If you recognize the name Steve Turner, you're likely going to think of fuzzed-out, slightly psychedelic, slightly crazed guitar riffs that gave shape to Mudhoney, one of the few active modern bands you can describe with the word "legendary." Not one to rest on his laurels, he's been involved with a ton of different side projects over the years, including a stint in the Fall-Outs and the full-fledged garage-punk super group, The Monkeywrench. With all that rockin' and rollin' you might think that this Turner guy is destined to crank up the volume as long as his picking fingers are in commission. If you did, you'd be wrong. Just this year, Turner released his first solo album called "Searching for Melody" - a record with that more closely aligns with folk and country than punk and rock.

Unfortunately, these darn ears of mine haven't had the chance to hear the album yet, but the the songs available on Rosalyn Recordings, the label that released Turner's solo album, sound excellent. Steve will be coming to Ralph's in Moorhead on November 12th, and in preparation for the show, I got to give him a call. I did an article for a local publication called The High Plains Reader, and as an added bonus, I transcribed the entire interview below for readers of The Odyssey.

Can you tell me a bit about the new album? I haven't been able to hear the entire thing, but it sounds really cool so far. Does the entire album take on a folky, country style?
It stays pretty much in that kind of mode. The backing changes a bit. Some of the songs have a full band. Some of it doesn't have a full band. It was conceived to be even folkier than it turned out.

I got that. That was mentioned on the Rosalyn Records web site.
It grew when I started getting other people involved in it. I didn't really know what I was doing anyway (laughs).

So you intended to record the entire thing yourself?
I was thinking about doing a really low key record - just me and the guitar. I think I wasn't quite good enough at it yet (laughs). It was kind of a new thing for me so I think I needed some help.

What made you want to go into that lower-key direction instead of doing another rock band?
A couple of different reasons. One, I was just trying to learn to play guitar and sing at the same time, just hanging out in my living room with the acoustic guitar. So I kind of got used to the way that sounded. Two, it's kind of weird to say it, but I'm not really that much of a rock guy. I like punk rock and I like folky and bluesy stuff. I could never ever in my life… picture myself singing in a rock band. It doesn't jive with my self image. I think part of that is because I've always been in bands with Mark (Arm) right? And he's this totally great rock singer. I think I always felt like the little wimpy dude next to him. So I never wanted to sing. And if I opened my mouth, I sound a lot more like Phil Ochs than I do Iggy Pop.

I noticed that the Instro #1 song sounds like it could be a Mudhoney song (if it had distortion and some Mark Arm vocals). I can almost hear it in my head.
Yeah. It's me on the guitar, and I come up with riffs the same way - whether it's acoustic guitar or electric. So there is definitely some similarity here and there.

Do you think that the rest of the album would make such an easy transition to any of your bands (past or present)?
"Searching for Melody" (the title track) could easily be a Monkeywrench song if not a Mudhoney song. It's definitely kind of bluesy, kind of driving. I even had Dan (Peters) play drums on the record. So it's getting pretty close to the Mudhoney territory. Ten years ago we did that little EP with Jimmy Dale Gilmore so I guess you can say the writing was on the wall back then (laughs).

Will anyone be with you on stage? Any of the guys you recorded the album with?
No. Not this time. When he can do it, I take Johnny Sangster along. He's the guy who produced the record and he played guitar and keyboards on it. He's really busy. He's in a band here called Dear John Letters and he produces a lot of records - and he's got three kids. So this tour isn't as glamourous as some of the trips I've done. He'll make the time to go to London and Spain with me, for example. Maybe he won't try as hard to get to Fargo or Kansas City with me (laughs).

Are the venues you are playing on this tour typically a lot smaller than what you'd play with Mudhoney or The Monkeywrench?
Totally. Even when I play in Seattle, there can be thirty people at the show. I play in very small places. I could do a tour of people's living rooms on this stuff pretty easily.

Well Ralph's fits into that. It's more of a dive bar, and shows can get pretty packed, but it is small.
I've played in Moorhead with Mudhoney before on the campus once.

Man! Where the hell was I when that happened! Do you know when that took place?
I want to say '95. 95? But I couldn't guarantee you that's right.

Okay. Because I started school in '94 in Moorhead. I know that Bloodloss played at Ralph's before, but Mudhoney? Okay... Anyway. A Mudhoney show is probably too much of a draw for some place like Ralph's. It just wouldn't be feasible. But do you look forward to playing those smaller venues?
Definitely. I'm so new to this kind of stuff, that I'm totally still learning. It's pretty nerve-wracking anyway to be alone on stage, but I really like playing small places. Those are the shows I like going to anyway. I genereally go see little scrappy punk rock bands or other people doing more of the acoustic stuff in small joints. It's always kind of fun. The last show I played around here was up in Bellingham, kind of a college town, and I played the on-campus coffee shop (laughs). That was actually really fun, because there's these young college kids sitting Indian-style on the floor. So any situation is kind of cool, but the smaller and weirder the better.

When you play a coffee shop show versus a bar show, what's the difference in reaction?
People in bars talk a lot more.

Is that aggravating for you?
It's ok. I talk a through a lot of shows too. I'm certainly not going to ask people to be quiet. I opened for Dead Moon by myself. That was weird! Because there are people smoking and drinking, you know? I thought "Oh, what the fuck. I'd probably do the same!" I'd be one of those guys too.

What we've discovered is that if you put tables and chairs down - and if you put candles on the tables - people will be quiet. It's a psychological thing. If there are candles on the tables, people will… not talk.

I've noticed that at quieter shows. They always do candles.
It really works. It's weird. We've jokingly said "we need to bring some candles with us."

So Mudhoney, Monkeywrench and Fall-Outs have never had candles?
No (laughs). I can almost state categorically that there have never been candles at a Mudhoney show.

I noticed on The Rosalyn Web site that you learned the song "I'm 37" by the Macs on your 37th birthday. Have you noticed any difference in your approach to music as you get older. Do you get inspired by the same stuff?
I've always been a record nut, so I've always bought a lot of records. For the most part, I buy records in thrift stores. Dollar bins and stuff like that. I think that's what led me to the singer-songwriter stuff. Those records just aren't very collectible. They're still sitting around for cheap. I just keep getting curious about different people because I'm willing to chance it on dollar records. My basement is full of horrible records I've bought for a dollar. You always think "what am I going to do with all these terrible records?" (laughs). I'm still connecting the dots between all sorts of oddball people. Different things keep leading me down other paths.

Are there any really amazing discoveries that you've heard in the last few years that have really pushed you into the singer-songwriter territory?
I think there's been a few. I grew up listening to folk music. Irish folk and things like that. It was really the only kind of music, other than classical, around the house. I think when I finally found a Townes Van Zandt record in 1991. That was a big one for me. I'd already gotten into Phil Ochs and I liked that. I guess I really like the "children of Dylan" sort of stuff. I love Bob Dylan and it all kind of comes from there in a certain way. I guess in the last few years, it's surprised me how much I like Joan Baez. No one really thinks of her as writing songs, but I really love the songs she wrote in the late 60s and early 70s. She doesn't really write music much anymore but she wrote some great songs. Most people think of her as an interpreter of archaic folk stuff and really political stuff. That one was a big surprise. She's just so hot too! (laughs). Mickey Newbury was a big one. Waylon Jennings was another. That's totally thrift store stuff. Waylon's one of my all-time favorite singers. There's so many. It's endless. Kind of like 60s garage records are endless too.

Do you still do a lot of garage collecting? Do you still get into that?
Yeah. I still buy a lot of the comps and stuff. It's kind of a weird thing. I never really notice the names of the bands. It's like one giant band from 1966 and 67. But yeah. That's still one of the big cornerstones for me. You know?

Do you feel like you're entering an "elder statesman" phase in your career?
As far as my career goes - I don't have one anymore. I'm a gardener. I'm a landscaper. It's what I do now. I still love playing music, but I have to think of a way to keep doing it in a way where it's not my living anymore. It's really made it easier in a certain way, because I just don't give a shit if people are into it or not you know? I think Mudhoney feels the same way. We're really in an interesting place, because we're stubbornly still at it, but we're not trying to get anywhere. We never really did. We just happened to get somewhere. For a little while we got kind of lazy, I think. It seems like the harder it is to make it work with people's jobs, families, stuff like that, the more we seem to appreciate it.

Now that you don't have to think about the business side of things any more, does it feel more like you're starting out?
It doesn't feel like starting out. Back then you don't even know what's coming. We're sort of old and jaded in a way. But yeah, it took the pressure off if we felt any. Subconsciously I think we did. We were trying to figure out where we fit in as things were falling apart in the late 90s. I guess for me, I'm just psyched to do whatever I do, and keep doing these solo trips. Hopefully people will dig it and it will be worthwhile to do an a part-time basis you know? It's so easy and cheap to do this stuff. I can go to Europe really easily. So I can still travel. That will keep me inspired and hot on it too.

Is there anything new on the horizon for Mudhoney?
We've slowly been gathering songs together again. It's been hard because I've been gone so much. Dan just had his second child. But yeah, we practiced just last night. We're going to do a record this next year one way or another. We hope to do a record and get it out every couple of years. It's not quite as easy right now. We will be out on the east coast for a few shows right before Christmas. That will be fun.

How about Monkeywrench?
That's a really frustrating one. We recorded half a record two-and-a-half years ago. Our plan then was to get back together six months later to finish it. We haven't. That one's a little lower down on the priority scale. It keeps not happening. Tim (Kerr) comes through town but I'm always gone when he's here. I've been toodling around for the last couple of months. But yeah, that one is frustrating. We've got to finish that record. We'll just give up and put it out as an EP!

That would be cool too!
We've got eight songs done. We thought we'd write another five or six and put out a record. We just haven't made it.

Either way it turns out, it would be great to hear it.
Yeah. There's some weird stuff that we recorded.

Weird?
Yeah. It's getting a little weirder. The Monkeywrench stuff is getting a little more out there.

Is that in any way that you can describe?
Some of those guys really love the free jazz stuff. I can't say that I'm big on free jazz, but some of them are. There are definitely a lot more open spaces - a little longer arrangements. It's getting further away from the first record sound. It would be great if we can finish that in the next year too.

That's it. Thanks to Steve Turner for talking with The Odyssey. Make sure you head out to Ralph's on November 12th. Nick Garcia and The Bone Ranger open and doors are $6. If you need more Steve Turner action, just go to the following links. There is plenty more to see, obviously, but these will get you started.

http://www.roslynrecordings.com/

http://www.unofficial-mudhoney.com/

http://come.to/monkeywrench