LIVE NIRVANA INTERVIEW ARCHIVE February 22, 1992 - Honolulu, HI, US
Personnel
- Interviewer(s)
- Beatriz Pécker
- Interviewee(s)
- Krist Novoselic
- Dave Grohl
Sources
| Publisher | Title | Transcript |
|---|---|---|
| TVE1 | Rockopop | Yes |
Transcript
Beatriz Pécker: [To director] It's OK? [To Grohl] How was the show tonight for you?
Dave Grohl: Tonight was really fun!
Pécker: Yeah?
Grohl: Tonight was good. We played here last-night and, uh, it was… I dunno. Tonight was just fun. Tonight was the last show of the tour that's been going on for seven months, so each of us now are gonna spend a week here in Hawaii. So we're, you know, we don't have anything to do for four months, so we're really excited!
Pécker: Do you feel the same answer of the audience everywhere - in Australia, in Japan, in the USA - or is it different?
Grohl: Well, it's strange ’cause in Australia it’s sort of like England. And in New Zealand… it’s just sort of strange. Japan is strange! Japan is really strange! Because, the show… when you play in Japan, there's so much security and there's… usually we have one barrier in front of the stage so people can’t, like, jump up on stage and kill us or whatever. But in Japan, they have barriers, like it’s a barrier for the stage and a barrier here and a barrier here and it’s like in all these sections and it’s so weird. And then in other places… most places in Japan you have to stay - you can’t move out of your seat. So you stay in your seat and just do this [pumps fist] and it’s strange for us ’cause when we set out there and we look out at all these people standing - I mean, sitting! - they're just in their seats and it’s really strange.
Pécker: Hello, hi.
Krist Novoselic: Hi.
Pécker: Do you like to provoke the audience?
Novoselic: No. They provoke us. They do!
Pécker: Really? We must be talking about a different audience from you two.
Grohl: I was talking about Japan, how they have all these…
Novoselic: Oh, Japanese audiences are just like…
Grohl: It's weird though, I mean, if they could ever break out I'm sure they'd go completely insane. They would really go crazy, there's just so much control, it’s just…
Pécker: Too much.
Grohl: Too much, way too much control.
Pécker: In these months, you have become a very important group everywhere, also in Spain. Why do you think people can feel your music, for instance in Spain, so easily?
Novoselic: Music is the international language! Y’know? Rock ‘n’ Roll’s been around now for thirty years and people… it’s just a beat and it’s just got that beat [clicks fingers] It's got that beat.
Pécker: So it’s just the music? Because critics talk about you, your spirit, your influences, but music is just music?
Grohl: Well, it’s also… I mean, music, with music comes energy and, I mean, if you see a lot of energy on stage you don't have to say anything y’know? Usually if there's energy on stage then there's going to be energy in the crowd and if there's energy in the crowd, there's usually going to be energy on stage. It's just a vibe, just a feeling…
Novoselic: There’s a lot of bands out there, lot of them just… take up space. Give something back - I like to really get something across. You've just got to give energy and passion and feeling.
Pécker: You have a lot of energy…
Grohl: Well now and for the next couple of years you’ll be seeing a lot of new bands, bands like Urge Overkill and the Melvins and Mudhoney and Hole and, y’know, Sonic Youth who are the godfathers of everything… you’ll see a lot of new bands, honest bands, that have a lot of sincere energy, it’s not contrived, it’s not like some Heavy Metal band up on a stage twenty meters away.
Pécker: You don't like?
Grohl: No.
Pécker: Why?
Grohl: Because it’s just false, it’s not true. They have the wrong motivation. A lot of Heavy Metal bands go out and do it for the money and not to make good, honest music and make songs for the sake of writing songs.
Pécker: In your group melody is very important, what is the importance of the lyrics for you?
Novoselic: Well, Kurt writes the lyrics and I have my own interpretation of the lyrics. See, I think a song has to be different for everybody. Like I have some songs, not by my group, but just like old songs and new songs by new bands that have a special meaning to me personally. So to really operate on the lyrics, or what a song means, might rob somebody of their own perception because music should be a personal thing.
Pécker: Last question and then I leave you… [laughs]… Last question, who chose the cover of your record? The little baby?
Grohl: We did. Yeah.
Pécker: Who’s the child?
Grohl: We… I don't know!
Novoselic: Some artist got the baby swimming in a pool got in with a special camera and took pictures underwater. And I guess the parents are going to bother the child by having a huge poster in the living room.
Pécker: Thank you and congratulations for the show tonight.
© Beatriz Pécker, 1992