Gruntruck

Singer/guitarist Ben McMillan launched his recording career fronting the pioneering Seattle grunge outfit Skin Yard, which issued four albums across his six-year run and featured guitarist Jack Endino, later renowned as a producer and alternative-rock mainstay for acts such as Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. In 1990 McMillan assembled Gruntruck by recruiting former Skin Yard drummer Norman Scott, guitarist Tom Niemeyer, and bassist Tim Paul. The group’s post-punk/metal hybrid mirrored the prevailing Seattle sound, its interlocking guitars and minor-chord progressions echoing the approach of Soundgarden, Tad, Alice in Chains, and Screaming Trees. Roadrunner issued the band’s debut album, Inside Yours, in 1991, followed by the sophomore release Push in 1992. Extensive tours supporting Alice in Chains and Pantera raised the profile of Gruntruck, yet mounting debts tied to Roadrunner contracts led the group to file for bankruptcy in 1996. The ensuing legal dispute, in which the label countersued, produced a landmark case that spurred federal legislative reform; although the episode stalled the band’s progress, it still managed to deliver the three-song EP Shot on Betty Records late that year. Over the subsequent three years the musicians focused on a prospective third album intended as their breakthrough, but McMillan’s health concerns forced an indefinite hiatus. After an eight-year struggle with diabetes, McMillan died in 2008. Found Recordings finally issued the long-shelved eponymous LP in 2017, prompting the original lineup to reconvene for several live shows.