LIVE NIRVANA INTERVIEW ARCHIVE August 17, 1990 - Los Angeles, CA, US

Personnel

Interviewer(s)

Lila Hussain

Rachel Shishido

Interviewee(s)

Kurt Cobain

Krist Novoselic

Dale Crover

Sources

Medium	Publisher	Date of Issue	Title	Transcript
Print	KUCI 88.9 FM Fall Program Guide 1990	??/??/1990	NIRVANA Doesn't particularly care for Heavy Metal- An interview with Seattle's best SUB-POP band!!!!!!!!!!!	Yes

Transcript

On a recent tour with Sonic Youth, KUCI DJ's Lila Hussain and Rachel Shishido spent some time with the band learning new insights about the makings of a loud, heavy, shrubbery-eating, cricket watching, metal aversive band.

LHRS: Where did you guys kick off the tour?

Kurdt: Las Vegas, it was a blast! It's just goin' to be a coastal thing, we'll end up in Seattle.

LHRS: Now that Nirvana is touring with Sonic Youth and your LP “Bleach” was so successful, can you guys just quit your day jobs?

Chris: We haven't worked in over two years now.

Kurdt: We've been leeching off girlfriends, friends, who aren't our friends anymore.

Chris: We've been recycling metals.

Kurdt: We started a petting zoo in our basement. (laughter), llamas, sheeps. We pick blackberries, mushrooms and fems. Ferns are great money-makers.

Chris: We eat a lot of berries.

LHRS: What do you guys drink?

Kurdt: Evian, it's pumped in our water systems in our houses, even in our toilets.

LHRS: What was the deal with the Raji's gig (Hollywood), a couple of months back when you smashed your guitar on the lamp?

Chris: They wanted us to pay for that lamp!!!

Kurdt: Yeah, the guy said “you owe me a 35 cent lamp!”.

Chris: I said I'll just run down to the hardware store....... (laughter)

LHRS: Did you have to pay for it?

Chris: No, he let me slide.

Kurdt: Actually we were going to break the mirror.

LHRS: And then you dived into the drums?

Chris: Speaking of dives, that place is a dive.

Kurdt: Yeah, but it's cheap and the only place worth playing so don't bag on it man.

LHRS: So you guys can just afford to break your instruments?

All: Yeah.

Dale: Especially since it really cost a lot for those el cheapo $25 guitars, that someone gives you anyway.

Kurdt: It's really worth it with your attitude and all; you sound like hell.

Chris: You're always working with marginal stuff that shits been peed on, and it doesn't stay in tune. It's always crackling and it blows every night.

Dale: These guys don't break them to look cool, they break them cuz they're shit.

Kurdt: We get mad. We're just temper tantrum babies.

LHRS: Did you guys like touring with Tad and Mudhoney?

Kurdt: Yeah, it was great. We toured Europe with Tad.

Chris: They're our cosmic brothers in God's eye; we only did a few shows with Mudhoney. It was cool, we were all crammed in this Fiat van, smoking hash, cigarettes, drinking beer, bitchin' and moanin'.

LHRS: Where did you tour?

Kurdt: All over, even Budapest.

Chris: We toured England, Holland, France, Germany.....

LHRS: How was the crowd?

Kurdt: They didn't have any idea what rock n' roll was all about but there was this one guy from Czechoslovakia, (mimics a bad Czech accent) “Ooh you must come to my country, oh you must come!”. He was so intense, I felt sorry for him.

LHRS: How was Germany?

Kurdt: They were OK but in England they were insane.

LHRS: They love Sub Pop there.

Kurdt: Yeah, they were drunk.

Chris: In Italy they treated us like rock stars!

Kurdt: In Italy we were signing T-shirts, chests, butts.

LHRS: Guys' or girls'?

Kurdt: Both, hermaphrodites

LHRS: What was the largest crowd you played there?

Chris: I don't know, a couple of thousands.

LHRS: Do you guys like playing in L.A?

Kurdt: I don't know. I like it here, I don't want to live here for sure.

LHRS: What is this anti-L.A thing in Seattle?

Chris: It's all a glam.

LHRS: Aren't you guys glam?

Kurdt: Yeah, we're all glam. It's a nice place to visit. I like palm trees, they're pretty. If I was born here I'd probably get used to it.

Chris: I'm from here, San Pedro.

Kurdt: He was born in Compton.

LHRS: With the posse? Can you rap?

Chris: No.

Kurdt: They used to beat up on him all the time.

Chris: None of us are from Seattle by the way.

Kurdt: Yeah, I live in the capitol Olympia.

Chris; I live in Tacoma, some shithole in the northwest.

Dale: I'm from San Francisco, industrial city.

LHRS: I'm sure you guys must of heard of the L.A band Nirvana?

Kurdt: Yeah, they are dead suckers!

LHRS: Some people I know bought tickets for the Reseda Country Club thinking it was you guys, boy they were upset.

Kurdt: Yeah, tmp out, we got some letters from people. RESEDA COUNTRY CLUB SUCK MY BUTTHOLE DRY !!!! We're suing the L.A Nirvana and we've got the best lawyer in the whole world, there is no way they are going to win.

LHRS: When is your new album coming out?

Chris: Who knows? But we have a single coming out next month.

LHRS: Is that going to be one of the Sub Pop singles of the month? Are you guys covering a Vaselines song?

Chris: I don't know, but we're not covering a Vaselines song, someday maybe.

LHRS: Last time you guys toured, you covered “Molly's Lips” of the Vaselines.

Kurdt: They're our favorite band. They broke up this year.

LHRS: Rumour has it that you guys are going to cover a Beat Happening song?

Kurdt: Nah, we were goin' to. See we don't do anything usually, so people have to make up things or if we just mention it they have to announce it.

LHRS: Does that mean you guys are not doing any side projects?

Kurdt: Mmm no.

Chris: We are starting a band that does all BTO covers (laughter), and we're going to wear padded clothing.

LHRS: Dale are you goin' to play drums with Nirvana from now on?

Dale: Nope, just these eight shows.

LHRS: Have you guys been touring continuously?

Kurdt: No, we had a few months off. We've been hangin' out in California.

Chris: This is just a tiny tour, about seven shows.

Kurdt: Yeah, Sonic Youth just called us up and said, “Hey do you guys want to go on tour?”, heck ya!. Thanks a lot.

LHRS: Recently many alternative bands such as Sonic Youth and Soundgarden have signed up with big labels, are you guys even looking for that?

All: No comment. (suspiciously)

LHRS: Also, within the last two years you lost two members Chad and Jason?

Kurdt: Big deal!!! Chad was a beautiful person and he still is but.......

Chris: Musical differences.

Dale: They all got SHIT CANNED. SHIT CANNED!

LHRS: What happened with Jason he fell out of both bands?

Kurdt: Ahh! he's got problems, he'll straighten out. We're praying for him. He was gettin' it on with my dad.

Dale: They all got SHIT CANNED!

Kurdt: It's no big deal but, we would like to make it clear Jason did not play on the record. We just put his name on it. It was just a three piece deal.

LHRS: Are you planning to keep it a 3 piece band?

Kurdt: For sure, for sure. Hey we're on a KISS compilation and it really sucks!

LHRS: Which KISS song did you guys do?

Kurdt: I don't know it's on the Au go go Australian label. What song did we do?

Chris: “Do you love me?”

LHRS: How can you guys screw that song up?

Kurdt: Because we drank like two jugs of wine...

Chris: This guy who produced it was really bad.

Kurdt: See we produced it really good on booze and then he brought over the tape, and took it upon himself that night to re-do it, and he bought it over and we had that day to get it to the pressing plant. It sounded really bad and dry. He was also supposed to edit out all the goofy, stupid kooky stuff we said at the end and he never did.

Dale: The Melvins are on that compilation too, we did “God of thunder”, and I got to do the drum solo. It was supposed to come out on C/Z records but probably not, maybe someday.

LHRS: When you have your new LP out will you guys have Jack Endino produce it again?

Kurdt: No, we recorded with this guy Butch Vig from Smart Studios in Madison. He does Killdozer stuff, all that Amphetamine Reptile stuff. We're goin' for the Madison sound. (laughter).

LHRS: Are you guys ever going to do a video?

Kurdt: Yeah, we already did one for our new song “In Bloom”.

LHRS: Has it been released yet?

Kurdt: Nah, it's really stupid, well it's not that bad. It's pretty typical MTV stuff, us playing in studio, you know us walkin' around...

LHRS: Are there naked girls?

Kurdt: No.

Dale: All there is, is just chicks and cars, chicks and cars.

Chris: We went in front of the NYC stock exchange and screwed around.

Kurdt: We took these see-through halloween jell masks and took our guitars and stood in front of these guys and played our guitars.

LHRS: When is it coming out?

Kurdt: Who knows? There is goin’ to be a big delay in our next LP.

Dale: You gotta get a new drummer.

Kurdt: We got a new drummer, we can officially announce that. OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCE DANNY FROM MUDHONEY. We'll be starting in a couple of months.

LHRS: Are you stealing him?

Kurdt: No, we are not stealing him. That's what Mark Arm's girlfriend said (female voice), “Are you stealing my boyfriend's drummer?”.

Chris: Well they're breaking up.

Kurdt: No, they're not breaking up, they're just taking a break, Steve's goin' back to college. They're still gonna put out records, have reunion shows. I hope so, cuz they're my favorite band in the world.

LHRS: Anything you guys want to say before we wrap it up?

Chris: I don't care about anybody or anything. I just wanna live in a hut in the woods cuz I don't need anybody.

Kurdt: ditto. (laughter).

Dale: I don't know.... nothing.

Chris: Don't wear condoms..., share needles because the world is overpopulated. Don't have kids. Smoke crack. (laughter). Eat unhealthy, drive really fast drunk. Live in Beirut.

Dale: You're goin' to get killed!!!

Chris: That's why I'm goin' to live in a hut, because of all the stuff like that. The less people that are on this earth the less stressful I'm gonna be.

LHRS: So that's the future of Nirvana no LP, just a hut?

Chris: No, I'm gonna go to the mall and start spraying people and Kurdt is gonna go to a Schoolyard and start killing children. (laughter).

Kurdt: No, first I want a clansman rally in the mall.

Chris: Yeah! A kill the clansmen rally, that'd be cool!

Kurdt: Now why hasn't someone done that yet?

© Lila Hussain & Rachel Shishido, 1990