Before Seattle's Duff McKagan went on to become the bassist for Guns N’ Roses and before Mother Love Bone started influencing the city’s grunge sound, there was The Living.
Before Seattle's Duff McKagan went on to become the bassist for Guns N’ Roses and before Mother Love Bone started influencing the city’s grunge sound, there was The Living. It was an early '80s Seattle punk band made up of a teenage Duff McKagan on guitar, Greg Gilmore (of Mother Love Bone) on drums, Todd Fleischman on bass, and John Conte as the band’s frontman.
Seattle’s Loosegroove Records, which is co-run by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, has just released The Living’s album, titled 1982, for the very first time. “It’s Seattle hardcore, pre-grunge [...] it really showcases who the real king of grunge is and I think it might be Duff and Greg and Todd and John,” Gossard says.
For this episode, drummer Greg Gilmore talks about the themes on the record and how it's finally seeing the light of day.