I Found My Friends (12 page)

DAVID TRIEBWASSER,
Grind:
Nirvana tore it up, and during their last song Kurt started rolling around the cement floor while playing guitar. I remember him bumping up to each of the eight or so audience members like a playful pup, soloing the whole time, mopping up spilled beer, discarded cigarettes, and shards of glass with his frayed flannel shirt.

JAMES BURDYSHAW:
It was cheap and easy to put shows on at art galleries or warehouses, as opposed to doing them in a nightclub … the Center on Contemporary Art was, and I believe still is, a collective in Seattle to promote and exhibit contemporary art of all types. When Larry Reid became the executive director of the group, he started bringing in punk bands to put on showcases locally. The space where the CoCA event was held with Nirvana was actually a group of empty buildings that used to be porn shops on First Avenue. Larry got funding to lease the space and converted it into a two-room gallery with a large floor space for people. It was way too small for the Sub Pop show, but he did it anyway … I'm sure you read about the washtub backstage that had been full of Schmidt or Black Label beer? I stayed back there after about half of Mudhoney's set and drank a bunch of beer. It was super fucking hot in there, no A/C, and it was a massive sauna of sweat and sticky bodies. My friend Luke was given bags of sugar to sprinkle on the crowd and he threw mass quantities of it at the people, so the floor looked like it was coated with maple syrup—one of Larry's ingenious ideas, I believe. The show was booked as “Sugar Sweet Sub Pop” … I dipped my hand into what was now cold-ass ice water in the washtub. When anybody walked through the door, I'd flick water at them. Matt Lukin [Mudhoney] got super annoyed by this and squawked at me. Then Kurt comes in and looks happy I sprayed him. He asks me to dunk his entire head in the tub, so I do it. I started getting nervous when it seemed like a minute went by and he was still submerged in the ice water. Then he springs up and joyfully exclaims a big “AAHH!” and thanks me. During their set the sound was so muddy and the air felt like hot molasses soup with all the sugar in the air. I don't recall a single song they played. Just a huge swell of people gyrating back and forth while Erik [Peterson]'s older brother Ed lay prostrate on the stage under Kurt's legs. Later that night, I was stuck outside on First Avenue with my L5 combo and Strat. David [Emmanuel Duet] wouldn't take me back to where the gear was because he had too many hipsters and girls in his minivan. I was pretty pissed off at that point. I looked down the street and saw Kurt and Krist walking and got their attention, waving them to come back. They turned around and headed toward me looking like Mutt and Jeff from the old comic strip, heads bopping a little and big smiles on their faces. I asked if they were going south and could drop me off in west Seattle. Kurt looked confused and said he was sorry they couldn't, but he didn't want to leave me there either. He said something like “Oh man, I'm so sorry, we aren't going that way.” Luckily for me, these uber-cute young girls offered to get me home, but first I had to go with them to this party. Everything worked out for me.

Sub Pop's strategy was working—each new band was seen in the light of past Sub Pop successes, making fans more likely to take a shot on something they hadn't heard. This benefited
Bleach
upon its release in June.

ROBIN PERINGER:
I was a fan of Green River, who played my hometown when I was in high school. Friends told me that this new band, Mudhoney, had formed out of Green River and were playing L.A. while I was living there. I went and saw them at Club Lingerie, opening for Sonic Youth … I was hooked. I started buying whatever Sub Pop put out, which is how I bought
Bleach
and I loved it.

LORI JOSEPH,
Bhang Revival:
An old boyfriend in God's Acre who worked in a record store turned me on to
Sub Pop 200
. I loved it and then followed all the bands on that label after that release. It made a
huge
impression on me. I went out and bought a wah-wah pedal! I was like, Holy shit this music is soooooo freaking awesome. I followed Nirvana and saw them every time they were in town. I think in 1989 at Club Dreamerz and then we followed them to Milwaukee. There were ten to fifteen people at this show. I remember they were hanging out in front of the venue. I told them if they put us on the guest list I would give them the door cover directly just to make sure they got some money.

CRISPIN WOOD,
The Bags:
I hadn't heard
Bleach
, but I knew about it. There was a bit of hype around Nirvana at the time because they were on Sub Pop. I remember hearing that they recorded
Bleach
for $600. We took pride in the fact that, the year prior, we recorded an album (
Swamp Oaf
) in less than twenty-four hours and paid only $800. So we were kind of like, “What?! $600? How did they do that?!”

Bleach
was released after Nirvana was on the road, so most audiences had no chance to pick up a copy. Even bands they'd be accompanying during the tour were unaware of them.

ALAN BISHOP:
June of 1989 in Tempe Arizona. We pulled up to the Sun Club to unload through the back door and do a sound check. There was another van parked there with three younger guys milling around it. I approached them and they introduced themselves and asked if we were Sun City Girls. They said they were very happy to play with us, that they listened to our music, whatever, was a bit awkward as those moments tend to be and I was doubting that another band was on the bill that night—it was only supposed to be two bands, us and Crash Worship from California. Then I'm like, whatever, they're here and must have been added, and asked what the name of their band was and Kurt said “Nirvana.” Of course I started fucking with them and said, “Oh, so we're gonna reach Nirvana tonight are we?” Don't remember anything else about them until they started playing. What I remember most about the set was Krist being so tall on that stage with a low ceiling, and his head kept banging the ceiling during the set and it was quite amusing. Their sound, to me, was very similar to many bands that were coming through town at the time, nothing really set them apart for me.

CHRIS DESJARDINS,
Stone by Stone:
I have no recollection of Nirvana opening … I frequently would not get to the club until right before the set, so I probably just missed them. It was a turbulent time in my life and shortly after that I renamed the band the Flesh Eaters, which had always been the main group name I'd used off and on since 1977.

DAVID VON OHLERKING:
The Axiom was fantastic. My band played there every Wednesday for a long time … It was nasty and dirty and there was a couch that was infested with crab lice. If you were an asshole they would make you sit on it while you waited to get paid … My punk-ass rhythm section opted out long before the show, but oddly showed up … the Nirvana show had thirty people max, probably twenty with sixteen people paying, then the guests and friends … They were awesome, loved them. My rhythm section didn't get it … the small crowd were fairly static and undemonstrative—it can't have been much encouragement for them but they rocked it … I liked the rhythm guitar player a lot. Awkward and charming dude.

Like in their early Seattle days, Nirvana had to prove themselves afresh. They would earn a few converts both through performance and general likeability.

TIM KERR:
I already knew some of the songs and thought they were a good band but it wasn't like “Oh my Gawd!” It was just good. It was not a big club, I remember that. We were sharing the backstage area … One newspaper chick [
Public News
] announced that they would change the world but not everyone believed her.

DOUG GILLARD,
Death of Samantha:
Nirvana's set starts and we had no idea Kurt broke his guitar. I could have lent him mine if we'd known, but he chose to just not play. He had a black dress on … They were hungry and this was their Boston show, y' know?… My memory of that show was being at our van in the parking lot with Dave Swanson getting dressed, changing clothes, and Krist Novoselic saunters over from their beat-up white van, a fifth of Myers's Rum in his hand, big white T-shirt, and very happy, saying, “Hey, are you guys from Death of Samantha? I'm in Nirvana.” He couldn't have been nicer or warmer … already really sloshed and slurry when he came up to us, but he was sweet as can be.

ED FARNSWORTH:
A Sunday night. By that point, Dobbs was starting to get some of the shows the Khyber would have otherwise had (and probably would have done better with, although they weren't open on Sundays at the time). As I recall there was barely anyone at the show. I wanted to see Nirvana because some of my friends whose taste I respected were fans. I remember dismissively thinking as they played, They sound like a crappy hardcore band … Everyone was pretty nice, although I also remember everyone looked very tired—I imagine they had played either NYC or DC the night before and goodness knows how long they had been out on the road.

TOM TRUSNOVIC,
Monkeyshines:
One of them—Krist or Chad, I'm certain—thanked me for covering “Stiff Little Fingers” in Monkeyshines's set. I thought that was a nice gesture, more friendly than would seem customary … That Elvis/Alice Cooper backdrop did not bode well … They had
stacks
, I mean, heavy-metal
STACKS
of amps, and were unwilling to turn down even when the maxed-out PA was insufficient for vocals and the volume began to thin out the crowd, who headed outside to drink in the parking lot … “Dive” and “About a Girl” aside, it was assertively audience unfriendly sludge-grunge … at some point someone in front straight-up requests “something fast,” and they respond with one of
Bleach
's slower numbers. Not in a mean-spirited way, just “Hey, this is what we are doing.”

DAVID YAMMER:
My main memory is standing out front by the door leaning against a wall, looking at a van parked across the street parallel to the club on McKinney. It seems that the members (or at least some of them) were sleeping in the van. It had been dark for a little bit—sound check was over—and we would be opening the doors soon. It was a slow night … Anyway, I was leaning against the wall and this hippie/Goth/punk chick who had lived on the West Coast for a while came up to me and started raving to me about Nirvana—I had never heard of them before—saying that she couldn't believe that more people weren't there yet. She went over and woke them up and started talking to them. They looked like normal, scruffy rock 'n' roll musicians … The Axiom was the kind of place we would go to hang out even if no one was playing. The owner, J. R. Delgado, would let us in to shoot pool or whatever, so even on a night when there was a relatively unknown band playing there would be people there to hang out—the whole thing was low-key and despite my vagueness I do remember it as being somewhat intimate and, of course,
loud
!… Most performing musicians—on that street level—drop the stage persona when not up on the boards, and are almost unassuming in nature and not too demanding of a club's staff. In fact, one may not even realize that they are the band until they get onstage.

JON WAHL,
Claw Hammer:
I remember when Kurt first entered Al's Bar before sound check. He was a grouch and wouldn't talk. Novoselic apologized on Kurt's behalf, claiming the traffic into L.A. was brutal. Probably very true … This Nirvana gig was up there in the gnarly gig realm. I wouldn't consider them as inexperienced, not at all. They had their shit together. It was an amazing show. Sweaty, heavy-handed rock 'n' roll done by junkie Seattleites. I was a fan going in there and a fan walking out. I remember the stage collapsing in chaos in the last chord of the last tune as Kurt lunged himself into the drum set to end the whole thing. Walking out of Al's, the ears rang and the beer buzzed. What else can you ask for? And then a handful of fans buying the not-officially-available, hot-off-the-press
Bleach
from Kurt and company from the back of their van.

Nirvana left odd impressions wherever they went.

DANA HATCH,
Cheater Slicks:
Broke-ass twentysomething punkers … We were standing in the parking lot smoking pot when Nirvana arrived. A couple of them joined the circle and one had some hash in a pouch around his neck. We thought from that, their name, and their VW van they were hippies … Kurt seemed really pissy but maybe just wasn't feeling well.

DAVID VON OHLERKING:
They were a weird mixture of hippie and punk, like Hüsker Dü—not nervous; happy dorks … Didn't know who they were at all … They looked broke like us.

TOM TRUSNOVIC:
They seemed a smidge ragged-looking, but not punk ragged, you know? Like Midwest flannel pothead outcast ragged. Ha! They were hiding out in the van most of the night, it seemed.

LLOYD WALSH,
Swaziland White Band:
Originally the gig we were offered was for a birthday party … we were her favorite band at the time, along with the Happy Dogs, so that was how the gig was created. When we showed up to play, Alfred, the owner, came up to me and said, “Sorry, guys, there was a fuck-up, this other band is touring from Seattle, do you mind if they play?” Not that he was really giving us a choice, I mean who's going to say no? Anyway, Nirvana sheepishly approached us to discuss the order of bands and we offered to open for them … they played second and the Happy Dogs ended the night. After the gig they crashed at one of the Happy Dogs' places.

JOHN FARRELL,
Swaziland White Band:
Our fangirl was Wendy … I remember sensing that Nirvana was a bit aloof at our humble gig and did not want to unpack a whole lot. When they came out of their van with hand-wrench outlines spray-painted over their curtains thereon, they looked like smallish hippie types just out of the spin cycle. I do remember they eventually got out some Marshall amps and began to rock the house down. I was impressed.