Gruntruck, Skin Yard Singer Ben McMillan Passes Away

Before there was Soundgarden or Mudhoney or Alice in Chains, there was Skin Yard and Gruntruck, two late-80s-spawned bands that foretold and influenced Seattle's grunge phenomenon. Ben McMillan, who died here yesterday of complications stemming from diabetes, fronted both bands. He was 46.

Seattlest wasn't fortunate enough to live here when McMillan's bands existed, but thanks to the magic of the internets, we can pretend, if only for a few minutes, that we were. This is Gruntruck circa 1992.

Appropriately, "the survivng members of Gruntruck, as well as other Seattle rock luminaries, are planning an assortment of tributes and memorial projects in his name." Given McMillan's relationships with local musicians and bands of the 90s—many still recording and/or producing today—we could be talking about music (and shows) as memorable and moving as Temple of the Dog's. Given McMillan's local rock legacy and his untimely, natural-causes death, he more than deserves it.

Hat tip to Travis Hay, who did see Gruntruck live