Seaweed

In 1989 the punk outfit Seaweed came together in Tacoma, Washington. Aaron Stauffer, who had recently left the little-known Spook & the Zombies, started the group with his closest friend Clint Werner handling guitar. Adding guitarist Wade Neal, bassist John Atkins, and drummer Bob Bulgrien, the lineup began working clubs across the Pacific Northwest. The quartet’s first release, a four-song single, appeared in 1990 on Atkins’ own Leopard Gecko imprint; later that year “Just a Smirk” came out, followed in 1991 by the single “Deer Trap,” issued through K Records’ International Pop Underground series. Seaweed’s tightly focused rhythmic hardcore sound led to a deal with Seattle’s Sub Pop label, which released the 1991 Despised EP—the band’s initial project with producer Jack Endino.

Working once more with Endino, Seaweed issued its strongest album to date, the 1992 full-length Weak, whose opening track “Recall” became a college-radio favorite. Four arrived in 1993, after which Hollywood Records signed the band amid the major-label scramble for Sub Pop acts. Teaming with producer Andy Wallace, Seaweed recorded 1995’s Spanaway; despite favorable notices the album flopped commercially, prompting Hollywood to drop the group. Seaweed then receded from view until former Quicksand drummer Alan Cage took Bulgrien’s place for the 1999 Merge release Actions & Indications, widely viewed as a return to form. The band nevertheless disbanded before the year ended. Afterward Stauffer joined ex-Screaming Trees bassist Van Conner in Gardener, which dissolved in 2003; he later appeared in the Blue Dot.