Jack Endino (born Michael M. Giacondino; 1964) is an American producer and musician based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington. Long associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands including Mudhoney,

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yama ...

and

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

. He was also the guitarist for Seattle band

Skin Yard Skin Yard was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on several of their grunge contemporaries, including Soundgarden, Screaming ...

, which was active between 1985 and 1992. Endino currently manages a studio in Seattle called Soundhouse Recording.

Early career

In 1985, Endino and Daniel House started the influential grunge band

. Though originally a drummer, Endino played guitar and

Matt Cameron Matthew David Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Pearl Jam. He first gained fame as the drummer for Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he joined in 1986. He appeared on each of ...

played drums until he left for

. In 1986, Skin Yard contributed two songs to

C/Z Records C/Z Records was a Seattle-based punk rock record label that was established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale. It started with the release of '' Deep Six'' which collected the earliest recordings of what later came to be known as ...

' legendary grunge compilation '' Deep Six''. In July 1986, Endino left his basement recording studio to found

Reciprocal Recording Reciprocal Recording was the name of a recording studio in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States that was founded in 1984 and officially closed in July 1991. History Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale opened Reciprocal Reco ...

with Chris Hanzsek, the ''Deep Six'' sound engineer, where he used his self-taught recording skills to produce, engineer, and mix Skin Yard's 1987 debut album ''

''. His skill and low fees meant that he was soon an engineer of choice for up-and-coming Seattle grunge bands, and in 1988, he recorded Nirvana's debut album '' Bleach'' in a mere 30 hours for $606.17, using reel-to-reel 8-track machine. The album did well in the underground, and after the success of 1991's ''

Nevermind ''Nevermind'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991, by DGC Records. It was Nirvana's first release on a major label and the first to feature drummer Dave Grohl. Produced by Butch Vig, '' ...

'' it went platinum. After Reciprocal Recording closed in July 1991, Endino continued as a freelance producer and engineer, producing several albums including Bruce Dickinson's ''

Skunkworks Skunk Works is an official trademark for the Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs (formerly Lockheed Advanced Development Projects). Skunkworks or Skunk works may also refer to: * ''Skunkworks'' (album), alternative rock album by Bruce ...

''. He appeared in the 1996 grunge documentary ''

Hype! ''Hype!'' ( 1996) is a documentary directed by Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge rock in the early to mid-1990s United States. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the development of the grunge scene from its early ...

'', where he's humorously referred to as "the godfather of grunge." Endino was also interviewed at length for the 2009 book, ''Grunge is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music''.

Recording and production work

:''See Jack Endino discography for a chronological list of Endino's recording and production work'' Endino is known for his stripped down recording practices and his dislike of over-produced music with

effects Effect may refer to: * A result or change of something ** List of effects ** Cause and effect, an idiom describing causality Pharmacy and pharmacology * Drug effect, a change resulting from the administration of a drug ** Therapeutic effect, a ...

and remastering. Largely because of the success of albums like Soundgarden's ''

Screaming Life ''Screaming Life'' is the debut EP by the American rock band Soundgarden, released in October 1987 through Sub Pop Records. ''Screaming Life'' was later combined with the band's next EP, '' Fopp'' (1988), and released as the '' Screaming Life/F ...

'' and Nirvana's ''Bleach'' in the mainstream, the resulting raw, unpolished sound is still seen as a defining characteristic of the grunge movement. In the Pacific Northwest, he's done work for underground legends like

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada * Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

Screaming Trees Screaming Trees was an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1984 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bass player Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel had been replaced by Barrett Martin by the time ...

, L7,

The Gits The Gits were an American punk rock band formed in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1986. As part of the burgeoning Seattle music scene of the early 1990s, they were known for their fiery live performances. Members included singer Mia Zapata, guitari ...

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

7 Year Bitch 7 Year Bitch was an American punk rock band from Seattle, Washington. The band was active between 1990 and 1997 and released three albums over that time. The band formed at the same time as the emergence of the riot grrrl sub-genre, which is ...

, The Fartz, Supersuckers, TAD, the

thrashcore Thrashcore (also known as fastcore) is a fast-tempo subgenre of hardcore punk that emerged in the early 1980s. Thrashcore is essentially sped-up hardcore, often using blast beats. Songs can be very brief, and thrashcore is in many ways a less ...

band

The Accüsed The Accüsed is an American crossover thrash band from Seattle founded in 1981. The band was a progenitor of the crossover style that bridged the gap between thrashcore and thrash metal, later influencing grindcore and some crust punk bands; ...

, Willard, Screaming Bloody Marys and

ZEKE Zeke is a masculine given name and nickname, sometimes a shortened form (hypocorism) of Ezekiel, which may refer to: People * Caleb Bailey (nickname "Zeke", 1898-1957), US Marine Corps brigadier general and athlete * Zeke Bella (1930–2013), Ame ...

. Endino mastered or produced nearly every album by The Grannies. He continues to work with influential underground bands, and in 2007 he recorded an album with the proto-grunge band Flipper. Other projects have included the bands SixTwoSeven,

High on Fire High on Fire is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1999. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, also plays guitar for doom metal band Sleep. High on Fire won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perfo ...

, Windhand,

Hot Hot Heat Hot Hot Heat is a Canadian indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, formed in 1999. The band was signed by Seattle label Sub Pop in 2001 and released its first EP, ''Knock Knock Knock'', and first full-length album, '' Make Up the Break ...

Toxic Holocaust Toxic Holocaust is an American thrash metal band from Portland, Oregon. History Joel Grind founded Toxic Holocaust in 1999. He originally wrote and recorded all of the band's music himself, and after a couple of demo releases (''Radiation Sick ...

Lucid Nation Lucid Nation is an American Los Angeles-based experimental rock band formed in 1995 made up of Tamra Spivey (stage name Tamra Lucid) and R.C. Hogart (stage name Ronnie Pontiac). Biography Lucid Nation was formed in Los Angeles in 1994, when fo ...

, Safety Off, The Insurgence, and

Valient Thorr Valient Thorr is an American southern rock/ heavy metal band from Greenville, North Carolina. The name of the band is based on the urban legend of Valiant Thor, an Alien which came from Venus to Earth, Valiant Thor. Valient explained, "That'll b ...

. Internationally, Endino is well known for his work with the Brazilian super-band

Titãs Titãs () are a Brazilian rock band from São Paulo. Though they basically play pop/alternative rock, their music has touched a number of other styles throughout their 30-year career, such as new wave, punk rock, grunge, MPB and electronic ...

, who he's recorded since 1993. He also produced three albums by the Mexican grunge-like band Guillotina, two albums by the British rockers

Winnebago Deal Winnebago Deal are a British rock band from Oxford, England. They formed in the late 1990s at Bartholomew School in Eynsham, with Ben Perrier (vocals, guitar) and Ben Thomas (drums). Perrier and Thomas decided to perform as a duo after ejecting ...

, and worked with Irish band

Therapy? Therapy? are a Northern Irish rock band from Larne, formed in 1989 by guitarist-vocalist Andy Cairns and drummer-vocalist Fyfe Ewing. Therapy? recorded their first demo with Cairns filling in on bass guitar. To complete the lineup, the band r ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

singer Bruce Dickinson, French

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

rockers

Burning Heads Burning Heads is a punk rock and reggae band from Orléans, France. The group formed in 1987, and started out releasing records independently before signing with Play It Again Sam in 1994. They became more popular in America with the release of ...

, the Australian band Spiderbait and the Argentinian band Banda de la Muerte.

As an artist

Endino released his first solo album, ''Angle of Attack'', in 1989. Skin Yard disbanded in 1992, and he released a second solo album, ''Endino's Earthworm'', in 1993. In October 2005, he released his third solo album, ''Permanent Fatal Error''. He is currently second guitarist in the band Kandi Coded, which also features

Volcom Volcom is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes boardsports-oriented products. Volcom is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, U.S. The brand is known for its trademark ''stone'' logo, its slogan ''True to This'', and the ' ...

snowboarding pro Jamie Lynn. He also plays bass in Seattle band Slippage. In March 2013, Fin Records released Endino's EP ''Rumble'', featuring a cover of the April 1958 single " Rumble" by

Link Wray & His Ray Men Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. ''Rolling Stone'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 ...

. Since 2015, Endino has played lead guitar in Seattle rock band MKB ULTRA, and also with the improv-psych trio Beyond Captain Orca.

References

External links

*
Full discography with notes and album coversJack Endino Interview on RocknRollDating.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Endino, Jack 1964 births Living people American audio engineers American male singer-songwriters American rock songwriters American rock singers American rock bass guitarists American rock drummers American rock guitarists American male bass guitarists Record producers from Connecticut Grunge musicians 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American bass guitarists Skin Yard members 20th-century American male musicians American singer-songwriters