LIVE NIRVANA INTERVIEW ARCHIVE September ??, 1991 - Seattle, WA, US
Personnel
- Interviewer(s)
- Bill Reid
- Interviewee(s)
- Krist Novoselic
- Dave Grohl
Sources
| Publisher | Title | Transcript |
|---|---|---|
| KNDD Radio | TBC | Yes |
Transcript
Bill Reid: You guys! It's good to see at least, uh, two of the three of you, huh?
Dave Grohl: Yeah.
BR: Yeah.
Krist Novoselic: Yeah.
BR Well, we've got- we've got Chris. Chris, you, uh, what do you do with the band?
KN: Uh, I don't know what I'm doing here. No, I mean…
BR: You're a bass player.
KN: I played bass, yeah.
BR: Ah. And Dave, drummer.
DG: Yeah.
BR: Welcome, you guys.
KN: The drummer.
DG: Thank you very much.
BR: Where's Kurt?
KN: Uh, he's… uh.
DG: He's slacking off down in LA, trying to be a star. [laughs]
BR: Oh, no! [laughs]
KN: Actually, he’s in a floatation tank, trying to find his, um…
DG: His inner self.
KN: His inner self.
BR: His New Age roots. He's lookin' for his inner self.
DG: Acid doesn't work anymore. I think there's a bunch of Mr Bubble in there. [laughs]
BR: I was under the impression you guys lived in Olympia.
KN: Well, I live in Tacoma. Kurt doesn't live anywhere anymore, he squats around and that's how he saves money, but he… And uh, Dave, you live in Seattle, right?
DG: I live in West Seattle, yeah.
BR: God's country, man! That's where I live, too. And you've got a new record coming out, everybody's pretty excited about it around here. The album is titled…
KN: Um, Nevermind.
BR: Yeah? Where did you make the record at?
KN: We made it in, uh, Van Nuys, California, in the valley!
BR: Why didn't you record in Seattle? I'm surprised… or Olympia, for that matter?
KN: Uh, well, there's- this place was really cool. It had this really old Neve board from the mid '70s, you know? This place is like a relic, there's all this wood panelling and cork on the walls and there's like a Rumors gold record on the wall.
DG: Fleetwood Mac was in there…
KN: Yeah, they were in there.
DG: Back and forth, man.
KN: Yeah.
BR: Fleetwood Mac was in and out of there?
KN: Yeah, yeah and who else was in and out of there? Some other…
BR: Linda Ronstadt?
DG: The singer from Warrant was producing some, like, Florida metal band.
BR: Those guys have the best hair!
KN: They do!
DG: You should have seen the band he was producing! Jee!
BR: Really? Better hair than Warrant?!
KN: They were all pink and sunburned because they're like blonde and…
DG: They're like albino metal, totally sunburned and…
BR: Well, see, they should have gone tanning before they came to Southern California.
KN: I think they’re those kind of people that just burn, they don't tan, you know?
BR: So, well, what number sunscreen do you use on the beach, Chris?
KN: I don't use sunscreen. I should, but I have like pretty dark skin. I'm like, yeah…
DG: You've got dark skin. He's got that Yugoslavian blood.
BR: Dave, it looks like you probably have a problem out in the sun.
DG: Well, sometimes, it depends.
KN: You had some good color this summer, though.
DG: I had good color at the beginning of the summer…
KN: Yeah.
DG: And then recently we haven't been outdoors much, we've been doing a lot of stuff, a lot of that “industry biz”, you know, which goes on behind closed doors.
BR: And now we may be privy to what goes on behind closed doors in the world of rock and roll.
KN: Privy, yeah.
BR: Give us some good stories, you guys!
KN: Oh, okay.
DG: Well, when I was six…
BR: I'm kidding. What, uh…
KN: We'll talk about the blow, we'll talk about the broads… fast cars.
DG: All that blow, man! We were trying to mix the record, but there was so much blow just clogging the pots on the board!
BR: Fleetwood Mac was in the studio, oh yeah, I can understand that.
KN: We had a deli table.
DG: Yeah.
BR: Oh, there we go!
DG: You know, I heard some pretty crazy stories about Fleetwood Mac and how, uh…
KN: They all slept with each other?
DG: Well, yeah, but two people were having sex on the second floor and they fell through the roof onto the table by the pinball machine…
BR: Dude, that's rock and roll there!
KN: Whoa! Yeah, Jungle Lord pinball machine, too, where you can rack up like 90 credits.
BR: Who do you like better, Stevie Nicks or Christine from Fleetwood Mac?
KN: I could take or leave both of them.
DG: We've gone through this little Abba phase lately. There's this band in Europe called… oh no, actually they're from Australia… they're called Bjorn Again.
BR: Get outta here! [laughs]
DG: I swear to God! And they look exactly like Abba and they do all Abba's songs.
KN: Yeah.
DG: And they're getting really big, they're like packing places and they look exactly like them.
BR: So when will we see those guys?
KN: I don't know if they- if they'll hit here.
DG: Why, aren't we playing with them?
KN: Oh…
DG: No, never mind!
BR: Guys, shall we, uh, roll Smells Like Teen Spirit? After Chris tells me a little bit about, uh, or Dave for that matter - Dave, you seem very quotable tonight! What is the deal Smells Like Teen Spirit? Where did you get that, uh, title? Is anything to do with Teen Spirit deodorant?
KN: Kathleen from Olympia thought it up. [laughs]
BR: Say more.
DG: Kathleen from this band Bikini Kill in Olympia, who's this ultra revolutionary urban gorilla, painted a bunch of crap all over Kurt's walls and, uh…
KN: She wrote “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit”
DG: And so…
BR: And that is, it's a deodorant.
KN: Yeah.
BR: Okay.
DG: But, see, we didn't know that. See, we didn't know that it was deodorant, we just thought it was one of Kathleen's “killer quotes” and, uh…
KN: She's really poetic.
BR: The teens in the audience will relate to this one…
DG: Yeah, I hope so.
BR: From the new album, Nevermind.
KN: Pukkelpop. That means popping zits in Belgium.
DG: Yeah, we played a festival in Belgium called the Pukkelpop Festival. Pukkel is a pimple.
KN: …more teens… don't commit suicide.
BR: We'll talk more after this, it's Nirvana on 107.7 The End.
BR: Nirvana on 107.7 The End, Bill Reid sitting in for Marco and hanging out with, uh, two-thirds of the band, I've got Dave and I've got Chris and, uh, Pukkelpop Festival?
KN: Pukkelpop, yeah.
BR: And that means pop a zit?
KN: Pop zit Festival, yeah.
DG: It's a zit popping Festival.
BR: And where was that, Belgium?
KN: It was in, uh, Hasselt, Belgium and it was like the Ramones headlined and The Pogues were there and Sonic Youth and…
DG: Dinosaur…
KN: Dinosaur Jr. and, uh, some- some English shoegazing bands. Have you heard of that?
BR: What's an English shoegazing band?
KN: They're these bands that just kind of stand on stage and gaze at their shoes and just kind of- they have these like Lush sounding, like, [scats] - they're in a groove and basically just kind of stand there…
BR: Get into a half hour groove?
KN: Yeah.
DG: It's like the Manchester bowl cut.
KN: Yeah. Ecstasy…
DG: It blows! It just blows, man! It all blows! I can't understand why anyone would want to listen to it anyway, it just blows!
KN: I know.
BR: That's rock and roll.
KN: It's a Renaissance, that whole thing, you know.
BR: Let's talk more about the album. I know, uh, Susie from DGC would like us to- like us to talk about the album, wouldn't you?
Susie Tennant: Sure.
KN: [in a lispy voice] “Susie.”
BR: [in a robotic voice] “Susie from DGC would like us to talk about the album.” The album is called Nevermind, the album is called Nevermind…
KN: Nevermind.
BR: This is true and it was produced by who?
KN: Um, Butch Vig.
BR: Butch Vig, famous Wisconsin-
KN: Madison, Wisconsin.
BR: Right. Who has worked with?
KN: Uh…
DG: Killdozer, Laughing Hyenas…
BR: Smashing Pumpkins…
DG: Smashing Pumpkins, TAD…
BR: Young Fresh Fellows…
DG: Dwarves…
KN: I don't know if he did The Dwarves. You know what The Dwarves did?
DG: Die Kreuzen…
KN: They wrote on the console at Smart Studios…
DG: Like this brand new board.
KN: And they wrote, like, “Dwarves were here” and all this stuff and I guess it kind of…
BR: Dwarves are punks.
KN: They're totally punk, yeah. [laughs] Yeah, but Butch is, like- he was really cool to work with. Like, he's really easy going and, uh, he's pretty attentive when we're unattentive. Like, our attention span kind of strays off and he's, like, you know…
BR: So, did you record it fast and cheap?
KN: No.
BR: Oh, no!
KN: We slacked off so bad! We’d come in late and leave early. We'd stop by the liquor store on the way in, pass out on the couch, you know.
BR: Well it's like a Fleetwood Mac thing there.
KN: Yeah, it was. It was- it was the vibes of that place! There was Rick Springfield gold records…
DG: Yeah.
KN: And a Dio Holy Diver…
DG: And Cheap Trick.
KN: Record, Cheap Trick Heaven Tonight.
DG: Live… Oh, I thought it was Live At Budokan.
KN: No, how could they have recorded that there?!
DG: [whispers] Your mother!
BR: Yeah, how about the big switch over from Sub Pop to Geffen? You want to talk about that? You're probably not tired of it yet, huh!
KN: [groans]
BR: Oh, come on, Chris!
KN: Well, what happened was…
DG: [whispers] Your mother!
KN: We needed… why did we switch over?
DG: Um, for the blow. [laughs]
KN: For the blow, that's why.
BR: The blow and the broads are better with the majors, I understand.
DG: Yeah.
KN: I don't know. We're really good friends with Sub Pop still and, uh…
DG: See, there's this one guy who works at DGC who can get the best herb on the West Coast!
KN: He is and his name is Mike Rosenfelder!
DG: [laughs] And so- and so we went with DGC 'cause we go for the good smoke!
KN: He packs a bong underneath the seat of his car.
DG: Yeah, so right when he gets off of work and [imitates bong noises]
BR: So, you can get, like, a huge advance and stuff…
KN: It wasn't that huge!
BR: And you're buying cars.
KN: No, no, no.
DG: See, everybody's under the impression that when you sign for a certain amount of money that you get this enormous advance and it goes straight into your pocket… but no.
KN: Yeah. I mean, we paid- 32 percent of the money we- went to pay for bombs and missiles and maybe a few parks and roads here and there, scattered liberally, you know, went to pay taxes but…
DG: But the rest of it went to Rosie for that herb.
KN: Yeah and went to Rosie for the herb.
BR: So it's still pretty much the same, it's just on a different, uh, scale now?
KN: Well, I think that what we like about it is that, I mean, the label really knows what they're doing and we don't have to worry about it at all. Like, you know, we just made the record and we tour and they like, uh, promote it and, uh, like, um, what do they do? They arrange interviews and they just do their job and they just do it really well, so…
DG: We talked to a bunch of different labels and a lot of the bigger labels were just filled with sort of old fogy, you know, people who were releasing, you know, Mr Mister albums like five years ago…
BR: And you were- you would just be another product.
DG: Yeah, so, DGC knew where we were coming from and…
KN: Sonic Youth was on DGC and now they have Teenage Fanclub, so…
DG: Yeah.
KN: We liked our A&R- the A&R guy we signed with was really cool.
BR: A&R, what does A&R mean?
DG: Artist and Repertoire.
KN: Artist and Repertoire.
BR: What does an A&R guy do? I don't…
KN: He just signs bands and he's your guy at the label like, you know, if you have a problem, you talk to him about it, he's your man! And a lot of- you know, like, it was interesting because we were talking to a couple other labels and those A&R guys got dropped, you know…
DG: [burps] Excuse me! [imitates fart noises]
KN: And, uh, like, you could be at a label and your A&R guy will get like fired and then you're stuck there with near nobody, you're orphaned!
BR: I appreciate you guys bringing in this three-song CD…
DG: Shit, we didn't bring it!
BR: Because, uh, I think we can actually, uh, play some… wait, is this a world premiere? I think we could world premiere some Nirvana tonight.
KN: Those B-sides- those are just like B-side songs, so… I don't know, we just kind of threw him on the B-side and you could…
BR: It says previously unreleased, right?
KN: Yeah, yeah. We recorded in Seattle, just kind of screwing around…
DG: One night.
KN: One night, yeah. And they're all right songs, they're okay, I can't really slag them.
BR: I want to play one, what do you like? Do you like Even In His Youth, or Aneurysm? What do you like?
DG: I like Even In His Youth.
KN: Well, I like Aneurysm.
DG: Well, who's got a coin? Who's got a coin?
KN: We'll do Even In His Youth, straight-ahead pop-o-rama.
DG: Who's got a coin?!
BR: Um, Kevin's got the coin.
DG: You call it, heads or tails?
KN: Heads.
BR: Heads!
DG: Heads, Aneurysm.
KN: Aneurysm.
BR: Aneurysm, Nirvana.
KN: Riff-rocker. [stomping noises]
BR: You've never heard it before, it's a world premiere, 107.7 The End.
DG: This is your quarter.
BR: Aneurysm! That's pretty cool, that's never been released.
KN: No. See, they're just like B-side songs, um, we did it with, uh, “the Craigster”, Hey!
BR: The Craigster?
DG: Craig Montgomery.
BR: Hold on! 107.7 The End, The Cutting Edge of Rock, interview with Nirvana. Okay…
KN: And, yeah, we- we recorded that with the Craigster, Craig, uh, he's- he's working on the Posies record right now. He's our soundman who travels with us and…
DG: He rides- he rides a bike all the time.
BR: Uh, you guys are- you're gonna do one of those rock and roll biz record release party things that Beehive out, uh, in the U District on 45th, is it true?
KN: Yeah, we're gonna be there. I don't know what time we're supposed to be there, but somebody should call us and tell us…
BR: Um, I think you should be there by 7 P.M.
KN: 7 P.M?
BR: This coming Monday.
KN: Yeah…
DG: Oh… I don't know if I can make it.
KN: We'll be in there and you can come in and, I don't know, you can just come in and hang out and, you know, make sure nothing slips underneath your shirt on the way out, you know? Those electric beepers might [imitates alarm]… And if that happens, just bolt, 'cause you've got nothing to lose…
DG: It might just be a little too loud!
KN: Because you're going to get caught anyway, so you might as well try to get away, because at least you have a chance, but 10-1 odds are that there's gonna be other people kyping stuff too, so…
BR: Chris, I'm sure the folks at Beehive are kind of…
DG: Kyping's a bad thing.
KN: Kyping's a bad thing.
BR: They're really going to appreciate the pointers there!
KN: You know, shoplifting is bad, we all pay for shoplifting!
BR: But, anyway, this Beehive record release party is, uh, Monday night, seven till nine. You've got things to give away, I understand. You'll be giving away like records out of your own collections and stuff, right?
KN: Right, yes, Beatles' “Butcher cover” and, uh, what else?
BR: Oh, yeah.
DG: I got this Big Chief 7-inch I'd like to give away! [laughs]
BR: Yeah. Say, hey, you guys have you ever seen This Is Spinal Tap?
KN: Oh, yeah!
DG: Yeah.
BR: Now, think about this, your record release party…
DG: Okay, we already talked about that and Paul Shaffer's there, [imitates Artie Fufkin] “Kick my ass! Go ahead. My timing is…”
BR: Do you guys worry that might happen? You're gonna go to an in-store and nobody will come?
DG: Who cares?!
KN: Who cares?! Good!
DG: It's just a record store! Jeez!
KN: Whose idea was it that we have to be there…
DG: I don't know!
KN: And meet people, you know what I mean?
DG: Susie?!
ST: Don't blame me!
BR: This is rock and roll! It comes with the blow, and the babes, and the fast cars…
KN: We'll just shake hands and maybe establish some kind of like political career. Like, you know, “vote for me in September.”
BR: Do you have political aspirations, Chris?
KN: Maybe someday, but it'll be too radical, it'll never go anywhere.
DG: [tapping noises]
KN: Free love!
BR: Dave, do some free radical drumming for us, man.
DG: [in a Southern Californian accent with a heavy vocal fry] Yeah, man, I'm really into this tribal thing right now…
BR: Dude, how did you get into Nirvana?
DG: I've got these Tibetan Bulls… how did I get in to Nirvana?
BR: Tell us how you got in Nirvana. I know you're the newest member, though you've been in the band for a while now.
DG: They had these weird like scratch-off tickets that you could get at 7-Elevens and I scratched the grand prize. [tapping noises]
BR: Tell me about Chad.
KN: Yeah, Chad, that's kind of a bummer, what happened with Chad, you know?
BR: Did he, like, blow up?
KN: No, no. Chad's fine! Chad plays drums with the Fire Ants now and, uh…
BR: Chad was the drummer in Nirvana before Dave.
KN: Yeah, we just kind of, uh, split up, you know?
BR: Spontaneously combusted. It happens.
KN: Yeah, that might have happened, too, but, uh… Chad's still our brother. We're all brothers.
BR: You guys, I brought my own Nirvana records in and I like- I like all these songs but, uh, let's choose one right now. Get the coin out, Dave.
DG: Um, can I have that coin back?
KN: I don't care what we play.
DG: Okay, all right. No, it's up to you. You choose two. What did you just choose?
KN: Let's play Siouxsie And The Banshees!
DG: Yeah, Kiss Them For Me.
KN: [in a soft high-pitched voice] “Kiss Them For Me.” Let's play that! That's great! We had that on tour!
DG: Yeah, do you have that? 'Cause that's a great song.
BR: Will you guys autograph the CD for me?
DG: If you play Kiss Them For Me.
BR: Okay.
KN: [in a soft high-pitched voice] “Kiss Them For Me.”
BR: Go ahead. Who's got the DJ voice here? Someone introduce the song.
DG: It's not me. What's it called?
KN: [in a loud voice with a heavy lisp] “This is Siouxsie And The Banshees!”
BR: Kiss Them For Me and the radio station is 107.7 The End.
KN: The End.
DG: [in a low whispery voice] “This is Siouxsie And The Banshees, you're listening to 107.7 FM, Kiss Them For Me.”
BR: Siouxsie And The Banshees, uh, what the hell did we play that for?
KN: It's a cool song!
DG: Because it's a good song!
BR: Oh! Oh, okay, uh, The End 107.7 with Bill Reid and the two-thirds of Nirvana. Over here I've got Dave, I've got Chris. What's your problem, Dave?
DG: I have no problem. [laughs]
KN: No problema.
BR: All right. Hey you can come out and see Nirvana, by the way, and meet the guys from Nirvana at the in-store record release party celebration.
DG: You know, that whole meet the band thing really sort of left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. “Meet the band,” 'cause, you know, we don't want to meet anybody! Just buy our records and get the hell out of our faces!
KN: We're gonna dress up like bees and hand out honey and stuff.
DG: Yeah.
KN: I'm gonna be the queen bee!
DG: I'm gonna be walking around with this little cigarette box with a, uh, a, uh… a Magna t-shirt on and I'm going to be handing out these Magna things.
KN: Whoa!
DG: Yeah.
KN: Yeah.
BR: It's at Beehive…
KN: Beehive.
BR: Which used to be Peaches, okay.
KN: And we're going to be passing a hat around for a keg.
BR: And then a kegger at Chris's house after.
DG: No, a kegger at the Beehive, man!
BR: They'll appreciate that. Just don't steal anything!
DG: Kegger at the Beehive! Kegger at the Beehive!
BR: Anything else you guys have always wanted to talk about?
KN: No.
DG: Oh, we're playing on Halloween with Mudhoney and Teenage Fanclub, I hope.
KN: I hope.
BR: Where?
DG: At the Paramount.
BR: Halloween night, 31st.
DG: Yeah. There's going to be a ghost dance contest on stage.
KN: Yeah.
BR: All right, any kind of costume contest? We have to worry about dressing up stupid, coming to the show?
DG: I don't know.
KN: Dress any way you like.
DG: Come as you are.
KN: No, it's gonna be punk rock night, where people dress up as punk rockers.
DG: Yeah.
KN: Punk rock.
BR: Is it okay to be goth? Is it okay to have white face and stuff?
KN: Yeah, that's all right
DG: Yeah, let's play another Siouxsie And The Banshees song.
BR: No, let's not! Do we have anything on this, uh, on this vinyl that we don't have on the CD? Doesn't look like it.
KN: No, no frills.
DG: A label.
BR: We've got some of these to give away, too. These are- these are collectors' items, guys.
KN: Really?
BR: Yeah, do you want one?
DG: No.
BR: Has the label gotten you one yet?
KN: I'm not a collector.
BR: Oh, okay.
DG: I'm very anal about my record collection! I must have the yellow vinyl!
BR: Let's give a few away.
KN: Okay.
BR: Let's do it! Uh, the first five, well let's see, uh, yeah, the first five callers at 421-1077 or toll free, I don't know the toll-free number… oh, here's the toll-free number, thank you, it's, uh, 1-800-423-107.7 first five callers, call now! Well, talk about a collectors' item, this is not sold in stores, it's a 12-inch record, three songs, it's on yellow vinyl. Let's do one more from it. This is world premiere stuff, man! From Nirvana, it's called Even In His Youth. Thanks for coming by, you guys.
KN: You're welcome.
DG: Bye. Adios.
BR: World premiere! Nirvana on 107.7 The End. That's Even In His Youth from, uh, from a three-track CD. We also have it on vinyl. In fact, we've given away some vinyl, uh, it's a promotion item only and I've got my winners already. Thanks for trying, if you were. And thanks for listening. And a whole lot of thanks to Dave and Chris from Nirvana for coming on down. Be sure and catch those guys Monday from seven till nine at night, okay? Not in the morning! You don't have to get up earlier for it or anything like that, but they'll be at Beehive - it used to be Peaches, it's out there on 45th, you can see it from the freeway. I'm Bill Reid, I'm in for Marco. Top 10 of 10 coming up. Right now it's electronic, 107.7 The End.
© Bill Reid/KNDD-FM, 1991