for their casual onstage approach. m Seattle bands often complain that the national media lump* them all under grunge. Well, we do. If they'd blow-dry their hair, squeeze into full-length spandex tights and trade their flannel and black military boots for artfully ripped tank tops and boot slip Crs, they’d be heavy metal glam nds. Perish the thought. Grunge is simplicity in dress, and usually in music The names are where it gets imaginative. On any given night you can see Blow-N-Smoke, Fear the Cow. Girl With 100 Heads. Mama Troll. The Hungry Crocodiles. Poverty’s Child. Rawhead. The Pleasure Flite. Alcohol Funny (iar. Tad. Stink. Conifer Bog. Panic. The Tramps of Panic, Voodoo Gearshift, and my personal favorite, Big Dad dy Meatstraw Not all of these are grunge bands, (no one admits being in a ’’grunge’’ band anyway), but they’re all part of the still-boom ing Seattle scene. We ll get to know a few of them on a more personal basis in upcoming columns. n TTT Central America Film Series Thursdays at 7pm in Gilbert 138 May 20 Maria*s Story 1991 -a 39-yearow Salvadoran mother who joins the rebel movement An inspiring behind the lines look at FMLN.—SO mins. Elvia: Fight for Land and Liberty in Honduras l9*»-£lvia Alvarado, a peasant activist, organizes land takeovers and social reform —27 mins. Him: footage from a repopulated community in El Salvador ALL FILMS ARE FREE Sponsored by Sister University Project & Latin American Support Committee CHEAP SEATS! BRING THIS AD IN FOR $1.50 ADMISSION FOR ONE G(X>0 1ST WATINtt SHOW ONLY MOH TMUH Of HR GOOD 1 "MU . ! 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