Biography
Beginning his recording endeavors in 1985 from a basement facility that charged five dollars hourly alongside the band Skin Yard, Jack Endino later guided sessions for numerous raw and pivotal rock outfits. After engagements with Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Tad by the mid-1990s, his identity had merged with the unrefined, subterranean style journalists branded grunge.
Formed the same year, Skin Yard included Endino on guitar together with Matt Cameron on drums, Daniel House on bass, and Ben McMillan handling vocals. Their debut album, tracked from fall 1985 into winter 1986 and issued by C/Z Records in 1987, marked Endino’s initial foray into commercial album production. Before the group ceased operations in 1992, six notable drummers passed through the lineup: Matt Cameron, who subsequently joined Soundgarden; Jason Finn of Presidents of the United States of America and Love Battery; Steve Wied of Tad; Greg Gilmore of Mother Love Bone; Norman Scott of Gruntruck; and Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees, who remained until the close.
In 1986 Endino established Reciprocal Recording jointly with Chris Hanzsek and captured Soundgarden’s Screaming Life EP along with Green River’s Dry as a Bone EP. Green River featured Mark Arm, Steve Turner, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Ament. Although the band itself attained no commercial traction, its members later populated Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Pearl Jam. Both EPs ranked among Sub Pop’s earliest releases and initiated Endino’s ongoing association with the label.
Over the ensuing two years Endino documented Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff, Screaming Trees’ Buzz Factory, and Tad’s God’s Balls. During this period an unsolicited call arrived from the then-unknown Seattle musician Kurt Cobain, resulting in a ten-song demo for his still-unnamed group; five of those rough tracks later surfaced on Nirvana’s Incesticide. Believing the band held comparable potential to other local acts he had recorded, Endino forwarded the demo to Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman.
He tracked Nirvana’s debut album Bleach in 1988, issued by Sub Pop the following year. Captured for 606 dollars and 17 cents on an eight-track recorder, the sessions illustrated Endino’s ability to preserve vigorous performances within tight technical and budgetary constraints. Subsequent projects encompassed Mudhoney’s self-titled album, the Afghan Whigs’ Up in It, and Gas Huffer’s Janitors of Tomorrow before Endino departed Reciprocal Recording in 1991 to work independently as producer and engineer.
Throughout the early and middle 1990s Jack Endino handled recordings both in his native Seattle and in Europe, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. Domestically these included the Supersuckers’ The Smoke of Hell, Seven Year Bitch’s Viva Zapata, and Mudhoney’s My Brother the Cow. Internationally he collaborated with Titãs, securing two gold and two platinum certifications in Brazil. He also appeared in the 1996 documentary Hype!, where he received the tongue-in-cheek designation “the godfather of grunge.”
The late 1990s sustained Endino’s momentum with a fresh cohort of loud rock acts. Notable releases from this era comprise the Murder City Devils’ Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts, Black Halos’ The Violent Years, Zen Guerrilla’s Shadows on the Sun, and Nebula’s To the Center. After finishing Therapy?’s Shameless in 2001, he remained vigorously engaged as a producer and, at intervals, as a performing musician.
Formed the same year, Skin Yard included Endino on guitar together with Matt Cameron on drums, Daniel House on bass, and Ben McMillan handling vocals. Their debut album, tracked from fall 1985 into winter 1986 and issued by C/Z Records in 1987, marked Endino’s initial foray into commercial album production. Before the group ceased operations in 1992, six notable drummers passed through the lineup: Matt Cameron, who subsequently joined Soundgarden; Jason Finn of Presidents of the United States of America and Love Battery; Steve Wied of Tad; Greg Gilmore of Mother Love Bone; Norman Scott of Gruntruck; and Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees, who remained until the close.
In 1986 Endino established Reciprocal Recording jointly with Chris Hanzsek and captured Soundgarden’s Screaming Life EP along with Green River’s Dry as a Bone EP. Green River featured Mark Arm, Steve Turner, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Ament. Although the band itself attained no commercial traction, its members later populated Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Pearl Jam. Both EPs ranked among Sub Pop’s earliest releases and initiated Endino’s ongoing association with the label.
Over the ensuing two years Endino documented Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff, Screaming Trees’ Buzz Factory, and Tad’s God’s Balls. During this period an unsolicited call arrived from the then-unknown Seattle musician Kurt Cobain, resulting in a ten-song demo for his still-unnamed group; five of those rough tracks later surfaced on Nirvana’s Incesticide. Believing the band held comparable potential to other local acts he had recorded, Endino forwarded the demo to Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman.
He tracked Nirvana’s debut album Bleach in 1988, issued by Sub Pop the following year. Captured for 606 dollars and 17 cents on an eight-track recorder, the sessions illustrated Endino’s ability to preserve vigorous performances within tight technical and budgetary constraints. Subsequent projects encompassed Mudhoney’s self-titled album, the Afghan Whigs’ Up in It, and Gas Huffer’s Janitors of Tomorrow before Endino departed Reciprocal Recording in 1991 to work independently as producer and engineer.
Throughout the early and middle 1990s Jack Endino handled recordings both in his native Seattle and in Europe, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. Domestically these included the Supersuckers’ The Smoke of Hell, Seven Year Bitch’s Viva Zapata, and Mudhoney’s My Brother the Cow. Internationally he collaborated with Titãs, securing two gold and two platinum certifications in Brazil. He also appeared in the 1996 documentary Hype!, where he received the tongue-in-cheek designation “the godfather of grunge.”
The late 1990s sustained Endino’s momentum with a fresh cohort of loud rock acts. Notable releases from this era comprise the Murder City Devils’ Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts, Black Halos’ The Violent Years, Zen Guerrilla’s Shadows on the Sun, and Nebula’s To the Center. After finishing Therapy?’s Shameless in 2001, he remained vigorously engaged as a producer and, at intervals, as a performing musician.
Albums
Singles
