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 region o ...

, Washington. Long associated with Seattle label

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are oft ...

and the

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of ...

movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands including

Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1988, following the demise of Green River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison and drummer Dan Peters. ...

, Soundgarden and

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

. He was also the guitarist for Seattle band Skin Yard, 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 Skin Yard. 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 o ...

played drums until he left for Soundgarden. 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 with

Chris Hanzsek Chris Hanzsek is an American musical engineer and record producer, living in Snohomish, Washington. He was co-founder, with then partner Tina Casale, of C/Z Records and their recording studio, Reciprocal Recording, in 1984. He produced bands i ...

, the ''Deep Six'' sound engineer, where he used his self-taught recording skills to produce, engineer, and mix Skin Yard's 1987 debut album '' Skin Yard''. 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 Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

'' in a mere 30 hours for $606.17, using

reel-to-reel Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is pla ...

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, ''Nev ...

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

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stag ...

's '' Skunkworks''. 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 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/Fop ...

'' 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, Screaming Trees, 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,

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 The Fartz were a Hardcore Punk band that was founded in 1981 and were one of the first well-known hardcore bands from Seattle, Washington. They were signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Record label. They were notable not only for pla ...

, 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. 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, Toxic Holocaust, Lucid Nation,

Safety Off Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

, The Insurgence, and Valient Thorr. 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 electroni ...

, 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, and worked with Irish band Therapy?,

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 Harr ...

singer

, French punk rockers Burning Heads, the Australian band

Spiderbait Spiderbait is an Australian alternative rock band from Finley, New South Wales, formed in 1991 by bass guitarist and singer Janet English, drummer and singer Kram, and guitarist Damian Whitty. In 2004 the group's cover version of the 1930s Lead ...

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 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