Van Conner (born March 17, 1967) is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

musician, best known as the bassist for

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 Pickerel had been replaced by Barrett Martin by the tim ...

Career

As a bass player in high school, Conner formed the band Explosive Generation with his brother

Gary Lee Conner Gary Lee Conner (born Lee Gary Conner, August 22, 1962) is an American rock musician, best known as the guitarist and primary songwriter for Screaming Trees. Career Originally from Ellensburg, Washington, Conner formed the band Explosive Gene ...

and

Mark Pickerel Mark Pickerel is an American musician best known as the original drummer for the alternative rock band Screaming Trees. He is also an active session musician and has released several solo albums as a singer/guitarist. Biography Originally from ...

. That band later evolved into

with the addition of singer

Mark Lanegan Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the St ...

in 1985. The band moved from their native

Ellensburg, Washington Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82 Interstate 82 (I-82) is an Interstate Highway in th ...

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 ...

in the late 1980s to join that city's burgeoning alternative rock scene. Conner played on seven studio albums with Screaming Trees until the band split in 2000. While he was with Screaming Trees, Conner formed the side project Solomon Grundy, in which he performed lead vocals and guitar. That band released an album in 1990, and during that period Conner also joined a live lineup of

Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name. The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlow ( ...

He later formed another side project called Gardener, which released an album in 1999. After the breakup of Screaming Trees, Conner worked as a session musician and has formed several additional alternative rock bands, including VALIS and Musk Ox.

Selected discography

''For his work with

, see

Screaming Trees discography The discography of Screaming Trees, an Ellensburg, Washington-based rock band, consists of eight studio albums, three compilation albums, five extended plays (EP), and six singles, though this does not include any solo material recorded by the indi ...

''. *''Solomon Grundy'' ( Solomon Grundy, 1990) *''New Dawning Time'' (Gardener, 1999) *''Vast Active Living Intelligence System'' (VALIS, 2002) *''Head Full of Pills '' (VALIS, 2004) *''Dark Matter'' (VALIS, 2009) *''Minds Through Space and Time'' (VALIS, 2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conner, Van American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Screaming Trees members 1967 births Living people People from Apple Valley, California 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians