An official statement from the Nirvana camp has FINALLY been released; "A joint statement from Dave Grohl,
Courtney Love, and Krist Novoselic: NIRVANA LAWSUIT SETTLED. September 30, 2002 -- We have settled our legal dispute. We are all
pleased that these issues have been resolved positively and we can move on. Together, we are happy to announce the
release of Nirvana, a one-CD history of the band that will include 'You Know You're Right,' the last recording that
Kurt made with Dave and Krist. Universal Music will release the CD in the United States on November 12.
A music video for 'You Know You're Right' will feature previously unseen footage of the band. In addition, several
new Nirvana releases will follow over the next few years, including a boxed set in 2004. We hope that this release will
enable longtime Nirvana fans to hear some of their favorite songs in a new context. At the same time, the upcoming CD will
allow a whole new audience to appreciate Nirvana's music and Kurt Cobain's great talent. We are now moving forward. We thank
our fans for their support."
For starters we now know for sure that the Best-Of CD will indeed be released
on November 12 [and November 11 in Europe I think] as reported in Kerrang! magazine (among other places). A person who works for
a chain of music and booksellers also confirmed this date. Ironically, the new Pearl Jam album is released on the same day.
The most discouraging part of the statement is the fact that we'll apparently have to wait until 2004 for the boxed set. This is somewhat
confusing as the project was originally under contract deadline to be finished no later than June 2001. It was only shortly before this date
(in May) that Courtney sued Krist and Dave - effectively eliminating the possibility of it being released in September 2001 as planned. However,
one would assume that it was more or less completed, and Rolling Stone once quoted Krist mentioning some of it's contents. This is all speculation though.
It could very well still be far from finished, even today, because of the lawsuits and everything. In any case, work on the boxed set started in 1998
(according to an earlier statement from Krist).
In other words, by 2004 we've been waiting for it for six years. It better be fuc@ing worth it! Thanks to Cody and others. By the
way, according to amazon.com, the release of the Kurt Cobain journals book has been pushed one week forward (from November 11 to November 4, 2002).
A different statement was also released today, largely concerning Courtney Love's UMG lawsuit:
Courtney Love
and Universal Music Group Reach Legal Settlement.
UMG Releases Love From Geffen Recording Agreement And Obtains Rights to Release
New Nirvana Packages - Monday September 30, 12:22 pm ET.
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Courtney Love and Universal
Music Group (UMG) announced today that they have settled all of their legal disputes. UMG will waive any rights to future recordings
from Ms. Love. As part of the settlement, Ms. Love and the other members of the Cobain estate have granted UMG permission to release
new Nirvana packages, including a compilation album with a never-before-released track, a box set, and a rarities album. Separate
permissions were obtained from the surviving members of Nirvana.
As part of the settlement, ownership of a group of unreleased Hole
recordings will revert to Ms. Love. In addition, UMG will waive the company's re-recording restriction for some previously released
Hole songs. Ms. Love also has the option to release a long-form Hole video program with UMG under a separate new agreement. Ms. Love
is in the process of recording a new album and the first single is to be released in January by Poptones Records in the UK. UMG will
receive a royalty override on some of Ms Love's future recordings. Additional terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
'I'm excited to be releasing music again and rock music is starting to become very fun,' said Ms. Love. 'I plan to continue my advocacy
of artists in Sacramento and Washington, where this belongs. I look forward to joining my fellow recording artists as we look for solutions
to the problems we face in the music business. We must all work together through lobbying and collective bargaining to create the opportunities
that have been lacking in our careers. This would not have been possible without the effort of my manager James Barber. He was able to work
with Universal executives to devise a settlement and to work with the other members of Nirvana to negotiate a long-term plan that will protect
my family's legacy,' continued Ms. Love. 'We're glad that we have resolved this amicably and wish Courtney well in all of her future
endeavors,' commented Zach Horowitz, President and Chief Operating Officer, UMG. Ms. Love is planning to record in the UK and
France after finishing her Los Angeles sessions. She is presently writing with Linda Perry and preparing for the role of Lady Macbeth in
Luc Besson and Vincent Regan's production of "Macbeth."
Courtesy of the Associated Press. This statement also confirms the future
releases of a Nirvana Best-Of CD and the boxed set. Interestingly, it also mentions a "rarities album". Details about that are not known
at this point. Related stories from Reuters,
E! Online,
MTV,
allstar and AP.
Yesterday's AP story sparked some confusion and debate over whether there could be several different versions of the song 'You
Know You're Right'. I contacted Charles R. Cross to clear up some of the confusion. He was not talking about different versions
per se - but merely different re-mixes of the song. A fully finished (re-mixed and mastered) song can sound quite different
from an earlier/unfinished "rough" mix of the song. Most likely, the "You Know You're Right" that gets released on November 12 will
quality wise be superior to what leaked. But the actual song (length, composition, etc.) will (more than likely) be identical to the
leaked version. Now that this has been cleared up, please refrain from contacting Mr. Cross about it if possible.
The Associated Press (AP) published a story suggesting that there's more than one version of the song
'You Know You're Right'; "A long-anticipated Nirvana song that's been the subject of
much speculation and litigation finally surfaced on the nation's airwaves this week, more than eight years
after singer Kurt Cobain killed himself.
Cobain's estate closely guarded 'You Know You're Right,' making it one of the most legendary unreleased
tracks in rock history. It's unclear how the track finally aired. Several radio stations said it first surfaced on
the Internet, which was where they obtained it. One station, KROQ-FM
in Los Angeles, reported receiving a one-day cease-and-desist order earlier this week, but said it had permission
to play the song Thursday. Neither Love's Seattle lawyer, O. Yale Lewis, nor Grohl and Novoselic's lawyers would
confirm that the case had been settled or discuss the song's release. A spokesman for Interscope Geffen A&M,
Nirvana's label, did not return a phone message, and lawyers for Universal Music Group, which includes the
label, declined to comment. [Charles R.] Cross cautioned that the version released on the Internet may not
be the one the record label planned to release. He said he heard a substantially better version while researching
his Cobain biography, 'Heavier than Heaven,' which came out last year." Story courtesy of the Associated
Press. Read the full piece here.
As mentioned here, an official statement from Courtney and/or Geffen/Interscope remains to be seen. Thus,
at this point, there's still not been an official comment about the leak of "You Know You're Right", the
settlement in the lawsuit, and the details about the proposed Best-Of release. The AP story can be found on
CNN's website with
links to other Nirvana resources. Also check out this
story from E! Online. Thanks to Chris and Jason.
I continue to get reports from all over the world about radio stations playing the song. Here's some
more. First of all, Y-100 in Philadelphia that initially received a cease and desist letter from Geffen
for playing the song illegally have now started playing it again. Other stations that
have played it include: 102.9 The Buzz in Nashville, TN (here it was voted #1 on their 'Top 9 at 9'), 99.3
The Fox in Vancouver, Radioactivo 98.5 in Mexico City,
RadioBeat 95.3 FM in the Czech Republic, 92.3 KROCK in New York (where it was the number one most requested
song), 103.5 BEL RTL FM in Belgium, 95.1 'The Fox' in Alabama, 93 FM 'The Rock' in New Zealand, 103.7 WFNX
and other stations in New England, and 92.3 in CT. Thanks to Brendan, Shaun, Joachim, Hans, 'SIB', Matt, Scott,
Ryan Frank, Juan and Amanda. This week it's also been one of the most requested songs on the highly influential KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, CA.
The British Kerrang! magazine published an article mentioning what they think is going to be the release
date of the Best-Of compilation; "Nirvana are set to release their greatest hits album
on November 11 through Geffen. The album will feature the previously unreleased track 'You Know You're Right'.
The long-running feud over the rights to Nirvana's back catalogue between Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love
and former members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic was settled last week. The trio had been scheduled to appear
in a Los Angeles court on September 30 to resolve their dispute." Thanks to Kerrang! and Ben.
Courtney made a short post on the hole.com message board saying, in part; "We worked the
fu@king thing out and you get your christmas recordings [and] your box-sets. Everything is fine and dissing
is not part of it for me anymore. I got rid of all the lawsuits."
I finally received a copy of the October issue of Q magazine so here is a review of their Nirvana coverage.
This issue (Q#195) of the British music magazine features a fairly interesting 22-page article about Nirvana
or "The Most Important Band In The World" as they call them.
The article consists of Q's listing of the '25
Greatest Nirvana Moments', an interesting piece on Kurt Cobain by Heavier Than Heaven author Charles
R. Cross, a summary of 'The Battle for Nirvana', a recent interview with Krist Novoselic and a look at some
of today's bands that have been inspired by Nirvana and 'grunge' music.
Firstly, here is the list of the 25
greatest Nirvana moments, according to Q magazine (largely dominated by British events):
The list has some odd choices here and there and the placement of the Top of the Pops appearance as #2 seems a bit strange. Otherwise an interesting list. This segment of the article also features various comments on Nirvana and Cobain by popular musicians, including Chris Martin (Coldplay), Ryan Adams and Kelly Jones (Stereophonics).
The next part of the Nirvana special is a look at Cobain 'Behind the Mask'. In this piece, Charles R. Cross tries to analyze parts of Kurt's personality and his many contradictions. He also talks about some of the things Kurt liked to collect and his interests in general. "His entire apartment in Olympia was a bit of a freak show with the various pets [turtles, rats, rabbits] running around underneath all the stuff Kurt had collected." Cross also mentions some of the remains of Cobain's estate, including "dozens of paintings, boxes of old Viewmaster cartoons, Six Million Dollar Man board games and a handful of records."
One of the more interesting points of this article is a new interview with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic. Among other things he talks about the aftermath of Kurt's death, his political activities, Eyes Adrift, and Nirvana of course; "For a long time, I wouldn't listen to Nirvana. It was too hard. But now I listen and I'm rediscovering it and it's great - going over the stuff for that boxset." Finally, the article concludes with a look at Nickelback, Staind, The Calling and other bands that have been inspired by 'the sound of Seattle' and their place in today's music scene. Generally, this Nirvana special is fairly well- written and includes several interesting points. It is also nice to see a Kurt Cobain cover again, not to mention the bold declaration that Nirvana is the most important band in the world. They're definitely one of them!
The leaked "You Know You're Right" continues to be played on the radio all around the world and appears to have
made it to all corners of the globe over the past few days. Interestingly, the legendary station KNDD 107.7 The End
in Seattle, WA apparently received permission from Geffen/Universal (Nirvana's record label) to play the song over the weekend.
A promo banner on their website reads; "We took your e-mails and flooded the server at Geffen Records
with tons of choice words about their 'You Know You're Right' cease and desist order. Due to the huge publicity outcry,
the label has released the track. Hear NEW Nirvana all this weekend, only on 107.7 The End."
According to one NFC reader, Kristy, who first informed me of this story - Dick Rossetti (of The End) appeared on Seattle's King
5 news yesterday to note his desire of getting this song back on the radio. After learning that Geffen had granted the station permission
to play the song, apparently the DJ interrupted the program running at the time and played "You Know You're Right" two times in
a row. What's even more interesting is that 107.7 The End have provided the complete song on their website as a streaming audio file!
So, if you'd like to listen to it, make sure to tune in to The End 107.7 if you live in Seattle, or go to their website for
the audio stream (reduced quality). Thanks to Kristi for the heads up. It should be noted that now, other radio stations have also
been given permission to play the song. Apparently, a promo CD with the song will be sent out from the record label tomorrow.
British radio stations have been playing the song as well; "This afternoon (September 26), Radio 1 played
the song on Jo Whiley's lunchtime show. She said that she wasn't sure if it would be played again. In London, it was played on
Zoe Ball's drivetime show on XFM yesterday (September 25). However, they won't be playing it again either. Andy Ashton, Head Of
Music at the station explained their reasons for playing the song in the first place. In a statement, he said: 'We played You
Know You're Right because we felt our audience deserved to hear it - for their love of the band. It's unfortunate, that, as a
result we have upset their record label. We will however, adhere to the Record Companies ruling and not play the track again until
it is officially cleared.' " Story courtesy of NME. Also thanks to Martin.
Another story about the lawsuit being settled; "The 38-year-old sound-bite maven [Courtney Love]
issued her latest quotables on Friday's Howard Stern radio show, announcing she'd settled bitter lawsuits with late
husband Kurt Cobain's Nirvana bandmates and her record label. There has been no confirmation from Universal Music Group
of any settlements. Universal is home to both Nirvana and Love's now-defunct band, Hole. There's also been no comment
about the would-be pacts from Love's publicist. On air, Love told Stern she was giving him the scoop on her legal battles.
She promised a press release announcing the deals would be forthcoming. Per Love, all it took was lots of money for the
concerned parties to lay down their respective arms." Story
courtesy of E! Online and Yahoo! Inc.
The list of radio stations that have played "You Know You're Right" continues to grow; "Triple J Radio
here in Australia has been playing 'You Know You're Right' for most of this afternoon, and plan to keep playing it until
they are forced to stop. To quote a presenter; 'We are going to keep playing it until the courts say cease and desist, and
then we're going to hide in a cupboard and keep playing it'. It's getting some great reactions from JJJ listeners."
Thanks to Chris. More radio; "Add KQXR [100.3 out of Idaho] to the list of stations playing 'You Know
You're Right'. As appears to be the trend, a DJ read a cease and desist letter over the opening to YKYR before the song kicked
into gear. Afterwards he rambled a bit about how Courtney is a 'money-grubbing beotch' and how they'd likely keep playing the
song anyway." Interesting! Thanks to Dustin for that tidbit. See the updates for the past couple of days for more
stories about radio stations around the world playing the song.
Speaking of radio; "The biggest rock radio station in France 'Ouï FM' (102.3) mentioned nirvanaclub.com and
talked about the leak of the song 'You Know You're Right' today several times during their daily rock news." Thanks a bunch to Lionel.
A documentary - The Nevermind Year - has been mentioned several times here in this news section. Now, the filmmaker
behind it (Steven) is hoping to find visitors of this site to be interviewed for the film. Steven explains;
"I'm looking to interview some of your NFC users out on the US West Coast next week as part of my documentary, 'The Nevermind Year'
(www.nevermindyear.tv). You see, I'm turning 28 on October 3rd, signaling my survival through what I call my 'Nevermind Year' (the
age that Kurt left us -- 27). In order to mark this occasion, my cameraperson and I are flying from Halifax, Canada (on the East Coast,
north of New York) to the West Coast of the US for a week of shooting. My pilgrimage will start in San Diego on September 30th, stop in
Seattle, and then see me return to San Diego on Oct 6th.
Let folks who live along the I-5, between San Diego and Seattle, know
that I'll be 'coming through their town' between Sept 30 and Oct 6, and that I would like to interview them about Kurt & Nirvana. If people
can e-mail me at nevermindyear@hotmail.com, we can set-up a time to meet for an interview."
The Nevermind Year documentary is 'a look at our relationship(s) with our heroes'. My hero was/is
Kurt. The documentary will be broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) sometime in mid 2003, and in the US sometime
after that." Thanks to Steven for this information. If you would like to help out with the docu and live in the area mentioned
above, please feel free to e-mail Steven at the above e-mail address as soon as you can. Click here
for a picture the filmmaker submitted. You may also view a map of the route (Between San Diego
and Seattle) that Steven will be using.
Today it's been exactly 11 years since Nirvana's legendary "Nevermind" album was released. To
view last year's Nevermind special in light of the 10th anniversary, please click here.
Today also marks the release of the debut album by Krist Novoselic's new band Eyes Adrift. You
can listen to a few sound clips from the album, as well as one complete song, at the new NFC Sound Gallery.
You may also buy the album online here.
Also don't forget to pre-order the forthcoming Foo Fighters album 1x1 (One by One) here.
LAUNCH put up an interesting story on the "You Know You're Right" leak;
"A studio version of the previously unreleased Nirvana song, 'You Know You're Right,' was broadcast
Monday night and Tuesday morning (September 23 and 24) on influential modern rock station KROQ Los
Angeles shortly after it surfaced on various websites. 'You Know You're Right' is one of the last songs
Nirvana singer-songwriter Kurt Cobain recorded before he died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the
head in 1994. It will likely appear on a Nirvana greatest-hits package that, according to a recent Universal
Music Group release schedule, is due out November 19. Although sources at Interscope/Geffen claimed that the
album's inclusion on the release schedule was a mistake, Cobain's widow Courtney Love told radio host Howard
Stern on Friday (September 20) that a Nirvana album will be released before Christmas. 'You Know You're Right'
was recorded in late January 1994, during the band's final recording session in Seattle. In the track, Cobain
sarcastically sings, 'Things have never been so swell/And I have never been so well,' before wailing 'pain' in
the chorus. The song features the trademark Nirvana hard/soft dynamic that has been imitated by countless bands,
including the Vines and Puddle Of Mudd." Story
courtesy of Darren Davis and LAUNCH Media.
Interestingly the song was also played by a radio station in Atlanta; "Yesterday, 99X in
Atlanta played 'You Know You're Right' for 1 hour straight, between 5 and 6 PM during the afternoon rush hour.
They played it over and over again. Every few minutes the DJ would take calls from listeners. People were going
nuts over the song. A rep. from Interscope called the DJ and demaned he stop playing the song. The DJ refused
and continued to play it over and over again. It was a great day for Nirvana and for us fans." Thanks
to Dave for this one. Also check the story from yesterday's update about the song being played by a radio in
Philadelphia. Other radio stations that have played the song include San Francisco's alternative station Live
105.3, D.C. 101 in Washington and Fairfield Radio 104.1 in Connecticut. Thanks to Brian, Tom and Joe.
There will be an 'official' NFC chat session happening on October 5, 2002. The chat will be going on all day,
starting from around 10 AM (EST). Amongst the topics that will be discussed are the recent leaks of the
Rio demos and, of course, "You Know You're Right". Other Nirvana and Non-Nirvana topics will be discussed as
well. If you want to join make sure you point your browser to the chatroom on October 5.
You can also connect with an IRC client (such as mIRC) to irc.whatnet.org and join the #NirvanaClub channel.
It looks like a few brave radio stations in the US and Canada have been playing the unreleased
studio version of Nirvana's "You Know You're Right" that leaked a few days ago, as reported in
yesterday's news story. One such station is Y-100 in Philadelphia. They quickly received a cease
and desist letter from Geffen/Interscope that reads in part; "Geffen Records is
the exclusive owner of the recording entitled 'You Know You're Right' by the artist 'Nirvana'. This
recording has not yet been released or authorized for release, nor has it been distributed for
promotional or commercial exploitation." - "Please be advised that you have no authority to so
broadcast this recording and your doing so constitutes willful copyright infringement of Geffen's
exclusive rights. We hereby demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further use of
such song." Apparently 102.1 The Edge in Toronto, Canada and a few other radio stations have
been playing the song as well. Here's a couple of links to news stories about the leak; Nettavisen (link courtesy of Reidar),
NME, LAUNCH and MTV.
The Fender Stratocaster guitar that Pat Smear used in Nirvana's classic "Live and Loud" show for
MTV in 1993 has been put up for auction. The show that took place on December 13, 1993 aired on
New Year's eve '93 on MTV in the US and has been repeated many times since then.
"Pat played this guitar at most every show during Nirvana's 1993-1994 In Utero tour of North America
and Europe. Around midway through the tour, Pat modified the look of this instrument, affectionately
named 'Flopsy', using several different colors of nail polish and covering it with polka dots and smiley
faces. This Mexican made Strat was sent to Pat by Fender early on during the U.S. tour. It has not been
played since Nirvana's final European dates in 1994 and still has the strings and strap from it's last
performance." This legendary musical instrument will be up for auction until September 29. The
current high bid is $3,700.00. To view the auction please click here.
Thanks to Earnie for the link.
Finally it happened. Sometime around 8 PM Eastern Time yesterday, September 21, a song
called "You Know You're Right" appeared on the Internet. The song (recorded by Nirvana in January
1994) has been discussed in great length over the past couple of years and remains to
be released officially. Now, a complete high quality recording of it made it's way onto
the Internet and is being enjoyed by thousands of cheering fans everywhere.
Back in May 2002 the whole community was stunned when short clips of the song appeared online.
The clips (totaling just 47 seconds all together) quickly became a hot topic for debate
on the 'net and even in the media where MTV's Kurt Loder, for one, asked Dave Grohl about
the whole incident. Today the complete song (3:35 minutes) is spreading like wildfire and
the reaction from Courtney's camp remains to be seen. Last time (when the short clips were
being distributed around), Courtney's manager James Barber contacted countless webmasters
to state that websites hosting, or even promoting the clips, should immediately halt all such activity.
The song is planned to be the highlight of a Nirvana Best-Of Compilation that
is scheduled for a Christmas release. Last year Mr. Barber commented that;
"[An album with] 'You Know You're Right' could sell up to 15 million copies worldwide, more than
'Nevermind.' Without the song, sales may be one-fifth that number." In the likely event
that most fans get to hear the song before the release of the CD - one could question it's chances
of success. Unless they think of something else that could be considered 'new' to put on the CD,
it will basically only comprise songs that Nirvana fans have already heard ... hundreds of times before.
As far as the quality of the song goes - the fans are somewhat divided in their opinion.
I think few would go as far as calling it "a spectacular piece of music. Probably
one of the most important pieces of music to be released in years" as Mr. Barber did. While
there's no question it is a great song, it's potential as a huge mainstream hit isn't particularly
high in my opinion. In any case the song is finally here for the fans to hear. One such fan had this
reaction when first learning about what had happened;
"I had no idea what was going on.
Then I downloaded it ... Oh my god. I nearly cried. Literally. I was out of breath and wanted to burst
into tears. I mean, the last song ever recorded by Nirvana. 8+ years stuck in a box collecting dust then
one day BOOM! It's emotional. For me, man. I was in awe. I thought it was amazing. But the feel is so
different. The first two or three times I played it it didn't 'FEEL' like Nirvana. At all. It was so new
to me even though I've heard the live version and played it many times. It's such a different feeling
emitting from that song that it just so morbid. I'm speechless."
Of course, as the news of the song's
appearance began to spread, people posted eagerly on the various Nirvana message boards online - including
NFC's very own. The Nirvana forum here had at one point more than 130 people gazing over it's pages at the
same time, posting or reading all the reactions. The initial thread about the song has currently been viewed
more than 4.000 times. I am sure the community will be talking about this song for quite some time and it's
going to be interesting to see the Nirvana camp's official reaction.
If you
would like to talk about the song and express your comments on it, please use this
thread on the board.
We ask that you please not post requests for the song, and the song will not be put on this website for legal reasons.
All while the above drama was happening, Courtney Love was flashing her breasts on MTV2's "24 hours of
Love" special. As reported in the September 17 update she had been assigned to host the channel for a
full day, where she was in charge of the programming and VJ'ing. In the first few hours she was on the
phone with R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Eve, among others. She played videos by bands such as Nine Inch
Nails, Cheap Trick, P.J. Harvey and of course the MTV Heavy Rotation Foursome: The Hives, The Vines,
The White Stripes and The Strokes. Check out MTV's website for more information. There was a rumor going
that Courtney had learned of the "You Know You're Right" leak as she was doing the show but apparently
she was prohibited from talking about it on the air.
Speaking of Courtney, she was also on the Howard Stern radio show recently where she confirmed that the
Nirvana legal battle was over and that the parties had settled; "Courtney Love announced
on Friday's (September 20) Howard Stern radio morning show that her lawsuits are now behind her. The former
leader of Hole said she'd come to an agreement with the surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl, now of Foo
Fighters, and Krist Novoselic over how the band's recordings, name, and images will be released and marketed.
She told the radio host that 'an album will be out by Christmas,' referring to an upcoming greatest hits release
which will include a previously unreleased track. Love also told Stern her legal battle against Universal Music
Group, which resulted in back-and-forth lawsuits, has been settled 'for a lot of money.' Love added that she would
have put her own album out before the end of the year, but added, 'it would be stupid to compete with Kurt,' referring
to her late husband, Nirvana singer, guitarist, and songwriter Kurt Cobain." The case was apparently settled
after a court hearing on September 6. The exact details of the settlement are not known at this point in time. Story
courtesy of LAUNCH and Yahoo! Inc.
A short tidbit; "In the new Guitar World -- November, I guess it is (with Disturbed on the cover) --
there's a short interview with our own Krist Novoselic. The picture is of Krist and Curt Kirkwood from Eyes Adrift, but
the interview is solely with Krist. He focuses mainly on the new band and how it came together in the interview. At the
end, he was asked how he felt going to see Dave Grohl play with Queens Of The Stone Age. Krist said he thinks Dave is the
greatest living drummer in the world, adding that he loves playing with Bud Gaugh also. It's a short interview/article, but
Krist says he's as happy as he's been in years and loves playing in a band and touring again." Thanks to a member
of the NFC Board for that one.
Jamie sent in this one; "Here in Vancouver, 99.3 the Fox (www.cfox.com) is having a 'stupid money' contest.
The 'stupid money' song is Dumb, as fitting as that is. Every time they play Dumb during September, the 99th caller
wins $5000. I've tried a couple of times but with no luck. They seem to be giving away this large sum of money every day at some point."
The NFC Sound Gallery is now finally back online. The sound gallery has been unavailable
for several months, following our latest host discontinuing the account. It has now been
moved to www.nirvanaclub.net under the same account that hosts the new picture gallery.
The Sound Gallery already had a major refreshment in December of 2001 - in the
form of brand new sound clips and a new design - but I decided to start from a clean slate
again. Thus, all the existing clips were thrown out and another slew of MP3's got produced.
This time around I decided to encode the songs in the MP3pro format to save space.
The new files are significantly smaller in size than the corresponding MP3's would have
been, while maintaining a relatively high audio quality. In order to achieve the maximum
enjoyment of the new clips, however, you need to download and install either a MP3pro
plugin for WinAMP, or a standalone player. More information about that is available on
the front page for the new NFC Sound Gallery. Not only the files were changed, however.
Using the design principles of the newly refurbished NFC Picture Gallery the
layout of the sound gallery was changed as well, to match the design of the picture section.
Thus, the gallery has an easy menu for navigation and with each section of sound clips there
is a description of some form, and cover artwork. In the gallery you will find more than
150 song clips - spread over all of Nirvana's albums, unreleased songs, B-sides and even
songs by bands featuring Nirvana's former members (ie. The Foo Fighters, Eyes Adrift and so on).
Enough talk. Visit the brand new NFC Sound Gallery here.
This upcoming weekend on MTV2 will be controlled by ... Courtney Love;
"Straight from the MTV studios in Times Square, Courtney will take over MTV2 for a full 24
hours of live and spontaneous programming where she will not only host MTV2, but also program
and direct the channel in any way that she pleases." The show starts this Saturday on
MTV2 in the US at 8.00 PM (Eastern Time). On MTV's website you can even submit a question for
Miss Love and she might call you and answer it on the air (hey, it's worth a shot, right!?).
Click here for more information.
Thanks to Fernando for the news.
Netscape/AOL put up a video stream of a Eyes Adrift live performance on their website. Apparently
it's an acoustic performance of a few songs. Check it out here.
Thanks to Justin.
Another of Pat Smear's guitars has been put up for auction by guitar tech Earnie Bailey;
"Up for auction is Pat's Smear's black Hagstrom H2N, purchased on one of his last Foo Fighters tours,
and also used by the all girl quartet Harlow on most episodes of VH1's Bands on the Run. This guitar was
also used to record their Pat Smear produced album 'Harlowland'. Pat believes this guitar to have been made
in the 1970's, and has not yet seen another example in this stock original black finish. Complete with a letter
of provenance from Pat, a Vox hardshell case, a Harlow CD, 3 song video (song 3 is from VH1's BOTR and features
the black Hagstrom), T-shirt, poster, and Harlow ring." The current highest bid of the auction is just
$810,00 and it ends on September 22. View it here.
Also up for auction at the moment is a Gibson bass bridge, taken from one of Krist Novoselic's smashed Nirvana
bass guitars. View that auction here.
As mentioned earlier in this news section, Kurt Cobain's old house was recently put up for
sale on the auction website eBay. Apparently it's now been sold; "Bids
exceeding $40 million for a house where the late grunge rocker Kurt Cobain lived as a boy
were not serious, the sellers say. Since the nondescript, rust-colored house with white trim
was offered on eBay last Thursday, the high offer from a serious bidder is $210,000, which is
$10,000 over the minimum set by Ed and Jennifer McKee of Oregon City, Ore. More than 50 bids had
come in, the highest for more than $40 million, by the time the McKees began checking on the
validity of the bidders. 'It feels good to be a millionaire — on paper, at least,' Ed McKee said.
'It's hard for us to take these huge bids seriously because there's a lot of pranksters out there.'
The couple bought the 2,313-square-foot home, 70 miles southwest of Seattle, for $42,500 last month
without knowing Cobain lived there from ages 11 to 15 with his father and stepmother. The seller was
a bank that had foreclosed on the property. An attorney for Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, and their
daughter said Thursday the Cobain estate hadn't authorized the auction." Check the full story
here,
courtesy of AP and Yahoo! News. Click here for an interior shot of
the house, courtesy of the seller Jennifer McKee.
"The October Edition of Q Magazine has a 30 page special on Nirvana,
claiming they are 'The Most Important Band In The World'. It features the 25 Greatest
Nirvana Moments (including deafening Jonathan Ross and recording the Unplugged session),
a feature on Kurt Cobain by Charles Cross, an exclusive interview with Krist and also a
section on 'Grunge the Second Coming', which includes a look at Nickelback. It also gives
the latest on the court case." Thanks to Darren, Nigel and others. We'll have a
more detailed look on the issue later this week.
I recently finished an interview with Earnie Bailey who was Nirvana's main guitar technician from
around the time Nevermind was released in 1991, up until the end in 1994. In this interview,
the first he has ever done about Nirvana, he talks about what it was like working with the band, the
tour life, and guitars of course. Earnie has previously supplied extensive information and technical
details to two Kurt Cobain equipments guides/FAQ's on the net. After Nirvana, Earnie spent three years
touring with The Foo Fighters and has worked with many other clients in the music world. To read the
interview please follow this link:
An interview with Earnie Bailey.
A bit of a funny story; Kurt Cobain's childhood home in Montesano, WA was put up for auction
at eBay! "Kurt lived in this home on Fleet St. from age eleven to fifteen.
The inspiration for lyrics of many of his songs were derived from life in Montesano during these
early teen years. 5,000 square ft. lot 2,313 square ft. house including basement, 4 bedrooms 2 bath,
large living room, fireplace, woodstove, two stories (plus unfinished basement), good condition, but
needs some interior remodeling work. Many areas of the house have not been changed since Kurt lived
here. Kurt's room has a nautical look. It was fashioned to look like a ship with rounded windows and
door, and an all wood interior."
The auction for the house has an opening bid of $200,000 with
an unknown reserve price even higher than that. At the time of this writing, no bids had been made. The
auction ends on September 15 so if you're looking for a new home, there's still time :) You can view
the auction here. The seller
hopes to add some interior pictures of the house shortly. Thanks to Jennifer for the info and picture.
amazon.com put up the cover artwork for the forthcoming book of Kurt Cobain's journals (simply titled
'Journals') on their website. Apparently, the book will be 304 pages and it has the following ISBN number:
1573222321. You may pre-order the book here.
Rolling Stone put up an encouraging story about the Nirvana best-of compilation;
"A single-disc NIRVANA compilation is scheduled for release the end of the year, marking a temporary
truce in the legal battle between KURT COBAIN's widow, COURTNEY LOVE, and his surviving band mates, DAVE
GROHL and KRIST NOVOSELIC. The album will include 'You Know You're Right,' an unreleased song recorded
less than three months before Cobain's April 1994 suicide. 'It's a win-win situation for the band and for
fans,' Novoselic told Rolling Stone. 'The music will finally come out.' " Story courtesy of the
Rolling Stone Daily newsletter. Thanks also to Kim. According to various reports, the album has been
pushed from an October release to November. No concrete release date has been confirmed officially at
this point though.
As reported before in this news section, Krist Novoselic's new band Eyes Adrift will release their debut
album on September 24. I made some MP3 clips of my personal favorite tracks on the CD that you can now get
here. First, however, a short introduction of the band;
"Eyes Adrift is Curt Kirkwood
(Meat Puppets), Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) and Bud Gaugh (Sublime). They play rock 'n' roll. Eyes Adrift was born while
Curt Kirkwood, after two decades of playing in a rock 'n' roll band, was playing his first ever tour as a solo
artist. He was having the time of his life doing so. Just before he hit Seattle for a gig, Krist Novoselic called
him and ended up coming to the show. Soon after, they began playing together. Meanwhile, down in Long Beach, Bud
Gaugh was itching to do something new. While looking through the paper one day, he noticed that Curt was playing in
town. Wondering if he would be interested in jamming, Bud called him up (days after Krist had approached Curt in Seattle),
and, well, the rest is history. Eyes Adrift became a band in the way a band should-naturally. 'There was no 'idea' behind
the band, like we're all gonna wear these fedoras and gray satin shirts with vests or whatever,' explains Novoselic.
'It was not like that at all. It was very pure. We just got together and started playing.'
For a more detailed biography, with comments from the band members, click here. Now, to
give you an idea of what the band sounds like, here is a full recording of the brilliant track 'Alaska', and clips of the songs
'Blind Me', 'Solid' and 'Inquiring Minds'. The latter features Krist Novoselic on vocals. Feel free to spread these
MP3's around and even put them on your website. Special thanks to Jeff and Pam. The songs are all ©2002 spinART records and Eyes Adrift.
Visit the band's official website here for more material.
"CFOX radio in Vancouver Canada had a Top 300 songs of the 90's - 'Teen Spirit' is #1,
'Come As you Are' #9 along with several other songs throughout. More info here."
Thanks to Ryan.
The exact tracklisting of the upcoming Nirvana best-of compilation is currently not known. But with help
from a poll conducted earlier by this site, asking which song one would most like to see on the CD, I tried
to come up with a list of songs that will most likely be featured on it. This list does in no way reflect the
actual tracklisting of the final CD, but is merely an educated guess of what it could (and should) include: Smells Like Teen Spirit You Know You're Right About a Girl Heart-Shaped Box Lithium Come As You Are Rape Me Drain You Aneurysm Sappy Lounge Act In Bloom Pennyroyal Tea Something in the Way Love Buzz (cover)
This site has been unavailable for about two weeks, due to it being disabled for using too
much bandwidth. While I don't believe that was the case - there was nevertheless not much I could
do about it. Hopefully it won't happen again ... at least not until the end of the month! In any
case, if it gets disabled again for Bandwidth reasons, it should always return around the 1st of
the month. Now, on with the news stories that have been slightly delayed because of the incident
above and my vacation in Turkey, among other things.
On August 19, Billboard magazine published an interesting story with excerpts from a Krist Novoselic
interview where he hinted that the 'Best Of' Nirvana CD might see release later this year;
"Unreleased Nirvana material may see daylight by the end of the year, ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic
tells Billboard.com. Although he and drummer Dave Grohl will continue their battle against Cobain's widow,
Courtney Love, for control of the band's assets later this month in a Washington state courtroom, Novoselic
says 'there's actually good will going on right now.' Novoselic said he couldn't discuss details, but he hinted
that the much-discussed unreleased Nirvana cut 'You Know You're Right' will likely be among the songs unearthed.
'I can't say until the ink's dry, but it's just probably what you'd expect, what you've been hearing.' (There has
been talk of a Nirvana box set since last year, when the legal fight began.) 'All your assumptions would be safe.
Unless [you think] it's gonna be this freaky, like, experimental noise record, no. It's all safe,' Novoselic added.
'And that way the band wins, the estate wins, the fans win, everybody wins, so it's good will.' As far as when this
new Nirvana product may arrive, Novoselic said, 'They [Universal Music Group] got that motherf***er on a rail, they're
talking fourth quarter here.' "
Story courtesy of Wes Orshoski and Billboard.com. It's probably not that
likely that a Nirvana boxed set - featuring at least 45 tracks - will be released this year. What is probably going
to be released, however, is a CD comprising the best of Nirvana, possibly including the unreleased "You Know You're
Right". According to the following news story, this album might be released as early as October 22 -- ironically the
very same day that former Nirvana member Dave Grohl's band The Foo Fighters will release their 4th album 1x1 (One by One).
"Action continues to heat up in the Nirvana camp as Courtney Love has revealed via a posting on
Hole's official Web site that the Nirvana greatest hits compilation will be titled Nirvana. Love also chimed in on the
album's release date and the current state of affairs between her and ex-Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic,
with whom she has feuded very publicly throughout the last year. 'There's a few details, but they are fine,' said Love.
'Everyone's fine. No one's being nasty anymore and it's not Greatest Hits. It's called Nirvana and it'll be out by Christmas.'
Whether or not there is any truth to the statements was up in the air at press time -- the posting was swiftly removed
from the Hole Web site almost as quickly as it went up. And, Love's manager James Barber tells allstar, 'There is no Nirvana
album. [The reports are] a mistake.' A spokesperson for Nirvana at Geffen Records was unaware of the post and did not return
calls for comment by press time." Story courtesy of allstar news, August 30.
"Nirvana's Greatest Hits is set to hit stores October 22, according to a Universal Music release
schedule. It's the first greatest hits package by the trio, and it's rumored to feature a previously unreleased track,
'You Know You're Right.' " Story courtesy of Yahoo! and Darren Davis of LAUNCH. As mentioned in the story, the
October 22 release date stems from an internal Universal Music release sheet; 'Current Commercial Releases as of Friday,
August 16, 2002' in the POP/ROCK category. No other information is available at this time, and the date has not been
officially confirmed. In any case, the coming months should be interesting, with releases from The Foo Fighters and
possibly Nirvana on October 22 and with Krist Novoselic's debut album with Eyes Adrift eyeing release on September 24
(the 11th anniversay, to the day, of Nirvana's legendary Nevermind album). Not to forget the scheduled release
of Kurt Cobain's journals on November 11, 2002.
Speaking of Eyes Adrift; Rolling Stone published a story on the band; " 'It's been fun for us to
get back to playing music,' says Krist Novoselic, bassist in the new super trio Eyes Adrift. 'After all, we're musicians,
we should be playing and creating music.' The 'us' the one-time Nirvana member is talking about also includes former Meat
Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood and ex-Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh. The outfit will release its eponymous debut via SpinART
Records on September 24th -- eleven years to the day after Nevermind, Nirvana's classic major-label debut. Just don't call
them a supergroup. 'That term has a bad connotation,' says Novoselic, who goes on to cite the likes of Asia and Mike and the
Mechanics as examples. 'We've all got our pasts, which we're really proud of, but our future is Eyes Adrift . . . People have
it in their heads that we got together because we all had tragic situations in our previous bands' [Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain
committed suicide in 1994, Sublime singer Brad Nowell died of a drug overdose in 1996, and Meat Puppets' bassist Cris Kirkwood
battled drug addiction after his wife Michelle Tardif died of an overdose in 1998]. 'But it was purely coincidental. That would
be like saying that we all got together because we all come from trios.' " Read the full story here which
also describes how the band came together, touring, and what the debut record will be like. Courtesy of John D. Luerssen and
Rolling Stone magazine online. By the way, here is a more finalized tour schedule for the band (please disregard the schedule posted
on August 16):
Krist Novoselic also commented on the battle over Nirvana's legacy to LAUNCH; " 'In a hundred years
I don't know who is going to own Nirvana. I'm not going to own it. I'll be dead and gone. You know what I mean? But I was
part of it, and I'm proud of it. That's all I can really say,' Novoselic tells LAUNCH. Novoselic says that he appreciates
the interest fans continue to have in Nirvana. 'I do. I love Nirvana fans. I love Kurt and I love Dave, and I feel great
to have played music with them. In some ways I've been finding out that Nirvana represents an evolution of consciousness
for people and I think that's something to be really proud of.' " Courtesy of Darren Davis.
NME contacted Steve Albini earlier this week to get him to comment on the unknown Nirvana song that was surfaced recently,
as part of a demo that Nirvana recorded in Rio, in January 1993; "Producer STEVE ALBINI has spoken out over
the previously unreleased NIRVANA song leaked online - telling NME.COM he has never heard it before. As reported last week,
dedicated fans believe the untitled song, which doesn't feature on any official band release, is a brand new find, unearthed
almost a decade after it was committed to tape. Some insiders claim the most likely time the song was recorded would be at a
session in January 1993 in Rio de Janeiro, while the band were on tour in Brazil. Tapes from that session were supposedly sent
to Albini, who produced their third and last studio album, 'In Utero', later that year. NME contacted Albini last week. He said
that although he was sent tapes of that session, the song wasn't amongst those he received. 'Yes, the band sent me a cassette of
those (Rio) sessions and the original multi-tracks were sent to the studio in advance of the band's arrival (to record In Utero)',
he wrote in an e-mail. 'I listened to them and made notes. There were very crude renditions of a couple of the songs and fairly
complete versions of others.' Not commercial like the much touted 'You Know You You're Right', the five-minute song features a
spoken word middle eight, in which Kurt Cobain is heard to moan 'If we did not have chemicals / you would not be writing my death
certificate.' " Story courtesy of NME. To get more info on the Rio demo surfacing online, check the story under August 16.
A brief update on the court case; "In a separate bitter dispute in Seattle, Love is suing the remaining
members of Cobain's grunge band Nirvana over ownership of the group's recordings and songs in the case worth millions of
dollars in royalties. Irish superstar Bono of the group U2 has been asked to testify for Love, while the band's former band
members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic questioned Courtney's mental stability in court papers filed this year. Love recently
submitted a written settlement proposal, but Nirvana's lawyer, Kelly Corr, on Tuesday said he told Love's lawyers upon receipt
of the proposal that he considered it 'one-sided and unreasonable.' 'Krist and Dave would like to settle this case if possible
because they'd like to get the music out to fans,' he said. A hearing on a motion to dismiss Love's suit is set for Aug. 30.
If denied, the case is set to go to trial Sept. 30." Courtesy of Sue Zeidler and Reuters. Update: the hearing was bumped
to Friday, September 6.
Another guitar used by Pat Smear was put up for auction. This one is a "heavily modified 1960's white three
pickup Hagstrom SG guitar. This guitar has been refinished and hot rodded to the hilt using gold Gibson hardware. This was one
of Pat's most used guitars on several Foo Fighters tours, and graced the cover of BAM magazine in April of 1996. This guitar was
also played at the Tibetian Freedom Concert in San Francisco, and appears in the recent documentary film of this event. A serious
rock and roll machine, Pat favored this instrument due in part to the fire breathing Dimarzio Super Distortion pickup hiding under
the gold cover back in the bridge position." The auction ends on September 8 and the currently highest bid is $1,400. To view
the auction and get more details, click here. Earnie who
runs the auctions also put up a couple of Nirvana related items (all these auctions end on September 10); For a short description and pictures of the first two guitars being auctioned off, read the following story:
EG Bailey is still auctioning off guitars for Pat Smear (former Nirvana guitarist) and put up the 2nd one on eBay on August 25.
The Gretsch White Falcon electric guitar was used by Pat on several tours for The Foo Fighters and by Dave Grohl in their video
for 'Monkeywrench'. Pat introduces the auctions with a short letter; "I've been really lucky. Played with the
best musicians in the coolest bands in venues great and small across the globe. I'm also a guitar geek. On my travels, egged on
and enabled by tour buddy and guitar tech Earnie Guitar Bailey, I've amassed an amazing array of electric guitars. For me, playing
the same 25 songs for months on end always felt freshest with ever changing guitar 'themes' (ie: all white guitar tour, all doubleneck
guitar tour etc...) but eventually it became borderline impulse shopping. By the time I had played my final concert five years ago,
EG's typically tongue in cheek response increasingly became 'Yeah! That'll look great in your storage space'. Eventually, a prophecy
came true. Guitars are made to be played, and for far too long only a scant few of mine have been. Believe me, I LOVE electric guitars.
No respectable guitar should ever end up suffocating behind glass on display at a theme restaurant in Jakarta. But let's face it, I'm
not gonna give them all away. I've done that plenty and have discovered that some people just don't fully appreciate a free guitar and
it may even end up hanging up in the you know where. Therefore, it is my intention to make some of my beloved available to you, fellow
guitar geek. EG Bailey, creator of most, if not all of the absolutely necessary modifications and improvements is still in charge, so
they're all still at peak prowess." To view the auction and get a full description of the guitar and all the bonus stuff it
comes with, click here. Thanks to Earnie for the link.
The auction ended with a $2,750,00 price tag on September 1st, 2002 after 31 bids.
The first Pat Smear guitar being auctioned off was a 1960's Mosrite Joe Maphis model that Pat played with the Foo Fighters on a Saturday Night Live performance in 1995. The final bid for the item was $1,525,00 and the auction ended on August 25, 2002.
Archive of past months news and website updates:
1999:
[ Oct | Nov | Dec ]
2000:
[
Jan | Feb |
Mar | Apr |
May | Jun |
Jul | Aug |
Sep | Oct |
Nov | Dec ]
2001:
[
Jan | Feb |
Mar | Apr |
May | Jun |
Jul | Aug |
Sep | Oct |
Nov | Dec ]
2002:
[
Jan | Feb |
Mar | Apr |
May | Jun |
Jul | Aug |
Sep | Oct |
Nov | Dec ]
2003:
[
Jan | Feb |
Mar | Apr |
May | Jun |
Jul | Aug |
Sep | Oct |
Nov | Dec ]
2004:
[
Jan | Feb |
Mar | Apr |
May | Jun |
Jul | Aug |
Sep | Oct |
Nov | Dec ]
2005:
[
Jan | Feb |
Mar | Apr |
May | Jun |
Jul | Aug |
Sep | Oct |
Nov ]