Barrett Martin has 33 Screaming Trees stories – from his joining the band in 1991 to the group nearly reuniting in 2015 – on offer in The Greatest Band that Ever Wasn’t: The Story of the Roughest, Toughest, Most Hell-raising Band to Ever Come out of the Pacific Northwest, The Screaming Trees – A Comedy/Tragedy in 3 Acts.

It’s an unwieldy title for an unwieldy book that finds the Trees’ longest-serving drummer in need of a ghost writer or a strong editor, either of which could have assisted with ridding the 204 pages of their many typos and the stories’ tendency toward the verbose. 

Despite these flaws, Martin’s book is a must-read for anyone wanting to hear about Screaming Trees and its members from a fresh perspective. Singer Mark Lanegan has written – mostly critically – about the band, but Martin, who also played with Skin Yard, co-founded Mad Season and Tuatara and was a touring member of R.E.M., clearly relished his time in the Trees with Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bassist Van Conner and auxiliary guitarists Joshua Homme and Peter Buck, and produced a positive memoir to demonstrate his affection. 

Martin also whets Lanegan fans’ appetites by revealing the late singer recorded two unnamed a cappella Blind Willie McTell covers for a soundtrack – also unnamed – the drummer was or is producing.