LIVE NIRVANA INTERVIEW ARCHIVE October 24, 1990 - London, UK
Personnel
- Interviewer(s)
- Tina Caruso
- Interviewee(s)
- Kurt Cobain
Sources
| Publisher | Title | Transcript |
|---|---|---|
| Submerge | Nirvana | Yes |
Transcript
It was the first time I'd seen Nirvana and they were wild. The Astoria was solid with sweaty bodies and long haired men (just what the doctor ordered! well, its better than an apple a day) At the end of the gig I wandered backstage, I couldn't find Nirvana but I did find L7 who pointed me in the direction of some stairs. I walked into a really small room not much bigger than a toilet and there was the band sitting about looking really tired, they didn't look like they had the energy to answer any questions and I felt a bit bad for hassling them but it had to be done so I sat on a pile of black bin bags and asked Kurdt Kobain their vocalist/guitarist how did the band come together?
There's no amazing story behind it, we just got together, we've been around three years we've got through about six drummers that's the history.
WHY HAVEN'T YOU HAD A PERMANENT DRUMMER?
Good drummers with good timing are hard to come by, they aren't very available its taken us this long to find one and we've finally found a permanent drummer his names Dave and he used to be in a band called Scream. We had Danny from Mudhoney in the band for a couple of weeks, he did one show with us, we're really satisfied with his timing and playing and him as a person it's just that Dave sings back up vocals and we've been wanting someone to sing back up vocals live ever since we've been together.
DO YOU RECKON THIS TIME THE DRUMMER'S STAYING?
We're positive, we'll break up if this drummer leaves.
WEREN'T YOU GOING TO HAVE J MASCIS ON DRUMS?
It was an option at a time, he wanted to tour with us but it would have conflicted with his band and we wanted a permanent member, so It didn't seem too realistic.
DO YOU THINK IF YOU SIGN TO A MAJOR LABEL YOUR FANS WILL DISOWN YOU?
If they do they aren't our fans cos we're not going to change we may change but not dramatically. We wont turn into Echo and the Bunnymen, we may do an Echo and the Bunnymen cover, we may do an acid house song or a country and western song but we're not going to change because we consider ourselves kind of diverse, if people don't like that then we don't want them in our audience. We're doing what we want to do.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE RECORD COMPANY TRIES TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU ARE?
They cant, there's no way they can because we'll just break up or get kicked off the label. We have a proposal written up by our lawyer where we have 100% artistic freedom, which means we can do anything we want. You hear horror stories about major labels like killing bands and smothering them, trying to make them commercial, trying to cultivate bands and turn them into commercially acceptable pieces of shit.
They're becoming less strict nowadays because there's so many underground bands being signed, they're losing the battle. They're allowing people to be artists now. There'll always be bands like New Kids On The Block and the Bay City Rollers those are the money makers.
IF YOU GOT IN THE CHARTS AND MADE IT QUITE BIG HOW WOULD YOU MIND BEING PUT ALONG SIDE WITH ALL THESE TYPES OF BANDS?
I don't think it would matter, we'd still be doing spontaneous things like playing clubs that only hold 200 people and playing there five nights in a row so people can see us play in a small venue. I don't think we'll get that big our music isn't that commercial, there's no way we'll get as big as Guns and Roses and if we do, If it sucks we'll just quit and start over change our name and start playing different
songs (Lets hope they don't get big - Ed)
I HEARD THAT THERE'S QUITE A FEW MAJOR LABELS INTERESTED IN THE BAND, WHICH ONES ARE THEY?
Island, MCA, Columbia, Hollywood, Charisma, Capitol, just about all of them. We still have to meet with a few others then we have to go back and have other meetings and talk to people. There's going to be lots of negotiations going on.
If YOU SIGN DO YOU THINK YOU'LL BE MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION?
You have no idea, you really don't, things can change so fast on a major label, its amazing. All the staff move and change all the time constantly and you never know, you can completely lose your A and R guy, the guy who signed you within a month, its really an incestuous community they all move about into different labels.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE AMERICAN MUSIC SCENE?
I think its bullshit like all music scenes, there's a handful of good bands on the earth. I like the Pixies, The Melvins, Young Marble
Giants (YEAH!), The Vaselines, The Marine Girls, Beat Happening and a lot of old punk bands, I went to a lot of punk shows it took me a long time to get a band together I could never find anyone who wanted to play.
OUT OF ALL THE SUB POP BANDS WHO DO YOU LIKE TOURING WITH THE MOST?
We haven't toured with all the Sub pop bands, we've toured with Tad. I like Mudhoney the best. They're like my all time favourite band we've been around as long as them too.
ROW DO YOU ENJOY LIFE ON THE ROAD TOURING ENGLAND?
Its fine as long as you don't have to be up for wore than seven weeks. It starts to drive you crazy and after a while you don't eat any more, I haven't eaten today and I'm getting a cold too.
HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON THE NAME NIRVANA
There's no reason at all, it just sounded nice.
DO YOU THINK THAT'S THE STATE OF MIND YOU SHOULD HAVE WHEN YOU LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC?
I'd like to think that, I feel that way at times when we're playing on stage, I can sometimes feel a lot of real human energy, the name means freedom from pain and suffering and the external world. That's a pretty stupid heavy little statement but it seems everyone is looking for something like that, religions a pretty popular thing, freedom from pain.
© Tina Caruso, 1991