One of the great things about being a fan of Seattle music is that there’s never a lack of material to enjoy. From albums to concerts to movies, there’s always something cool to experience coming out of Seattle.
All of this cool material, both past and present, makes for a good read too and this year three exciting new books about three of the greatest bands from the Pacific Northwest were announced.
Three books are getting released (one releases today, the other two early next year) that chronicle The Gits, Screaming Trees and Nirvana respectively. And better yet, the books are coming from people who actually lived the experiences of those bands, not scholars or journalists reporting and analyzing the scene.
The first of these books to get released is from Barrett Martin, former drummer of The Screming Trees and Mad Season. The book, The Greatest Band That Ever Wasn’t: The Story Of The Roughest, Toughest, Most Hell-Raising Band To Ever Come Out Of The Pacific Northwest, The Screaming Trees, is out today and is an insider’s account of The Screaming Trees.
Here’s the book’s synopsis from its back cover:
In 1992, the Screaming Trees were expected to become the next big band to come out of the Seattle music scene during the heyday of grunge. Except it never happened. It wasn’t because the band didn’t have great songs-indeed, the Trees were revered for their ability to write a great song that was both artistically original and commercially viable, which is no easy task. Other Seattle bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden were fans of the Screaming Trees, playing shows with them and collaborating on albums, long before their own bands broke through into the mainstream. That kind of success eluded the Screaming Trees, and it seemed as if there were more demons than angels in the band’s corner when it came time for the Trees to make their mark. Their songwriting skills, however, remain as their greatest legacy.
Written by Screaming Trees long-serving drummer, Barrett Martin, The Greatest Band That Ever Wasn’t reads like a Greek comedy or tragedy, depending on your viewpoint. Each of the three acts contained in this book features 11 short stories, for a combined total of 33 stories. These tales will make you laugh and perhaps even cry, which is why the saga of the Screaming Trees reads more like a great myth-one that is incredible, at times unbelievable, yet still contains volumes of humor and wisdom.
Barrett Martin’s The Greatest Band That Ever Wasn’t is available at various bookstores and signed copies of the book can be purchased on his website.
Nirvana is one of the most well-known and globally influential Seattle bands. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of books about Kurt Cobain and his band from Aberdeen. However, not many are authored by someone who was often times embedded in the band’s inner circle. And I’m pretty sure none of them have a foreward written by Krist Novoselic.
The latest photo book from Charles Peterson, the famed photographer whose images of Nirvana are some of the most famous ever shot, is simply titled Charles Peterson’s Nirvana, and it contains dozens of never-before-seen images of the band. It also has a foreward written by Novoselic.
Here’s a description of the book from the publisher:
Charles Peterson’s Nirvana, in the tradition of many great documentary photobooks, expands beyond Peterson’s iconic images of the band seen repeatedly over the last thirty years (on album covers, in magazines, and in dozens of compilation books and exhibitions focused on this music and its birth era) to highlight gems never before published. Over a five-year photo edit, Peterson looked at each one of thousands of frames, considering what drew him to Nirvana in the first place—their music. He honed in on compositions that stimulated visceral memories of their live performances.
The resulting selection of photographs and their carefully constructed sequence mash up venues and years, suffering and the sublime, to arrive at a visual experience that one cannot help but also feel, and hear.
Charles Peterson’s Nirvana is scheduled for release on Feb. 20, 2024 and can be purchased here.
One week beore the release of Peterson’s book, a book about Mia Zapata and her band The Gits will be released. The book, Mia Zapata and The Gits: A True Story of Art, Rock, and Revolution, was written by former Gits member Steve Moriarty and it’s described as Patti Smith’s Just Kids for the grunge era.
Here’s the book’s description from its Amazon listing:
Seattle band, The Gits and their charismatic front person Mia Zapata were on the verge of international rock stardom but on July 7, 1993, days before their third US tour, Mia Zapata, The Gits 27-year-old singer-songwriter, was brutally assaulted and murdered by a stranger. Zapata’s death sent chilling ripples through progressive communities throughout the United States. She became a cause-celebre for women’s rights activists outraged by the brutal killing and lack of law enforcement support. This book reclaims Zapata’s story to focus on the art she and The Gits created and not her tragic end.
Much has been written and said about her murder, yet Zapata’s life and work remain overshadowed by the circumstances of her death. Zapata’s friend and bandmate, Steve Moriarty, tells her story―and the story of their band, The Gits―from their first meeting in 1985 to their last goodbye.
Moriarity and Zapata met in 1985 as first-year students at Antioch College, where they discovered the power of punk rock and found an outlet for their progressive ideas through music. Zapata, Moriarity, and fellow students Matt Dresdner and Andy Kessler attended a show by San Francisco punk legends Dead Kennedys that inspired the friends to start a band fueled by Mia’s provocative lyrics. They quickly gained critical praise and dedicated fans.
Moriarty details their struggles as newcomers to the then-pre-tech outpost of the Seattle music scene. Interspersed are the tales Zapata told of her legendary ancestor, Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, to entertain the band as they spen’t countless hours on the road crammed into a single un-air-conditioned van touring the US and Europe. They shared stages with Beck, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Joan Jett, Bikini Kill, L7, and more―all who expected Mia and The Gits to be the next “big thing.”
The Gits’s story is more than a biography; it’s a testament to the ability of artists and musicians to challenge the status quo and the power of friendship to change the world. Moriarty reframes the sensationalist story as he shares his personal narrative and presents, with intimacy, grit, and humor, the lived experience of The Gits and his dear friend, Mia Zapata.
