Seattle Tribute – Tuning Fork, 18 August 2023: Review

Seattle Tribute is an appropriately noisy and blistering sonic blitzkrieg honouring three of the iconic Grunge bands of the Nineties. Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Performed by tribute acts Sludge Factory and Tom Grant Disciples. 

Grunge music as a style which evolved out of the Seattle bands, is Rock music in the wake of the Punk interruption. It draws on old school heavy metal as well.

It is easy to see why they claimed Neil Young as the Godfather of the style, when he played with Crazy Horse. An old curmudgeon who went from Rock to Folk. Tried on the Punk overcoat whilst warbling on about Johnny Rotten and Rock’n’roll will never die. Appeared to lose his marbles and the plot after that. 

But when he dived headfirst into sonic walls of sound with his compadres, with albums like Ragged Glory and Sleep with Angels, he tapped into energy that attracted fans as much as it threw off old ones. Especially whole concerts of it. 

A long-term Hendrix disciple, so this is also residing at the core of the Grunge merchants.

Nirvana

Nirvana are one of the most successful Rock acts in history. They embraced Punk as an aesthetic. Kurt Cobain loved Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as much as Gang of Four. He also met the underground cult inspiration for many of the best music acts from the Sixties onward, William Wild Bill Lee Burroughs. Who thought he was an earnest young man but wondered why he was so troubled with anguish. 

That was the lyrical content for most of the songs. Which had moved on from the Who and hope I die before I get old to life is hard and then you die. Which Cobain did. 

If you want a precursor to Nirvana, you could look to Los Angeles Punk band Germs, whose lead singer Darby Crash yelled with controlled rage and fury, and then committed suicide. 

The Tom Grant Disciples take the stage in position three for the night, and with little fanfare the power trio blast into Breed and burn up the stage throughout the set with faithful near-perfect renditions.

Tom Grant is a Los Angeles police detective and private investigator who has written the most about a conspiracy around Cobain’s death.

The closest to Punk out of the three tonight. 

On Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge, they surge and fade with controlled aggression and a voice honed like a scalpel cutting to the core.

The familiar opening chords on Smells Like Teen Spirit ignites the front of house audience. Hullo, hullo,hullo, how low and maybe the song taps a little of Gary Glitter.

D-7 is a good representative of the trademark sound. Slow and sedate start with straight as an arrow. Then explodes with drum and bass thunder as the singer shreds his voice with fraught anguish.

Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains were regarded as a Metal band when they started in the latter Eighties in Seattle. That is what they sound like when the tribute band Sludge Factory take to the stage to kick of the evening’s entertainment.

There were myriad influences to this band as they came together in the mid-Eighties, from earlier musical projects. What influenced the guitar sound most was Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath, according to founding guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Original singer Layne Staley named Deep Purple. 

Staley died in 2002 from complications of long-term drug addiction. Which is sadly not surprising for too many professional musicians, and I am not sure if this at a higher rate than the rest of the population. He was replaced as vocalist by William DuVal.

The Sludges literally detonate and shower the Fork with Metal splatter when they begin with Them Bones and Dam That River. 

Fast, meshed guitar maelstroms. One of the guitarists has Rasta styled hair reaching down to his popliteal fossa.  

Bass player is wearing a Prince Purple Rain t-shirt. Staley did come from a Funk band before joining Alice. Always at the heart of a good Metal band is the engine room. Drums and bass supply the heavy ordnance to level the ground for the guitar attack to barrel through.

There are a few ballads. Man in the Box and Rooster. 

Soundgarden

The same band stays on for the Soundgarden tribute, with the addition of a second vocalist who is probably Duncan Harwood. I understand that Sam is the singer that started the evening for Alice.

They may call this configuration the Superunknowns.

Soundgarden also came from the classic old school British Metal style of music and in particular the Sabbaths again. They also went for the early Led Zeppelin heavy riffs encompassed in albums one to four. Without the machismo posturing according to founder and voice Chris Cornell. 

As for Punk, they stand halfway between the other two bands. More American than British with the influences of the Ramones and Butthole Surfers acknowledged.

Black Hole Sun is the closest to a Power Pop song for the evening. And it turns into a dirge later.

Spoonman starts with a great drum barrage underpinned by the famous Bo Diddley rhythm.

Both off my favourite Superunknown album, the one that sold multi-millions.

With that Ramones influence, this music references the Sixties the most out of the three iconic Seattle bands.

Blow Up the Outside and Fell on a Black Day is Monkees styled Power Pop.  

The band closed shop in 1997 and reformed again in 2010. Ten more years and they called it quits. Chris Cornell died in 2017 by his own hand. 

Seattle Tribute was an abundance of riches, clocking in at three and a half hours of performance. Below are the songs played.

Alice in Chains
Them Bones/ Dam That River/ Rain When I Die/ Bleed the Freak/ Got Me Wrong/ Man in the Box/ Nutshell/ No Excuses/ Grind/ Rooster/ Down in a Hole/ Would?

Soundgarden
Let Me Drown/ Jesus Christ Pose/ Searching with My Good Eye Closed/ Loud Love/ Fell on Black Days/ Blow Up the Outside/ Bleed Together/ Pretty Noose/ Burden in my Hand/ Slaves and Bulldozers/ Rusty Cage/ Spoonman/ Black Hole Sun/ Outshined

Nirvana
Breed/ School/ Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge/ Come as You Are/ Very Ape/ Molly’s Lips/ In Bloom/ On a Plain/ Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Dive/ D-7/ Rape Me/ Love Buzz/ Negative Creep/ Lithium

Rev Orange Peel 

Tickets for future events can be found at Stuff Events

Photography Leonie Moreland

Tom Grant Disciples playing NIRVANA

Sludge Factory/The Superunknowns playing ALICE in CHAINS and SOUNDGARDEN

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