News 09/2005
The Rolling Stone website just put up an interview with former Nirvana
drummer Chad Channing about his days with the band and his current
activities. Channing, who played on Nirvana's first ever release
(the 1988 'Love Buzz' single), has fond memories of those days:
" 'Back when we just had the single out, we
could end up playing Tucson for twenty people and be lucky to
come out with thirty dollars for gas to make it to the next town,'
Channing says, recalling the early Nirvana tours. 'But there were
these people who would come out and say, 'We're in the Sub Pop singles
club, and we know all about you guys!' And I'd be like, 'You do?'
But once Bleach came out, we were playing to packed houses wherever we went.' "
Chad also talked about meeting up with Krist Novoselic recently:
"As for his surviving former bandmate, Channing has kept in touch. 'When
Krist was on Bainbridge Island last month doing a presentation at our bookstore,
me and a friend of mine went down there and hooked up with him afterwards
and had a beer,' Channing says. 'We chit-chatted for a while, and ended up
dancing to some Irish music in the street before he headed to the ferry. It
was hilarious. I'm lucky to see him once a year, these days, but I just sent
him my Before Cars demo.' " Read the complete interview and article
by Greg Prato for Rolling Stone here.
The author was inspired to write the article after reading a feature on
this website about Chad's solo project (Before Cars) and Redband. Speaking
of Chad, an excellent biography of him is now available on allmusic.com.
Read it here.
As for Nirvana drummers, there is a recent interview with Dave Grohl here,
courtesy of the Rocky Mountain News.
Greg also did an interview recently with Kevin Wood, brother of the late
Mother Love Bone frontman Andy Wood. The topic of the interview is a new
documentary about Andy: "Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story," which was directed
by Scot Barbour and features interviews with a host of Seattle musicians.
Wood, who also fronted Seattle band Malfunkshun, died in 1990 of a drug overdose,
just as Mother Love Bone was about to release its major-label debut album.
Read the complete article here.
The surviving members of The Germs will reunite for the first time in 25
years to play a show next month. Actor Shane West will take the spot as
lead singer after the late Darby Crash. West is portraying Crash in the
biopic "What We Do Is Secret," which is due for release next year, as
reported earlier here. Former Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear will play with
The Germs for the show. Read more here.
Courtesy of Billboard.
Last week, Krist Novoselic was back in Aberdeen to help support Aberdeen's
Union Gospel Mission with a campaign to raise money for renovating and expanding
the old building. " 'The Mission shouldn't be seen as a dead
end,' Novoselic said. 'It's a place for new beginnings, for starting over. And
you know, Aberdeen's looking really good these days. I like the public art projects,
like the wind project over in South Aberdeen. I like the way they've fixed the
streets downtown.' " Read the story here.
The upcoming Nirvana album, Sliver: The best of the Box, is now available
for pre-order here.
You can also view the cover art in higher resolution here.
Interesting article about Eugene Kelly who released a new album earlier this
week. Kelly was a big inspiration to Kurt Cobain and Nirvana covered several
songs by Kelly's band The Vaselines. Read the article here.
A global poll of 700,000 music fans to find the most loved song in the world
was topped by Queen's We Are The Champions. Nirvana's Smells Like
Teen Spirit finished as number six in the poll. The poll was conducted
by Sony Ericsson. Read more here.
Legendary producer, engineer and musician Jack Endino is about to release
a solo album of his own. It will be the first new solo release from Endino
in 13 years: " 'It took so long [because] there were a
lot of personal reasons,' Endino tells Billboard.com. 'I was jokingly going
to title the album 'Five Funerals, Two Suicides and a Divorce,' but I thought
that was a little too negative [laughs]. I went through a lot of strange things
in my life -- there were people who died, both my parents, a couple of friends --
and there was just a lot that took my attention away from making music. Also,
my production career took off, and I started traveling and producing other bands.' "
Read the article here
in which he also talks about recording Nirvana's debut album, Bleach.
Krist Novoselic is considering an appearance on the MTV show "Cribs", of all
things! " 'Why is everybody's house the same on Cribs?
Whenever I watch that show, everyone's always like, 'Here's my beige house.'
And then it's, 'Here are my big gas-guzzling cars.' 'I might do my own Cribs
just to make a point: 'Here's my bike,' or, 'Look at this wall in my living
room; it's not beige.' Novoselic admits he lives a very simple life, but he
does own a Cessna. He adds, 'It's a good way to get around.' " Story
courtesy of contactmusic.com. We'll keep you posted if he goes ahead with the idea!
Correction: Krist doesn't own a jet (as the story stated originally). He owns
a 1998 Cessna 182. You can see a picture of it here.
September 23, 2005
The tracklisting for the upcoming Nirvana album, Sliver has been
revealed. As mentioned earlier the disc contains three previously unreleased
tracks (marked in bold) while the rest of the songs are from 2004's box set
With The Lights Out.
The tracklisting is as follows:
Tracklisting courtesy of UMe press release (with additional info by NFC). You can read the press release here.
Surprisingly, the new album contains a track off the fabled Fecal Matter demo - long considered the "holy
grail" by Nirvana fans. The demo ended as the second most-wanted item in a recent poll conducted by the NFC.
"Sappy" from January 1990 ended as #9 in the same poll and will also be included with this album. "Come As You Are"
appears to be from the March 1991 boombox demo which also yielded "Smells Like Teen Spirit" among other songs. I
think "Old Age" from this demo (of which a clip surfaced a few years back) would have been a far better choice. The
"Come As You Are" demo would fall under "other unreleased home recordings and band practice sessions" which ended
as #5 in the NFC poll.
As for the songs from the box set, seven of the songs in the top ten as voted by the visitors of NFC ended up on Sliver. "Sappy" was also in the Top Ten, but as mentioned, a different version of the song (previously unreleased) was chosen. Indeed, it would appear that the results of the poll were in fact considered when the tracklisting was put together, although it is disappointing that the March 1994 version of "Do Re Mi" with Pat Smear (which finished as number one in the NFC poll) was not included. You can find the result of the poll conducted earlier by NFC here. Click here to pre-order "Sliver: The Best of the Box".
Courtney Love recently did an interview with Spin where she talks about Kurt Cobain, among
other things. "I was married to Kurt and he had a melodic sense. He also
played left-handed and I never really could copy anything that he did. But I could copy things
that Billy did, and Billy had done Siamese Dream, which is a lot of songs about me, and I couldn't
listen to Siamese Dream at home because my husband would get weird and freaky and jealous about Billy.
I might start playing with Erik [Erlandson] again, I'm playing with Patty [Schemel]. I don't think
I'll play with Melissa [Auf Der Maur] again just because she crossed over to the [Dave] Grohl
side, and you're either on my side or the Grohl side." Read the interview here.
In other Courtney Love news - she was recently sued once again for allegedly assaulting someone
with a liquor bottle. Love was recently ordered to spend 180 days in rehab after testing positive for drugs.
Read more on both those stories here.
September 20, 2005
Rolling Stone has confirmed the release of Sliver and even reports
that Frances Bean helped choose the title and cover art:
"Three previously unreleased Nirvana songs will surface November 1st when
Geffen/Universal issue Sliver, a compilation of Nirvana rarities and demos.
The twenty-two-track CD will be rounded out with material from With the Lights
Out, the Nirvana box set released last November. Sliver marks the first time
Frances Bean Cobain, the thirteen-year-old daughter of late Nirvana frontman
Kurt Cobain and rocker Courtney Love, has taken an active role in her father's
legacy. 'We're pulling Frances into the family business,' Love told Rolling Stone.
In addition to helping select the title, Frances Bean also played a role in
choosing the cover image. 'Courtney and I involve Frances in Nirvana/Kurt decisions
whenever we can,' says Peter Asher, who manages Love and the Cobain estate. 'She's
very perceptive and has cool ideas.' With the Lights Out was delayed for several years
due to legal battles between Love and surviving Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and
Dave Grohl, but there were no such troubles with Sliver." Story
courtesy of Rolling Stone. The album will be released on October 31 in Europe.
September 14, 2005
Geffen Records plan a 'best of' set coming from Nirvana's Box. The best of the
best will be known as Sliver - The Best of The Box and will issue forth on
November 1. This appears to be the "rarities" album which was planned
for a 2005 release as part of the legal settlement between Courtney
and the Krist/Dave camp in 2002.
Exclusive details: The album contains 19 essential tracks from the box set
(2004's "With The Lights Out") as well as three previously unreleased songs
from the vaults. Which unreleased songs these might be, I don't know yet.
Apparently, the results of a poll conducted by this website last month was
indeed taken into consideration when the release was compiled. In the poll,
Nirvana fans could vote for their favorite songs from the box set as well
as vote for their most wanted unreleased recording.
"Remember the impression that the Heart-Shaped Box
video by Nirvana made on you the first time you saw it? Kurt Cobain said
no director had ever caught his feelings on camera as accurately as did
Anton Corbijn with this video. He vowed to never make another video without
Anton again, and unfortunately never had the chance to. Finally, you have
the chance to own that video as part of your personal library. Check out
the Directors Label Vol. 6 from director Anton Corbijn and own a part of
Nirvana history. Visit this
for more information on how you can own the Heart-Shaped Box as well as commentary and interviews with Kurt Cobain."
September 8, 2005
Redband, featuring former Nirvana drummer Chad Channing, recently
finished recording their 4-song demo. The band includes Andy Miller
on drums; Jim Nybo on guitar; Jeff Hoyle on vocals and Chad on bass.
They will be playing a show tomorrow (September 9) at the Crazyfish
in Port Angeles, WA. They also play at The Rendevouz in Seattle, WA
on October 15. Here is a brief bio of Redband (courtesy of Carrie Stamper):
"Redband has been playing for a little over a year
in it's present form. Jeff Hoyle on vocals is amazing -- he has a range
of anything between sounding like Ozzy, Danny Elfman, and a cross between
Danzig and Elvis, great presence onstage. Chad plays bass in this band, and
he excells at it, approaching the bass position with the same passion as he
has on the drums. Most folks are really surprised to see him playing bass
but he really wins fans over at every show based simply on his talent. Andy
Miller plays the drums, he is rather a 'jack of all trades' and plays with
Chad on his solo project also. James Nybo plays guitar and his skill sparks
the rest of the band onstage - everyone obviously enjoys playing in Redband
together - and keep in mind that Jeff, Andy and Chad have all known eachother
since grade school. Not unlike many of the Grunge-era bands that grew up in
this particular area of Washington. Very small area with a very dense pool of
talent! If you ask the members of Redband what music influenced them you'll
be surprised at what comes out - everything from old-style Country-western,
driving-hard rock to Reggae. Everyone in Redband has a supreme love of music - and it shows!"
You can find more information about the band and listen to the complete
demo here.
Aside from Redband, Chad also started a solo project which he calls "Before
Cars". He has recorded a five-song demo mastered by Jack Endino. A brief bio:
"This music is so very Chad - and his musical loves are
represented here. Well-crafted and pulled together, 'Before Cars' was mastered
by Jack Endino - dear friend to Chad and engineer of the legendary Nirvana album
'Bleach'. Jack kept hounding Chad to make a solo album, as he knew the result would
be incredible, having heard Chad's ideas for songs. Chad IS 'Before Cars'; playing
drums, guitar and singing all the vocals, ect. He also has guest musicians on the
project: Paul Burback on guitar and backing vocals, Andy Miller on bass, percussion
and piano and Justine Jeanotti on violin. There are many influences here - you can hear
them all - I won't give them all away, as I think it's important for the listener
to make the music their own. But Chad's love of The Pixies is very evident."
As an exclusive to this site, you can listen to one of the songs off this demo
entitled Old Chair. Thanks to Chad and Carrie. Follow the link below.
September 7, 2005
The Hurricane Katrina benefit sale by Charles Peterson has now ended after
an overwhelming success. "I have reached 85 prints/donors
and am going to cut the edition off there. Of course if you still want to donate
there's nothing stopping you now or in the future. It's just that I really can't
make and mail any more prints than 85 at this time! We've reached well beyond
$17,000 to closer to $20 grand in only 72 hours! Well done to say the least."
If you'd like to make a donation to the Red Cross please click here.
Frances Bean Cobain recently gave her first interview. Read more here.
Thanks to Kelly and Mike for the link.
September 5, 2005
Here's a chance to own a unique piece of art while doing something for those who have
lost everything. With this offer we can raise $10,000, just like that. Seemingly not a
lot, in the big picture, but it takes many drops to fill a bucket."
Charles Peterson is having a Hurricane Katrina benefit print sale:
"I am offering an 11x14 fine art print of Kurt Cobain (Commodore
Ballroom, Vancouver B.C. April, 1991) in a limited edition of 50, for the price of
a $200 donation to the charity of your choice. Just forward me the receipt for your
donation along with your address and I will mail you the print (please allow 3-5 weeks
for delivery). These prints will be hand made by me on the finest archival photo paper
available (Ilford fiber base warmtone) and signed, numbered and captioned on the back
in pencil. Generally, this print would retail in the $450 plus range in today's art market.
This image will not be offered again in this size. I chose this particular photo because
it's one that's rarely been seen, is beautiful (in my estimation), and sums up the angst
and passion of Nirvana's and Kurt's music and attitude. Fitting for these times. And hey, who doesn't like Nirvana?
September 2, 2005
A Nirvana exhibit will open in London next month:
"Opening on October 27 until November 20 and taking place in London's
Sony Ericsson Proud Central gallery, it will showcase the photography
of Charles Peterson and Ian Tilton. 'Nirvana - With The Lights Out' will
feature over 60 photographs taken from the photographers' close-up and
backstage perspectives. The personal archives document the influential
group's entire career path, from the band's ascent to the depths of singer
Kurt Cobain's drug addiction." Story courtesy of NME. Thanks to Chris and Kev for the link.
Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is currently at the top of the best-loved
track worldwide list, in a new poll by Sony Ericsson. According to the Sun,
the song is followed by The Eagles' 'Hotel California' and U2's 'One', which
got second and third places respectively. The survey, produced to mark the
release of Sony's first Walkman mobile phone, is still open for voting until
September 22, and anyone can register their top three at www.walkmanphones100.com.
Story courtesy of Newindpress.com
As reported back in April, Nirvana's "Nevermind" has been recognized
by the Library of Congress. Read an updated story on that here.
A drumkit played and signed by Dave Grohl is up for auction. Check it out
here.
The Gus Van Sant movie "Last Days" will be released on DVD in the US
on October 25. It contains deleted scenes, a music video, outtakes and
more bonus material. You can pre-order it here.
At last weekend's Reading Festival in the UK, Dave Grohl took the drums
again for a performance of the song "Cold Day In The Sun". The last time Grohl
played drums at Reading was in 1992 for Nirvana's legendary performance
there. See this story
for more info on the Foo's triumphant set at Reading which Dave declared
to be the best festival in the world. Taylor Hawkins and Grohl grace the
cover of the latest issue of NME. More info here.
In the August 13 issue of Kerrang! (issue no #1069) they have a list of
the 100 greatest gigs ever as voted by the readers of the magazine. Nirvana
appears on the list a few times: #72 for a show at Kings Hall in Belfast,
Ireland on June 22, 1992; #40 for a show at the Bierkeller in Bristol, England
on November 4, 1991 and finally #12 for their 1992 Reading Festival performance.
Number one on the list is Green Day for their show at Milton Keynes, 2005.
Alicia Ruiz with Beevine Records in San Francisco sent in this:
"Our artist pc munoz recently launched a popular online column called VERSE-CHORUS-VERSE,
which focuses on songs that have influenced him, inspired him, etc. Last week he wrote about
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" pc and his group, the amen corner, do a mixture of funk,
spoken-word, and gospel. Their latest CD, CALIFORNIA, features Jackson Browne on the title
track, Dr. Fink of Prince and the Revolution, and other cool guests." You can read
the piece here. Thanks to Alicia.
The lucky winners of the 12th NFC Competition have now been found.
The first prize this time was the ultra rare "Pennyroyal Tea" single
which is very hard to find. The winners are: Fred Thomas, Joe Mezz,
Ryan McNairn, John Doe and Jarrod Miller. They have all been
contacted. A big thanks to Stefan Lannbrink for graciously donating the