LIVE NIRVANA SESSIONS HISTORY April 7, 1992 - Laundry Room Studio, Seattle, WA, US

Set

• [O] Return of the Rat
• [U] Return of the Rat instrumental
• [O] Oh, The Guilt
• [O] Curmudgeon
• [?] Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle
• [?] Very Ape

Studio Banter

Format

• Audio: ½-inch 8-track analog magnetic tape (session tape)

Best available sources

Source ID	Quality	Complete	Runtime	Lowest Gen	Tracks Featured	Notes
SBD #1a	10.0		0:03:05	Official CD (Various Artists - Fourteen Songs For Greg Sage & The Wipers)	Return of the Rat (take 1)	Mixed by Barrett Jones, 1992.
SBD #1b	10.0		0:02:58	Official CD (Lithium)	Curmudgeon	Mixed by Barrett Jones, 1992.
SBD #1c	10.0		0:03:23	Official CD (Oh, The Guilt)	Oh, The Guilt	Mixed by Barrett Jones, 1992.
SBD #2	10.0		0:09:37	Official CD (With The Lights Out)	Oh, The Guilt Curmudgeon Return of the Rat (take 1)	Mixed by Adam Kasper, 2004.
SBD #3	10.0		0:09:39	TBC>FLAC	Oh, The Guilt Curmudgeon Return of the Rat (take 1)	Alternative mixes by Adam Kasper, 2004.
SBD #4	10.0		0:03:10	Unofficial CD (Outcesticide 2022)	Return of the Rat (take 2, instrumental)	Mixed by an unidentified engineer, unknown date.

Notes

April '92 saw NIRVANA return to the studio for the first time following the huge success of Nevermind. (1) The session was very low-key. Producer, Barrett Jones, had built a small studio in the basement of the house that he and Dave Grohl were sharing. (2) I think they were trying to be a little more punk rock about the whole thing, says Jones. Trying to get away from the Nevermind glossiness. I think that was the purpose. They wanted to be as low budget as possible about it. (1)

While the purpose of the session had been to record songs for various planned releases (two singles and a tribute album), (1) Grohl believes some new song ideas may also have been kicked around, Kurt said Oh, here's a couple of new riff ideas… and I think he played Frances Farmer and Very Ape, I think those were the two that we kind of jammed on then, but we didn't record them. (3)

According to Jones, the whole session took only two or three days to track and mix. (2) The songs were recorded on a Tascam 38 (½-inch 8-track) with DBX and mixed to ¼-inch at 15 IPS. (2)

Jones recalls the session being Quick and smooth, adding, Yes, that's a lighter that Kurt was flicking in Oh The Guilt! (2)

References

1. Gaar, Gillian G., 1997. Verse Chorus Verse: The Recording History Of Nirvana, Goldmine, [online] Available at: http://www.nirvanaclub.com/get.php?section=articles&file=02.14.97.html. ↑
2. Jones, Barrett, 2003. Personal communication with Alex Roberts. ↑
3. Higgins, Dave “Higgo”, 2013. Nirvana In Utero Special, [radio] Triple M, Sept 20, 2013. ↑

---

---