Green River formed in 1984 in Seattle under the leadership of Mark Arm and Steve Turner. Both of them played in "Mr. Epp" and "Limp Richerds" up to this point. Alex Vincent was appointed as the drummer, and Jeff Ament was taken as the bassist.
To create the name of the group, the guys decided to use the name of a serial killer known at that time. A little later, another guitarist, Stone Gossard, was added to the line-up. This allowed Mark to completely withdraw into the vocal parts.
The musical sound of the group chose from several styles, it was punk, metal and psychedelic hard rock. Although Mark himself called their style grunge-punk. In fact, it was these guys who became the founders of such a musical direction as "grunge".
Green River development
Green River's first performances were held in small clubs in and around Seattle. In 1985, the team traveled to New York to record an EP, Come On Down, on the Homestead label. The disc was released 6 months after the end of the studio recordings, followed by a long mixing of all the tracks. In addition, the release of the disc came simultaneously with the release of the album of the then unknown group Dinosaur, whose popularity many times exceeded the rating of the Green River EP.
After this recording, Steve Turner splits from the band. He was not satisfied with the musical direction, he was more inclined towards hard rock. Guitarist Bruce Fairweather was taken in his place, with whom the band wanted to tour the States.
However, the matter was complicated by the fact that few people knew about them, tickets were not sold, they could not afford advertising. So the group had to perform in almost empty halls or with a negatively minded audience. At that time, the guys had not yet managed to win their place in the rock environment.
However, there were also pluses from this tour. There the team got acquainted with already popular and promoted musical groups, such as Sonic Youth. They were already popular in Seattle and nearby cities. The team often invited Green River musicians to their concerts to warm up the hall.
The boys first album
In 1986, the first compilation disc of grunge music "Deep Six" was released. It features songs from Soundgarde, The Melvins, Skin Yard, Malfunkshun and U-Men. Green River also managed to get there with two of its singles. Critics then described this musical collection as quite successful and clearly characterizing the state of rock in the northwest at that time.
In the same year, the musicians gather their courage and write another EP, Dry As A Bone, with the help of Jack Endino. But the release was delayed for almost a year. Sub Pop founder Bruce Pavitt couldn't release it for a number of reasons. So even before the release of the record, the group releases the song "Together We'll Never".
In 1987, the long-awaited EP was released, which became the first work of the Sub Pop studio. The label actively promoted this disc, which contributed to the growth of the group's popularity.
Full album recording
This success prompted the group to create their full-fledged disc as soon as possible. Jack Endino contributed to the beginning of the recording of the band's debut album called "Rehab Doll". But here misunderstandings and disagreements begin among the musicians.
Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard are looking to sign with a bigger label to further develop the band. And Mark Arm insists on working with an independent brand. The boiling point was the events at a performance in the state of California in Los Angeles in 1987.
Jeff decided to surreptitiously replace the band's concert guest list with his own, containing the names of representatives from various record labels. After that, three of the band members, Ament, Gossard and Fairweather, decided to leave the group.
However, they were able to complete the production and release of their full length debut album. The team broke up in 1987, but the disc was released almost a year later. Critics wrote about her that she contains borderline singles of two styles: metal and grunge music.
Green River reunion
The group decided to resurrect for a while. The impetus for this was the performance of Pearl Jam musicians in the fall of 1993. The composition included the founders of the team: Mark Arm, Steve Turner, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament. In place of drummer Alex Vincent, Chuck Trees was approved, since the first one at that time lived on the other side of the world. At this concert, the guys played two of their compositions: "Swallow My Pride" and "Ain't Nothing to Do".
In 2008, the team announced the resumption of their creativity with an updated line-up. It included Mark Arm, Steve Turner, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Alex Vincent and Bruce Fairweather. The first performance in this line-up took place at the celebration in honor of the anniversary of the recording studio Sub Pop in the summer of 2008.
In November, the guys showed themselves in Portland at a local club. At the end of the same month, they appeared at a small festival on the birthday of The Supersuckers, who were celebrating their 20th anniversary. And in May of the following year, Green River played their friends The Melvins at a concert in honor of their 25th anniversary.
At that time, the guys had ambitious plans: they were going to record their full-fledged studio album, rewrite their first EP and go on tour in support of new records. However, the plans have not yet been realized, since in 2009 the team broke up again.
