Green Apple Quick Step

The Seattle band Green Apple Quick Step was part of the alternative rock boom that happened in the mid-'90s as grunge mellowed into the mainstream. Their songs were made up of pushy drums and psychedelic, overdriven guitars, but they never skimped on pop hooks, landing them on multiple major motion picture soundtracks and securing them a deal with Columbia for their third album, 1998's recorded but never officially released New Disaster. The band broke up shortly after the debacle with Columbia, but reunited occasionally in the late 2000s and 2010s.Green Apple Quick Step was formed in 1992 by vocalist Tyler Willman, guitarists Steve Ross and Dan Kempthorne, vocalist/bassist Mari Ann Braeden, and drummer Bob Martin. Most of the members of Green Apple Quick Step had previously played in Tacoma, Washington band Inspector Luv and the Ride Me Babys, a group that had ties to Pearl Jam early on and was even on the bill for their very first show when they were still called Mookie Blaylock and had yet to change the band name to Pearl Jam. After releasing their debut album, Wonderful Virus, on the Reprise-backed Medicine Records in 1994, Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard teamed up with Nick DiDia to produce 1995's Reloaded. Gossard gave the band free use of his home studio, and later let frontman Ty Willman take lead vocal duties on the first single of Gossard's first solo album, Bayleaf. Willman and bassist/backup vocalist Mari Ann Braeden also worked with Pearl Jam's Mike McCready in $10,000 Gold Chain. The band appeared on soundtracks like I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Basketball Diaries and signed with Columbia for the recording of their third album, New Disaster. New Disaster faced multiple setbacks due to issues with the label and management, and the band broke up in 1998 with the album never being released. Willman went on to sing with Devilhead and form his own solo project, Calm Down Juanita. Various Green Apple Quick Step reunions would take place on occasion, with different lineups of the band playing one-off gigs in 2009, 2010, and 2018.
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