LIVE NIRVANA INTERVIEW ARCHIVE May 1, 1992 - Seattle, WA, US
Personnel
- Interviewer(s)
- Cyrus Aman
- Interviewee(s)
- Krist Novoselic
Sources
| Publisher | Title | Transcript |
|---|---|---|
| @cyrusaman YouTube Channel | Krist Novoselic home interview (May 1, 1992) (CYRUS... the t.v. show. - Episode #10) | Yes |
Transcript
Cyrus Aman: Welcome to “CYRUS…The TV Show” episode number 10, with Chris Novoselic of Nirvana. We did previously have an interview with him and the sound quality turned out to be null and void, so we are repeating it. So, I've got some questions to ask you, and we made up some new ones, so you'd have more of a lively response to them instead of repeating old ones.
Krist Novoselic: Certainly.
CA: I'll start off with some questions about the band. What is the band doing now and what are some future plans?
KN: Well, right now, we're just kind of taking it easy. Laying around. Sleeping in. Trying to acquire the patent for the shovel.
CA: Can we expect more videos or singles from “Nevermind”?
KN: Oh yeah, I just saw a rough cut of the “Lithium” video. Kurt's been working with a guy named Kevin Kerslake, who did “Come As You Are.” He's been working with him down in LA on this video. It's a compilation of live shots taken from a show we did at the Paramount on Halloween of 1991. It's pretty neat.
CA: Would that be different than the original production of it that was used for local access television channels?
KN: Oh yeah, not that I watch a lot of that stuff, you know. I mean, any kind of productions, whether it's a video or audio, has its own merit. I mean, it just depends on what kind of perspective you put on it. You could put on a very elitist type audio, video file perspective on it. Say, you know, you're into the latest technology, but a lot of times you can look at things with a Super 8 camera and it'll have a quality of its own. It just depends on the perspective you put on it.
CA: This is something I've been wondering, because I bought “Nevermind” recently. Many people say the lyrics are questionable as to what they mean. Do all your songs have some underlying meaning?
KN: Well, I don't want to talk about the lyrics, because they're Kurt's lyrics, but I've heard him express that he likes to keep things cryptic and open-ended. But I think he knows what the song means. The songs have meanings for me too. They affect me personally, and probably different than, say, maybe they affect you.
CA: Even maybe, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” would have its own underlying meaning?
KN: Yeah, yeah. There's a meaning behind “Teen Spirit.” I think all the songs have meanings. I don't think they're really mindless or anything. I mean, I've read the lyrics off the lyric sheet, and I've got a hint of what they mean. I think they're really good. I think there are plans for a lyric sheet to surface one of these days. I haven't paid much attention, so I don't know.
CA: Are there actually printed ones for the band?
KN: Yeah, yeah. We have to print some for the publishing company, so they can be copyrighted and all that. They're out there somewhere.
CA: But you're planning to release them as an official thing for your fans or for records or something?
KN: Yeah, maybe our next single is going to come with a lyric sheet for the album.
CA: What are some ideas the band has for the next album?
KN: Well, we're kicking around a lot of ideas, you know. Nothing's really concrete. I mean, there's some songs we got and some production. We have some perspectives on production, but nothing's really concrete. Never mind, I don't know. Right now, we're just kind of kicking back and not doing anything. Next month, we're all going to get together and start writing songs. There's some songs already written. We're just going to start making some noise and see what comes out of it.
CA: Is there any symbolism in your videos? For example, “Come As You Are?”
KN: Yeah, yeah. There's symbolism in there, but that's also…
CA: …Open-ended?
KN: Yeah, I mean, it's the old artistic cliché, ‘It's open for interpretation.’ But I remember coming up with the imagery for, say, “Teen Spirit,” as an anarchist high school, with the cheerleaders dressed in black and with anarchy A's on their costumes. It's kind of a weird image, since high school is so regimented and controlled, you know. And then, you have a concept of anarchy where there's really no control and no rules because in high school there's unwritten rules of social behavior and accepting people. There's written rules, of course. You know, school rules. You've got to be in class on time. You can't be tardy. To have an image like that, with the anarchy symbols was just a statement really. We can divulge into it, you know.
CA: The lyrics themselves, it's hard to match them with the video. Would you say that maybe the lyrics and the videos would be two separate things or do they coincide?
KN: They can be, in every case, yeah. A lot of times, maybe a song has a feel to it. I don't write the lyrics, so a lot of times I feel like the lyrics accent the feel of the song, as maybe a video should, too. “Come As You Are” is kind of a laid back tune. It's got a lot of weird chorus on the guitar. Maybe you get…
CA: Sort of a haunting effect.
KN: Yeah, haunting. You see colors like purple and magenta and what are used in the video.
CA: Like a very dark atmosphere.
KN: Yeah, yeah.
CA: Do you consider yourselves above playing parties and college dorms?
KN: No, never ever. I mean, we don't consider ourselves above anything, because once you start doing that, you're not really thinking clearly. You're being wrapped up and swept away in something that's probably not that healthy for yourself or for other people.
CA: Have you or will you play small gigs or whatever, since you're signed up with…
KN: Yeah, because those are the best. You get to share more things with people than just being isolated from them. Being behind a barrier or somebody else is in the back of the stadium. It's pretty far away and seems kind of impersonal. But if we were to announce that we were going to play at the Vogue…
CA: Big riot probably.
KN: It'd be insane, so it's really not our fault that we can't play small places. We kind of have to just sneak in and do it.
CA: Have you done that? Have you shown up unexpectedly into some club?
KN: Not yet, but I'd like to, sure.
CA: What's the deal with that nameless song at the end of “Nevermind”?
KN: Oh, that song. Well, that song, the guitar got smashed in the recording of that song. We were just screwing around with that. There's really no name for that song. CDs are kind of a new format, and we thought we'd screw around with it, like the Beatles put an extra groove at the end of their record with some gibberish or something. We thought we'd put ten minutes of gibberish or a song. There's something to be said for songs like that, too, because it is a song even though it was improvisational but there was some structure to it. There was some parameters we worked in, but we just kind of got on it like a roller coaster and just saw where it took us.
CA: What do you think about Tori Amos and Weird Al Yankovic doing covers of your songs?
KN: Well, Tori Amos is pretty funny.
CA: I haven't heard that but I've seen a video for her style of music.
KN: I'll play it for you.
CA: I can't picture her playing “Teen Spirit.”
KN: It's a lot like Kate Bush. I don't know. It just sounds pretty funny. Sounds like it'd be a parody, a better parody than Weird Al.
CA: Did she do it as a joke?
KN: No, she's really serious about it. She wants to express herself in that way. I mean, that's fine.
CA: You guys gave her the permission to use that song?
KN: No, she just did it. I mean, she did it legally. There's certain ways you do it legally. You just have to pay what's prescribed legally. You have to pay the publishing and list the writers and publishing company and all that, or credit the writers. I don't know. She just did it, and whatever.
CA: What about…
KN: Weird Al's hilarious.
CA: Yeah, I saw the video a day or two after it premiered. It was a really great parody.
KN: I was really freaked out because a friend saw them film it down in LA. He goes, "Man, they're having these cows and these sheep around there." And I go, "Oh, man, they're going to make us look like just total jerks. I mean, they're going to take the piss out of us."
CA: I saw it. It was hysterical. It was really good. It was really, really, really good.
KN: The thing I like about it as a video is it's like watching “Eat It” for the first time or “Fat.” It's a perfect parody. It exaggerates upon some of the things that most would take seriously.
CA: Yeah, it was hilarious. All right, that's all the questions we could think of about the band. Here's some about your own personal opinions. Current events; what do you think of the Rodney King trial and the protest related to it?
KN: Oh, wow. Well, the protest is fine, and all that rioting. The riot has always been with us. It's been within our minds, and it's been within the minds of the African American community in Los Angeles. It just took something like that for it to materialize. I mean, the emotions are going to subside. The emotions of rage and the reactions that came along with it, but the deeper things of racism and economic injustices, I mean, these are real problems and I don't think that elected representatives have really been addressing it. They've just been kind of sweeping it under the rug. For something like this to surface, it's not really a surprise.
CA: Do you think the looting of stores and the damaging of property is a result of the riots, the protests or the verdict itself?
KN: Well, it grew out of a protest, but I mean, there's so many implications. The people are poor. They've just been having all these hard times economically. Especially, if you live in a city like Los Angeles, where you walk down the streets poor and there's all these Mercedes and Jaguars driving by, and you look up all in the hills all around town and there's multi-millionaires living up there. And a lot of the people who have millions of dollars worked really hard for that. A lot happened, and a lot of the people that perpetuated all that violence and looting were nothing short of thieves and thugs taking advantage of that situation. Because it was just a reaction. What were they thinking about accomplishing by smashing in a fellow black person's business and cleaning them out and ruining their lives? Korean people just grabbing innocent white people and beating them like that. That's just reactionary. It's not really thinking. It was an insurrection, but it was so unorganized. There was no vision or focus. It was asinine and stupid. It was a waste of time, and it was really detrimental to anything positive that's going to come out of it.
CA: This is quite off the subject and a divisive issue. How do you feel about abortion?
KN: Well, if I was really confronted with the option, I'm not going to say what I'd do, but I've seen what's become of abortions. It seems like a pretty gruesome thing. There's so many variations to consider in other people's situations. A woman's situation, I think a woman, it's her body and she, and the person responsible for the pregnancy, they should weigh their options. I believe in a lot of civil liberties like gun control. I don't really think people should be like “People shouldn't be allowed to own guns, even though I don't own a gun and I never will because I don't like them.” But I think people should be responsible for their own actions. I hope you understand how I relate that to the whole abortion thing. It's like a person's own choice. A lot of these girls are just confused and they're getting pregnant in high school. I guess they can give up the kid for adoption, but most of them don't. Most of them keep the child. My brother had a kid. He's having a lot of problems now. It could have been an abortion. The problem could have been over, but then again — I like that little kid. He's a neat, neat baby. The government's just putting their fingers in so many things and they're completely ignoring other things. I don't have the capacity to carry around a child for nine months, so I don't think my opinion is as relevant as fity percent of the human race's is.
CA: Yeah, last time I talked to you, I found out that you are of Croatian descent and that you lived in Croatia for a year. How old were you at that time?
KN: I was fifteen or sixteen years old.
CA: What was life like in Croatia?
KN: Oh, it was very nice. People were really down to earth. School was a real experience. School was really serious there. Education, you have to study a lot. You have a lot more courses you have to take. It was economically not as advanced as the West. It was more third-world-like, but there were inklings of Western culture all over. It was a pretty neat place. People seemed like they had a pretty cool disposition. Then, economically, things went down the tubes. People started grabbing for things and pointing fingers. Lines were drawn along ethnic lines, just like we've seen in Los Angeles and around the country in the last few days. People started reacting instead of acting. Next thing you know, ten thousand people were killed and countless others injured and maimed. Injured emotionally from the loss of their previous lives and loved ones. It gets pretty discouraging what's going on. I've always believed in the saying “What's the value of preaching if man isn't redeemable?” That's always kept me going.
CA: This is kind of back to the band. Do you think success has or will change you?
KN: Well, it's changed things, but I don't know if it's changed me. I don't think it has because I've been ignoring it and denying it so much. People coming up and asking for autographs or pointing at me or staring at me or whispering about me in a safe way. I'm getting used to that, but I think me going out there instead of hiding away will kind of dispel all that cult of celebrity.
CA: Like Elvis secluding himself in Graceland.
KN: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I don't want to participate in that. I mean, financially it's changed things for me, but I just kind of deal with it really. I don't want it to change me to where I have to hide out or be like Michael Jackson or wear a disguise. Because I'll just out and go anywhere, go skateboarding around, walking around.
CA: Would the band go on if either you or Kurt decided to leave?
KN: Just depends on what terms we left on. Because you see a certain chemistry there in some bands where just a few of the members happen to be the center of the group because they're usually the founders of the group. No, yeah, I don't know. Kurt's kind of the main guru of the band, but he's the last one to admit that. We all have a stake in the band. I think if Dave was to leave the band, I think the band would break up because we'd never go through that thing of finding another drummer. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to say. Depends on the situation because that's such a broad question.
CA: Do you like my mom's baklava?
KN: Yeah, it's really good. It's nice. Nice flaky crust. It's really good.
CA: That was basically my last question.
KN: Oh, OK.
CA: Also, can we take a tour of your house?
KN: OK. What do you want to see?
CA: “CYRUS…The TV Show” watchers don't care what they see, really.
KN: I don't want to show people my house, man. They'll come rip it off!
© Cyrus Aman, 2020