Alex Shumway (born December 14, 1965), known professionally as Alex Vincent, is an American musician, songwriter, and actor who is best known as the drummer for the rock band Green River. Along with

Mark Arm Mark Arm (born Mark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for the grunge band Mudhoney. His former group, Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along with Malfunkshun, ...

, Steve Turner, and

Jeff Ament Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician best known as the bassist of rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. Ament wrote or co-wrote many of Pearl Jam's hits, ...

, he is one of its founding members. He is also the founder, drummer, and songwriter for the band Ex's With Benefits; as well as a founder and guitar player for the band Thee Deception.

Biography

Vincent attended the Northwest School in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

with future bandmates Steve Turner and

Stone Gossard Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician and songwriter who serves as the rhythm guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the ...

(as well as future Presidents of the United States of America drummer, Jason Finn). He was the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

for the band

Spluii Numa Spluii Numa was a hardcore punk band from Federal Way, Washington formed in 1982. Its members consisted of Erik Aasen (vocals), Charles Quain (guitar), Keith Strobel (bass), briefly Harold Hollingsworth (vocals), and Alex Shumway. Mudhoney's ...

and later pioneered the

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

scene as a founding member of Green River. After the disbanding of Green River in 1988, he returned to college, eventually ending up in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as a student of international studies at

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese language, Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit research university in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1913 by ...

( 上智大学) in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. He moved back to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1995 to work in politics and labor union-related organizations. In 2012, he formed the punk band Ex's With Benefits with Dmitra Smith, Dave Place, and Pascal Faivre. In 2016, he formed Thee Deception with Dave Place, Samuel Bligh, Regan Hagar, and Cody Davis.

Green River

Vincent and Turner became acquainted with fellow Seattle musician

while playing shows in and around Seattle in the early 1980s. In mid-1984, the three decided to form a band. They snapped up local bassist

after his band at the time, Deranged Diction, had broken up. The foursome called themselves Green River. Stone Gossard joined shortly thereafter. "We knew we wanted Ament," said Vincent. "Stone was in another band with

Jonathan Evison Jonathan Evison (born September 27, 1968) is an American writer known for his novels '' All About Lulu'', ''West of Here'', '' The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving'', '' This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!'', ''Lawn Boy'', ''Legends of the No ...

called March of Crimes.

tone Tone may refer to: Visual arts and color-related * Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory * Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color * Toning (coin), color change in coins * ...

got fired from them and we picked him up just before we recorded the first demo."Interview with Alex Vincent By the time the band finished the recording of its debut EP, '' Come on Down'', Turner decided to leave the group, citing his distaste with Ament and Gossard's heavy metal leanings.Huey, Steve. " Green River.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. Retrieved on June 13, 2005. Bruce Fairweather, Ament's former Deranged Diction bandmate, replaced Turner. The band released the EP ''Come on Down'' in 1985 and followed it up with '' Dry As a Bone'' in 1987, the first release on

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

records. The band's only full-length studio album, '' Rehab Doll'', was released in 1988. In-fighting within the band lead to the group's break-up during the recording of ''Rehab Doll''. A stylistic division had developed between Ament and Gossard on one side, and Arm on the other.Azerrad, Michael. ''

Our Band Could Be Your Life ''Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991'' is a book by Michael Azerrad. It chronicles the careers of several underground rock bands who, while finding little or no mainstream success, were hugely ...

''. Little Brown and Company, 2001. , pg. 422 Ament and Gossard wanted to pursue a major-label deal, while Arm wanted to remain

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, viewing the duo as being too careerist. The band achieved a considerable local reputation in Seattle and had a significant influence on the genre later known as ''grunge'', with Green River being described as "arguably the first grunge band." In 2008, Green River reunited for the 20-year anniversary of the

record label and have played several live shows since.

Ex's With Benefits

Ex's With Benefits formed in 2012 after Vincent had written music for possible future recordings by Green River that never materialized. Not wanting the music to go to waste, he held on to it hoping to hear what it sounded like with vocals. He reconnected with an old high school friend, Dmitra Smith (who was fronting the San Francisco-based band Static People), sending her some of the songs to see if she'd be able to record on top of them. Almost immediately, it became a real collaboration. Soon after, Dmitra's husband, Pascal Faivre, joined on guitar with Dave Place on bass.

Big in Japan

In October 2010, Vincent played himself in the semi-documentary film, Big in Japan, directed by John Jeffcoat. It premiered in March 2014 at the

South By Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Music and Film Festival.

Personal life

Vincent currently lives in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. Today, he is a stay-at-home father to his adopted daughters. He continues to compose and play music.

Discography

Green River discography

Ex's With Benefits discography

Thee Deception discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Alex Grunge musicians American rock drummers Green River (band) members Living people 1965 births