Kevin Wood | |
|---|---|
 Kevin Wood of Malfunkshun | |
| Background information | |
| Born | September 16, 1961 RAF Wroughton Air Force Base |
| Origin | Seattle, WA |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) |
|
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | http://malfunkshun.org/home.html |
Kevin David Wood [1] (born September 16, 1961) is an American musician known for playing lead guitar in various Seattle-based bands he founded during the Grunge era in the Pacific Northwest.
Wood had younger brothers Brian and Andrew Wood. The Wood family lived the longest on Bainbridge Island, Washington, [2] which is a short ferry ride from Seattle. All three brothers had musical aspirations, Kevin Wood played guitar, and both Andrew and Brian learned to sing. Over time, Kevin and his younger brothers formed several seminal Seattle bands including Malfunkshun, [3] Mother Love Bone, [4] The Fire Ants, [5] and Devilhead. [6]
In 1980 Kevin co-founded Malfunkshun with his youngest brother and lead singer Andrew Wood and drummer Regan Hagar. [3] In 1986 the band contributed two tracks on the compilation Deep Six released by the Seattle-based record label C/Z Records. In addition to Malfunkshun, Deep Six also featured tracks from Green River, Soundgarden, The Melvins, and Skin Yard. [7] Based on exposure from Deep Six's release, Malfunkshun began opening live shows for Soundgarden, Skin Yard, and the U-Men.
However, the band broke up in 1988 when Andrew Wood left Malfunkshun to start Mother Love Bone, which after Andrew's death in 1990, enlisted Eddie Vedder as the new lead singer and renamed themselves Pearl Jam.
During their time together in Malfunkshun, Kevin, Andrew, and Regan, had recorded many eight-track studio demos, but never released a proper album. In 1995, Kevin and Regan worked with Stone Gossard to release a collection of these recordings, known as Return to Olympus, on Gossard's Loosegroove record label. [8]
In 1991 Kevin Wood formed The Fire Ants with his brother Brian Wood as lead singer, former Nirvana member Chad Channing on drums, and Dan McDonald on bass. [9] After signing with Seattle label Dekema Records, the band recorded demo tracks with engineer Marty Jourard, who was previously known for playing keyboards for the American new wave band The Motels. [10]
After the demo sessions, the band entered Reciprocal Recording studio with producer Jack Endino, who is commonly known as the godfather of grunge for his work on seminal albums from bands like Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden. [11] These sessions reunited Endino and Chad Channing in the studio where they had previously recorded Nirvana's ‘Bleach’ together. Endino was assisted during the recordings by engineer Phil Ek who later went on to produce albums for Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, and Mudhoney. [12]
The resulting release ‘Stripped’ was a 6-track EP that included lead single ‘Bodies by the Side of the Road’, as well as ‘Mine, His, Alive’, ‘100 Wives’, ‘Waiting on your love’, ‘Powerhead’ and ‘The Letter Says (demo track)’.
In 2015, Dekema Records worked with Jack Endino to remaster Stripped's six original tracks and add nine unreleased tracks from the demo sessions with Jourard. The expanded album was released under the name 'Stripped (Deluxe Edition)'.
In 1992, following the break-up of The Fire Ants, Kevin Wood co-founded his new band Devilhead, working again with his brother Brian as lead singer. While the Wood brothers were the only permanent members of the band, contributors included Dan McDonald, formerly of The Fire Ants, and bassist John Waterman and guitarist John McBain, both from the band Hater. Devilhead released two albums, 'Your Ice Cream's Dirty' in 1994 and 'Pest Control' in 1996, on Stone Gossard's Loosegrove record label. [13]
Kevin Wood teamed up with Mother Love Bone drummer Greg Gilmore to reform Malfunkshun and record the 'Her Eyes' album [14] in 2002.
Following that album, Wood teamed back up with original drummer Regan Hagar in 2006 and the two decided to record a new album using lyrics written by original lead singer Andy Wood. Wood contacted singer Shawn Smith (Brad, Satchel) to see if he would be interested in joining the band. According to Wood, Smith had recently had a dream about Andy Wood and was ready to join them the next day in the recording studio. [15] The band, rounded out by bassist Cory Kane, recorded new songs using Andy's lyrics, a handful of vintage Malfunkshun tracks including 'Love Child' and 'My Love', and a reworked version of Mother Love Bone's 'Man of Golden Words'. [15] While originally conceived as a Malfunkshun album, the band ultimately decided to release it under the band name 'Kevin Wood & From the North'. In acknowledgement of its legacy, the release was titled 'Malfunkshun Monument'. [16] In 2021, the band released their newest album titled “Glow” with lead singer Jeff Stark.
Mother Love Bone was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1988. The band was active from 1988 to 1990. Frontman Andrew Wood's charisma and songwriting helped to catapult the group to the top of the burgeoning Seattle music scene at the time. Wood died shortly before the scheduled release of the band's debut album Apple, resulting in the breakup of the band. The album was released a few months later, though many recollections of demos, b-sides, and live performances were released and given to the general public as well.
Green River was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984. Considered one of the first grunge bands, Green River is best known for being the precursor to multiple key early 1990s rock bands, most notably Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, and Love Battery. Green River reunited for several live shows in 2008 and 2009.
Kim Anand Thayil is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of the Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he co-founded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984. Cornell and Thayil remained as the original members of the band until Cornell's death in 2017, and the band's subsequent split in 2018. Thayil was named the 100th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2010, and the 67th greatest guitarist of all time by SPIN in 2012. Thayil has won two Grammy Awards as a member of Soundgarden.
Stone Carpenter Gossard is an American musician who serves as a guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band.
Andrew Patrick Wood was an American musician who was the lead singer and lyricist for the alternative rock bands Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. He formed Malfunkshun in 1980 with his older brother Kevin Wood on guitar and Regan Hagar on drums. The band used alter ego personas onstage; Wood performed as Landrew the Love Child. Though the band only released two songs before going on an extended hiatus, "With Yo' Heart " and "Stars-n-You", on the Deep Six compilation album, they are often cited as being among the originators of the Seattle grunge movement. While in Malfunkshun, Wood started using drugs, entering rehab in 1985.
Malfunkshun is an American rock band formed in 1980 by brothers Andrew and Kevin Wood. Combining glam influences with distortion, they were one of the earliest grunge bands, forming alongside the U-Men and Melvins. Their definitive lineup consists of the brothers and drummer Regan Hagar. After interactions with fellow grunge act Green River, Andrew would become the frontman for successor Mother Love Bone. Malfunkshun dissolved without having released much material, although they recorded demos and appeared in the landmark grunge compilation Deep Six.
Brad was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1992. Their sound was influenced by the wide variety of influences brought by its members, including Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, Regan Hagar, Shawn Smith, and Jeremy Toback.
Shawn Smith was an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was a member of the Seattle-based alternative and indie rock bands Brad, Satchel, Pigeonhed, and The Twilight Singers, and also performed as a solo artist.
Skin Yard was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington, that was active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on several of their grunge contemporaries, including Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, and Green River.
Come On Down is the debut EP by the Seattle-based alternative rock band Green River. It was released in November 1985 through Homestead Records, while the band were on their first US tour. It is considered the first grunge record because it was released several months before the Deep Six album that included them as well as five other Seattle grunge bands.
Return to Olympus is the debut studio album by the American rock band Malfunkshun and the only album to feature both original vocalist Andrew Wood and Kevin Wood. The album was released after the band had disbanded and following the death of Andrew Wood from a drug overdose in 1990. Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam compiled the songs and released the album on his and Malfunkshun drummer Regan Hagar's label, Loosegroove Records.
Jack Endino is an American producer and musician based in Seattle, Washington. Long associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands including Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Nirvana. He was also the guitarist for Seattle band Skin Yard, which was active between 1985 and 1992. Endino currently manages a studio in Seattle called Soundhouse, owned by Mike Sebring.
Regan Hagar is an American musician. Primarily a drummer, he also plays keyboard and guitar on occasion.
Dekema Records is a record label that first achieved notice in the 1990s for releasing the EP "Stripped" by the seminal grunge rock group the Fire Ants. Dekema used music producer Jack Endino to record the band at Word of Mouth studios in 1992. Endino is best known for producing "Bleach" by Nirvana and his work with Sub Pop artists such as Mudhoney and Soundgarden.
Shame is the debut studio album by the American rock band Brad. It was released on April 27, 1993, through Epic Records.
Loosegroove Records is a Seattle based record label formed by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard and Brad drummer Regan Hagar in 1994. Initially a subsidiary of Sony before going independent in 1996, Loosegroove signed many up and coming artists from various musical genres, especially rock and hip hop. Significantly, Gossard signed Queens of the Stone Age to Loosegroove, releasing the band's debut album in 1998. Others who worked with Loosegroove include Critters Buggin, Weapon of Choice, Malfunkshun, Devilhead, Prose and Concepts, Ponga, Hi Fi Killers, Nash Kato and Eureka Farm. Loosegroove also released the Seattle Hip Hop Compilation 14 Fathoms Deep in January 1997, and the soundtrack to the movie Chicago Cab in 1998. Loosegroove Records closed in 2000. In 2000 the Loosegroove catalog was acquired by WILL Records, who now operates as Lakeshore Records.
Devilhead were an American alternative rock group formed by brothers Kevin Wood (guitar) and Brian Wood (vocals), who were both elder brothers of the late Andrew Wood, the singer of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, in 1994 in Seattle, Washington following the breakup of their previous group The Fire Ants. Both Kevin and Brian were the only permanent members of the group and they released two albums, Your Ice Cream's Dirty in 1994 on Loosegroove Records, with album art by Regan Hagar; and Pest Control in 1996, which featured a number of contributors including bassist John Waterman and guitarist John McBain, both of the band Hater. For a period in 1997, former Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd was a member of the band. They were also briefly fronted by Green Apple Quick Step front man Tyler Willman before eventually disbanding.
Deep Six is a 1986 compilation album featuring six Seattle-based rock bands. It was the first release by C/Z Records, with a catalogue number of CZ01 for 2,000 copies. The album was reissued as a joint C/Z Records/A&M Records release on April 5, 1994.
Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story is a 2005 documentary film produced, directed, and edited by Scot Barbour, based on the life of Andrew Wood, singer/songwriter for the Seattle-based alternative rock bands Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. The film includes interviews with fellow Seattle musicians and friends such as Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, Jeff Ament, and Stone Gossard.
6 Songs for Bruce, also commonly known as the 4-Track Demo, is an early single-sided demo cassette tape by American rock band Soundgarden.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)