By Jim Rowland
The Screaming Trees were at the very heart of the Seattle music scene of the late 80’s/early 90’s that produced the grunge phenomenon of that period. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden loved and admired them, but somehow The Screaming Trees missed out on the same kind of worldwide commercial success that those bands enjoyed. Barrett Martin was the drummer in the Screaming trees from 1991 until their demise in 2000. ‘The Greatest Band That Ever Wasn’t’ tells his story of those years, and goes a long way to explaining just why that major league success eluded them.
The subtitle to this book is “a comedy/tragedy in three acts”, and indeed there is plenty of comedy and tragedy in this story, with the book split into the three “acts” of ‘ascension’, ‘descension’ and ‘redemption’. It’s a tale of fistfights, excessive drinking, excessive drug use, excessive touring, bad decisions, good decisions, bad luck and good luck, all of which ultimately shaped the destiny of The Screaming Trees, for better or worse.
‘The Greatest Band That Ever Wasn’t’ is very well written and is a very easy, and addictive, book to read, with each bite-size chapter recounting its own little story, and each one following in pretty much chronological order. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Trees’ legendary frontman Mark Lanegan is central to many of the tales told, but aside from all of the other band members, the likes of Alice In Chains’ Layne Staly, REM’s Peter Buck, Chris Cornell, Mike McCready and even Oasis and Johnny Cash all feature in this crazy story along the way.
You certainly don’t have to be a big Screaming Trees fan to appreciate this book – it’s a great rock’n’roll story regardless, in fact one of the best I’ve read in quite some time, and if the Trees were not high on your radar at the time, you will very likely find yourself exploring their music, and that of side project Mad Season, who also feature, to add a little reference point soundtrack to the whole story. After all, the failure of The Screaming Trees to hit the real major league, which at one time was fully expected, was certainly not down to the quality of the music and songs – the Trees were revered for their song writing prowess. It was largely other factors that this book will reveal.
- ‘The Greatest Band That Ever Wasn’t’ is out now.
To celebrate the release of the book, Barrett Martin and Duke Garwood have announced four intimate ÜK shows in May. Barrett and Duke will open the evening of music, storytelling and film by playing some Screaming Trees songs and Mark Lanegan songs:
- Friday 3 May – London, Bush Hall.
- Saturday 4 May – Bristol, Lantern Hall.
- Sunday 5 May – Nottingham , Metronome.
- Tuesday 7 May – Manchester – Band On The Wall.
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