Jack Endino


Jack Endino is an American producer and musician based in Seattle, United States. Long associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands including Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Nirvana. Endino was also the guitarist for the 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 played drums until he left for Soundgarden. In 1986, Skin Yard contributed two songs to C/Z Records' legendary grunge compilation Deep Six. In July 1986, Endino left his basement recording studio to found Reciprocal Recording 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 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 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 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. He appeared in the 1996 grunge documentary Hype!, 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

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 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, Hole, 7 Year Bitch, The Fartz, Supersuckers, TAD, the thrashcore band The Accüsed, Willard 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, Windhand, Hot Hot Heat, Toxic Holocaust, Lucid Nation, and Valient Thorr. Internationally, Endino is well known for his work with the Brazilian super-band Titãs, 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 singer Bruce Dickinson, French punk rockers Burning Heads, 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 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. Since 2015 Endino has played lead guitar in Seattle rock band MKB ULTRA, & also with the improv-psych trio Beyond Captain Orca.