“The Fire Ants were an early ‘90s American grunge and alternative rock band from Seattle.
With blues-driven guitar riffs and a fiery rock n’roll influence, The Fire Ants’ music helped pioneer Seattle’s grunge scene at a time when iconic bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were gaining attention. The Fire Ants are widely regarded as having had the potential to become a supergroup, despite the band breaking up in 1993.
Best known for their one and only album ‘Stripped’ (1992), the would-be supergroup contained prominent members of the Seattle grunge scene including drummer Chad Channing (Nirvana), guitarist Kevin Wood (Malfunkshun), vocalist Brian Wood (Devilhead/ Hater) and bassist Dan McDonald (Native Messiah). Kevin and Brian’s other brother, Andy Wood, formed Malfunkshun together with Kevin but left to start Mother Love Bone (which later became Pearl Jam), whereas Kevin went on to form The Fire Ants.”
1.) Who are the Fire Ants?
I started the Dekema Records record label back in 1991 working with a pop group named Johnnie Bravo. As we were finishing up production on that album with producer Marty Jouard (The Motels). I received a letter from the Fire Ants along with a VHS tape of the band playing a college TV show from Eastern Washington. The letter indicated the would-be supergroup contained prominent members of the Seattle grunge scene including drummer Chad Channing (Nirvana), guitarist Kevin Wood (Malfunkshun, Devilhead), Kevin’s brother vocalist Brian Wood (Devilhead/Hater) and bassist Dan McDonald (Native Messiah). Chad’s history is well-known. Kevin had been a founding member of the band Malfunkshun with his brother Andrew Wood, who later left the band to form Mother Love Bone. When Andy unexpectedly passed in 1990, he was replaced in Mother Love Bone by Eddie Vedder and the band was renamed Pearl Jam. Oddly, I went to high school with Vedder in Encinitas, CA, but I don’t remember him.
2.) How did you come to sign them to Dekema Records?
Well, it was not a difficult decision. We arranged to meet at the OK Hotel in downtown Seattle and discuss working together. I was nervous meeting them for the first time, but the band was great and eager to find a label they could work with. We all decided quickly to sign a contract and move forward.
3.) How did Jack Endino sign on to the project?
We initially took the band to Inside Productions, here in Seattle, for a few days to record some demos with Marty Jourard, formerly of the band The Motels. Those sessions produced about 25 tracks, of which 10 appeared later on the expanded version of the album re-released in 2015.
4.) What was it like in the studio with Endino and the band?
It was 1992, we had some powerful demos, and now needed to find a studio for the actual recording sessions. Endino was already a legend working out of Reciprocal Recording in Seattle. Most of the band knew and had previously worked with him, but I believe it was Chad that reached out and brought him onboard. I attended most of the recording and mixing sessions and will never forget sitting behind Endino one night watching and listening to him work. During studio downtime it was interesting to hear Jack and Chad discussing Nirvana and their work on those recordings. The shelves at Reciprocal were also filled with the master tapes from SoundGarden, Mudhoney, and other well-known Seattle bands. Endino mentioned that Nirvana’s label had come in at one point and collected their masters. I later learned that Endino was back in the studio the following week with Nirvana. Endino had an assistant engineer at the time named Phil Ek, who later went on to produce bands such as Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, and Fleet Foxes.
5.) So the original release of ‘Stripped’ was an EP?
Yes. The label was working on a shoestring budget and had to be careful about recording costs, etc. We still needed money to manufacture, promote, and distribute the CD. So the final release had the five studio tracks recorded with Jack and one demo track ‘She Drove Me Crazy’ from the session with Marty. I felt this track had to be on the EP as it really captured what it was like to hear the band play live.
6.) How was the ‘Stripped’ EP received?
It went well considering this was the early 90’s. We heard from folks all over the world who had read about the band and wanted copies. We gained airplay locally and internationally. Realistically, it was difficult back in those days to promote and distribute music. The Internet was just starting and streaming services were years away. Getting CDs out to stores meant working with each one individually and following up every few weeks to check-in. Later C/Z Records took on some distribution, but I don’t remember much coming of that.
7.) After the release what happened with the band?
This is where it got interesting. The band signed on to some Seattle shows (including opening for friends SoundGarden) to promote the album and the band. However, Brain Wood, the vocalist, could no longer be counted on to appear for the shows. In a few instances he watched the band play with no singer, while sitting with the crowd or just outside the venue. This was an early sign of problems within the band. The Fire Ants had bigger plans around recording a full album and touring, but these problems grew and led to the band eventually breaking up.
8.) In 2015 Dekema Records released a remastered and deluxe version of Stripped. How did that come about?
I was never happy with the overall sound quality of the EP and knew it needed to be fixed for a proper digital release. I also had the original tapes from the demo recording sessions the band did with Marty Jourard. Taking a chance, I reached out to Jack Endino and asked if he would be interested in remastering and expanding the original EP. Being one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, he agreed to take on the project. Over the course of the next few months I sent him the original tapes and we worked through the recordings to find an additional nine songs to remaster and add to the initial six tracks from the 1992 release.
9.) How has this new version, ‘Stripped (Deluxe Edition)’ been received?
It started slowly, but creating awareness about the band and the band’s story has helped a real following over recent years. Their songs are streamed daily and have been played in over 100 countries. It’s been a lot easier than it was back in the 90’s when everything was so time-consuming.
10.) Why did you start releasing videos from ‘Stripped’ nearly 30 years later?
I felt this was a big part missing for anybody who became a fan of the band. Other than the music, it was hard to imagine what the band was like since we did not have many visuals back from their days together. I personally created the first video for ‘100 Wives’ using the original live video that the band sent me back in 1992. The quality of that VHS video was poor, so you will see that I had to do many things to hide the quality by mixing in effects, etc. But doing this really allowed people to see the band back in the early days when they were young and first starting out. The song is about six minutes long and took me months to create. I think you can actually see my editing skills improve as the video progresses. It’s pretty rocking at the end. The next two videos for ‘Bodies By The Side Of The Road’ and ‘Mine, His, Alive’ were animations that I connected with outside artists to create. For these videos I still wanted to capture a younger band, but didn’t want to go back to the old 1992 video. While I’m happy with the ‘Bodies’ video, I think the “Mine, His, Alive” video really captures something that feels like it could have been done back when we originally released the EP and the band was still together. There is another video on the way for ‘She Drove Me Crazy’. It’s going to be an epic good vs. evil story with our hero and his band of fighting fire ants. Going to take a few more months to get this done.
11.) What are the members of the band doing these days?
I’ve had a chance to keep in touch mostly with Kevin and Chad recently. Both of them continue to record new music and stay very active. Kevin recently released new songs from Malfunkshun, the band that he and Andy started back in the 80’s. I last heard from Brian back around 2013. We worked together to release his single ‘Where It’s Easy’ back in 2014. It was a great song and I hoped to work with him to release others. The last time I heard from him, also back in 2014, he was having some kind of problem with Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. He asked me to help smooth this out, which I did via a series of text messages to Gossard. It must of have worked as that was the last I heard from Brian. Dan, the bass player and overall nice guy, seems to have given up music and is living a blissful life somewhere in the US.
12.) And Dekema Records?
I don’t know. Just working on the Fire Ants stuff at the moment. I’ve got an inventory of albums and singles that the label released over the years that are currently unavailable. I honestly don’t know if I want to keep looking back and reissuing material or start working on new projects. It is always fun to work with a new band and head into the studio to see what happens.
13.) Last question, what was it like being a part of the 90’s Seattle Grunge scene?
I have no idea. That wasn’t a part of my life and I was an outsider. We went to shows to see and find bands and occasionally have some fun, but I quickly found out that having a record label was not cheap. Most of my time was spent planning record releases, promotions, and working two to three jobs to afford everything. Life was very busy back then. That was probably the case for everybody involved.