LIVE NIRVANA INTERVIEW ARCHIVE October 3, 1992 - Bellingham, WA, US
Personnel
- Interviewer(s)
- Mary Iverson
- Interviewee(s)
- Kurt Cobain
- Matt Lukin
- Dan Peters
- Steve Turner
Sources
| Publisher | Title | Transcript |
|---|---|---|
| AS News | Nirvana helps Mudhoney ’hype the vote’ | Yes |
Transcript
ASP Special Events sponsored the thrashing musical event last Saturday in Carver Gym with Mudhoney, surprise guest Nirvana, and opening bands Saucer and Medelicious all to “Hype the Vote” on Western's campus. A voter registration table was set up inside which succeeded in 300 newly registered Bellingham voters, The show was a sellout to a crowd of 3000.
Backstage, in the men's locker room, there was the sound of clanking beer bottles, the collaborating mesh of conversations, laughter and screams; the sight of women dressed in ripped jeans and vintage velvet dresses.
It was also the place of celebration for the coming of Mudhoney and Nirvana to Western's campus.
Mudhoney's guitarist, Steve Turner had his arm around his girlfriend and was leaning against the lockers as he spoke about his views on politics.
“Generally, America feels powerless right now. There's big fools up there… The presidential election is just a bunch of puppets controlled by Lord knows who at this point.”
Drummer Dan Peters and bassist Matt Lukin share Turner's feelings: They will all “most likely vote for Clinton,” despite their negative attitudes on politics.
Peters and Lukin stood in the corner of the locker room arm in arm as they shared their mocking, yet serious, political views.
“It's a sad state of affairs when you get people voting for Bush,” said Peters as he mocked the Bush voters, “‘Oh, he's (Bush) been president for a while and he hasn't affected me yet, so I'll vote for Bush.’”
“We're (the band) really not very politically minded,” Lukin added.
The band would rather concentrate on being musicians rather than politics.
Turner is currently playing bass for the Fallouts and dabbling in another band, Monkey Wrench, with Mudhoney singer, Mark Arm.
“The Fallouts have a new album out right now on my label, Super Electro Records and-slash Sub Pop,” said Turner. “It's vinyl only and it's probably sold out really quick.”
Mudhoney is coming out with a fourth album called “A Piece Of Cake” on Warner Brothers in two weeks. As far as putting the new album together, Turner said, “Well, I guess it was a piece of cake.”
Mudhoney is basically a melting pot of the Seattle music scene. Matt Lukin played with the Melvins in Aberdeen, WA.
“They kicked me out because I didn't want to move to San Francisco (where the band's located now),” Lukin said, “I wanted to be in Seattle instead.”
Singer Mark Arm came from several bands, Mr. Epp and the Calculations, Green River, and the Thrown Ups. Arm was also a Disc Jockey at University of Washington's radio station, KCMU. Dan Peters played with the Screaming Trees and Nirvana.
“I feel a little remorse for getting booted out of Screaming Trees,” Peters said without giving a reason for his boot. But he claims he doesn't feel he's missing out on Nirvana's fame and fortune. “I just wasn't into it,” Peters confessed. He's more into his music than for the money.
Nirvana’s singer and guitarist, Kurt Cobain, has a different idea about the fortune of it all.
“I'm only here for the money and to breathe the air of jock straps,” Cobain said leaning against the tiled wall of the locker room. His thumbs were hooked
into the front pockets of his jeans and his face was stripped white with no life. He stared aimlessly with his glazed blue eyes, perhaps at his wife, Courtney Love, who was sitting on a bench close to where he was standing. “I don't want to talk, I don't need anymore promotion,” Cobain said, “I don’t give a fuck about our fans. They can go die. I don't care what they do.”
The thin and frail 25 year-old Cobain says he needs a break from the rush of tours, media and never being able to stay in one place long enough to take care of his stress. His only savior is Courtney.
“I'm just here to support the opening act. I'm really into the community spirit of rock and roll,” Cobain said with a dry, soft voice and a bit of sarcasm, “I rub elbows with the opening acts and introduce myself and say, ‘Hey you’re great. Can I have your demo?’ and then I steal their songs because they're so in awe of me they'll give me anything… I feed off of it.”
Despite Nirvana's attitude towards their fans, they still performed to a sellout crowd. Actually, the fans were not too surprised due to earlier rumors which had been circulating.
“Hype the Vote” continues Oct. 9 with the Posies, a Halloween party on Oct. 31, Elections Results Party on Nov. 3 and a Weenie Fest Nov. 22.
© Mary Iverson, 1992