Skin Yard (a Seattle band) was started in January 1985 by Daniel House (bass), and Jack Endino (guitar).
We were joined by Matthew Cameron (drums) who had previously played with Daniel and Tom ("Nerm") Herring in an instrumental power trio called Feedback. Matt came up with our name, which oddly enough means absolutely nothing, but was weird enough for none of us to object. We found our singer Ben McMillan in April '85, and played our first show in June of '85 opening for the U-Men.
Skin Yard made five albums and toured the US and Europe, finally ceasing all activities in Summer 1992. A "posthumous" 6th album was released in 2002, consisting entirely of long-unavailable singles, rarities and other stuff that had never been on CD.

Matt Cameron left amicably in June '86, joining Soundgarden in August. We played 2 gigs apiece with Steve Wied (later of the Tad band) and Greg Gilmore (later of Mother Love Bone, and more recently with Doghead and Ten Minute Warning) while hunting for a more permanent replacement drummer.
That fall we got Jason Finn (now of the Presidents of the United States, god bless 'im), who left after eight months for obscure personal reasons having nothing to do with us. In May '87 we found Scott McCullum (aka Norman Scott, later of Gruntruck), who ironically had once been all but hired for the Soundgarden drum position, until Matt Cameron had, out of the blue, called them and offered his services. Scott left Skin Yard in May '89 after a particularly grievous US tour, fondly remembered as "the tour from hell."
Skin Yard effectively ceased to exist for 14 months, then found a new drummer, Barrett Martin (later of Screaming Trees, Mad Season, Tuatara, Wayward Shamans). Barrett was with us until the end. Daniel House left in March '91 to devote more time to fatherhood, and was replaced by Pat Pedersen (later of Sister Psychic). When Skin Yard began winding down, Ben started Gruntruck with our old drummer Scott, along with guitarist Tommy from the Accüsed. Pat and Barrett jammed and recorded with Jack in Endino's Earthworm. By the time we finished recording our 5th album in Summer '92, it was time to bow out gracefully. Daniel is now running C/Z records full time, and Ben's Gruntruck has more or less retired. Jack is looking for a label for his third solo record, or more correctly, second Earthworm record (on which Barrett plays drums). Barrett has his own label (Fast Horse Recordings) and remains one of the busiest musicians anywhere.

Jack Endino