I Found My Friends (28 page)

The rest of October vanished as the band romped around the Northeast then plowed a path home, gig-by-gig, across the United States.

GARY FLOYD,
Sister Double Happiness:
Nevermind
hit heavy rotation in the middle of our time with them … I remember their road manager telling everyone backstage one night the CD had hit one million sales that day. They seemed almost embarrassed … All the rest of us were so happy for them and they were low-key and, as I said, really humble-acting … Kurt was a super-respectful and sweet, beautiful man. Punk-rock gentle kind person. After a big show one night I was headed into their room planning to say, “Congratulations on all this … you deserve it, so happy for you…” When I walked in, he said, “Hey, good show.” I said thanks. Before I could go on he said, “I'm so sick of people telling me congratulations and how they are happy for me—it's all so funny and weird that this is happening.” I swallowed and said, “I bet, can I get a beer?” … I remember being in the middle of nowhere one night in the van—dark and nothing around—some crackling radio station was on and they had a recorded intro saying in a big rock voice
“the sound of the '90s”
and “Teen Spirit” came on … We all just looked at each other and said, “Damn!” … The tour had been booked before it all happened so most of the clubs were too small for what was happening! It was chaotic every night … It was so much fun to see and hear them just rip down the walls every time they played. You could taste the energy!

LYNN TRUELL,
Sister Double Happiness:
We were asked to do some West Coast shows with them … I heard later that Krist was a fan and got us on the bill. Krist came to our backstage in Houston and introduced himself and hung out awhile and we talked about music … I introduced myself to Kurt in Phoenix during sound-check time. I walked up to a table where he was standing and eating his Taco Bell meal. We shook hands and had only a few words—he was eating, after all … I remember listening to KUSF in San Francisco and DJ Terror Bull Ted played “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on his show and he introduced it saying something like, “Nirvana may be on a major label now”—a real catchphrase coming out at that time—“but they still got their sound and it is rad!” Something like that. The seven shows we played with them were totally insane and one couldn't help feeling that something
big
was breaking out.

ERIC MOORE:
Krist and Dave were really funny, outgoing, and well … like most of us, drunk. Kurt was very reclusive and surrounded by a coterie of people who had dyed hair and looked smacked-out … We opened for them the day (I think)
Nevermind
went gold in the US. And hanging out backstage with Mudhoney, watching Nirvana at their fucking peak … fucking amazing. I tell people all the time. That night, Nirvana was the best rock 'n' roll band in the world. The
best
rock set (and drummer) I've ever seen to this day … I wasn't nervous at all, but with all of the lights and cigarette smoke I couldn't really see the crowd. Oh yeah, and I made a point of stealing beer from Nirvana's dressing room. Because no one was downstairs in the dressing rooms, they were all up top watching Nirvana!

STEVE BIRCH,
Sprinkler:
That night is a bit blurry for me, as I was sick as a dog, running a 101-degree temperature and sweating like a pig … they did seem kind of dazed by the rocket ride of adulation that was hitting them. What I remember most is standing in their dressing room right after meeting them and having their manager come in and excitedly tell them that their record had just gone gold. Kurt just looked at him and said something like, “What does that mean?” … When Nirvana hit the stage, there was definitely a shift in the air or something, and it got
special
. That was probably the best show I ever saw them play, and they seemed happy and on the top of their game, and while Kurt was, in hindsight, using, there were no symptoms of that in this performance.

GARY FLOYD:
Dallas, we played our set—people were happy—this was one of those clubs that it should have been bigger, packed!… All at once the crowd noise level went up double and we tried to see what was happening. All hell broke out. Later I'm hearing about the [Hells] Angels chasing the band … Kurt hit a big bad bouncer with tattoos on his face in the head with his guitar—oh, well!

LYNN TRUELL:
All I can truly remember is that the band had to “escape” out the side door and into a cab to flee the club.

ANNE EICKELBERG:
The audience was very young and acted like they were seeing and hearing God. The kids had overrun the area from well before sound-check time. We were shocked to see big lines and masses of kids as we pulled up to the club in the late afternoon. After Nirvana's set, when people were leaving, a young man grabbed my arms and looked at me with the wild eyes of the newly converted and kept repeating, “Did you hear that? Did you hear that?” … I know a monitor board was smashed and there was a fight and Kurt had to be snuck out of the club after their set because people wanted to beat him up … Nirvana had an agent or road manager who carried a briefcase full of cash to pay for stuff they broke. But mostly I remember that we had to wait for what seemed like two hours to get paid at the end of the night because of all the drama … Kurt was under the protection of his handlers from the label (I assumed that's who, anyway). He was never by himself, and not really with his band—he was with a guy who looked like a suit. He looked remote, unapproachable, and unhappy.

MARK DAVIES:
Kurt was crowd-surfing … the security guy jumped in and ended up getting smashed over the head with the guitar. Chaos set in and I recall Novoselic jumping up onto a really high monitor tower and crouching there so as not to hit the ceiling. Then at some point all the band was off the side of the stage and disappeared for a while. At some point there was also a confrontation outside of the club … there was definitely someone bleeding from a guitar over the head, and the show was paused for many minutes. Definitely an apocalyptic sort of feel that night … Kurt did seem like a bit of a wild card, like he might unhinge at any point.

LYNN TRUELL:
In Tijuana, Dave was not feeling well and wanted to nap in their van, so he asked me to do sound check for Nirvana that day. Pretty cool for me. I think we played “Love Buzz,” and another one or two songs … One of the nuttiest things I have
ever
seen was in the Tijuana club: it was three levels, and people were jumping into the pit from the second—even third—level. It was horrible, scary, and amazing, surely people were hurt! But the energy of the band and crowd was uncontrollable.

GARY FLOYD:
Mexico, that was a completely one-hundred-percent-nuts, out-of-control thing to witness—packed with kids who walked over from San Diego, drunk as hell, no real number on how many or crowd control? Lynn Perko [Truell] and I were standing behind the curtain right behind their drummer in this walkway … Outside were hundreds of kids beating in a huge folding door. We looked out at the crowd with tons of people jumping off the third-floor balcony and the band super-loud and right behind us, the beating on the folding metal door—We were just hugging each other and laughing. I was yelling, “We're here! We are here in this time seeing this!” It was one of the big spiritual moments in my very spiritual life!

ERIC ERLANDSON:
There was this “golden calf” air about them at the time. But they seemed to be having such fun, and enjoying the attention while still trying to fuck with the system the best they could. It was also the beginning of Courtney and Kurt's relationship. So that new love, push and pull of romance, was also happening concurrently. I remember running out onstage during Nirvana's encore at the Palace show and jumping on Kurt and pulling him down. Dave and Krist both jumped on top of us and it became a sweaty dog pile. Just fun fucking around!

Given the strong bond between L7 and Nirvana, plus the latter's genuine interest, it made sense that they paused to be the only all-male group at a Rock for Choice Benefit on the way home.

LYNN TRUELL:
It was absolutely intentional that women were represented at this show. L7 had a lot to do with Rock for Choice—they were its major organizers. We all felt strongly about a woman's right to choose, at that time and now. It was pretty obvious what was being highlighted—a woman's rights to choose and to rock! And we did and still do.

JILL EMERY,
Hole:
Sad to say I have to even think it's an issue this far in the future, if the Republicans had their way, they would close down every clinic. It shocks me there are Republican women in office who are fine with them being involved in women's reproductive rights … honestly at that time it felt like a swooping-in whirlwind: all you could do is play, hold on, and watch your back … Kurt seemed OK but basically Courtney sprayed the scene. As the drug thing escalated no one was emotionally available. Dave and Krist were super-nice dudes, I would say Krist was a sweetheart and completely down to earth; I remember Dave just enthusiastically daydreaming about his own band, guess it wasn't too much of a daydream … It got to the point where both bands were forced (mentally) into onstage antics, Courtney being stripperish and Nirvana feeling like they had to break their instruments, it even happened with Mazzy Star just seeing how little light they could use onstage, it just happens.

Although they played the Paramount Theater in Seattle on Thursday October 31, Nirvana were onstage in Bristol, UK, the following Monday. At least they weren't alone in feeling rushed.

PAUL THOMSON:
At midday nothing was happening, I was sat at home in south London; five hours later we were sound-checking in Bristol using Nirvana's backline! I think the call came from Lawrence Bell, who said that Captain America's van had broken down and did we fancy opening for Nirvana? Duh …
yes
! That was it, all in the van and on the road within an hour. Played a great gig to an amazing crowd and then got to see one of our favorite bands rip the place up from the side of the stage. Result! But it was just luck that we were Captain America's label mates that we got the call … by the time they were due to play here (our gig with them was the very first of the
Nevermind
tour) it was clear that this was an
extremely
popular record, but I don't think anyone thought it would be
so
massive. I remember first hearing it at our press agents' and people being genuinely blown away. The audience at the Bristol show confirmed what we thought. It was a packed and very excited crowd! There was a lot of Novoselic jumping about and Dave doing his head-down drumming. The whole thing looked and sounded great … I don't imagine they would think twice about what they were doing onstage, just not that kind of band. They just did what came naturally. I don't think they even smashed up their gear that night!

The UK tour, like the US shows over the previous two months, had been booked without any expectation that Nirvana was anything worth worrying about.

PAUL THOMSON:
The Bierkeller wasn't particularly pleasant: in a dodgy part of town, dark, smelly, maybe five hundred capacity? But for us, that was a step up! Venues in the UK for bands like us were generally small, hot, dark, and smelly. If you got a dressing room, that was a major bonus. But it suited the music and the audiences at the time. The place was rammed full by the time we started and everyone was buzzing that they were going to see Nirvana. I think there were people all 'round the stage with little or no security. I don't know what other venues they played, but the Bierkeller was exactly that, a midlevel indie venue. In London they played Kilburn National, which was maybe one thousand people?

GORDON KEEN,
Captain America:
Witnessing, firsthand, venues being packed night after night, the amount of people locked out and trying desperately to get in to see Nirvana, the palpable feeling of expectation and excitement from the audience inside the venues—more so than any other gigs I'd witnessed as a musician or as a fan—all led me, and the other guys in Captain America, to realize that this was special.

ANDY BOLLEN,
Captain America:
They played decent-sized venues in London at the Astoria and Kilburn National, but in Edinburgh, for example, they were playing in a really small club. I also remember the Glasgow QM show; we must've sneaked in hundreds of people it was so jam-packed. One show at Nottingham Rock City there were literally people weeping in the streets outside the venue, hundreds of people who couldn't get in. You could've played two nights at venues twice the size and still not met the demand.

NAOKO YAMANO:
When we toured with them in 1991, the capacities of their venues were between 1,500 to 2,500, but all shows were sold out and the audience was very enthusiastic for the band. They were just breaking. The members of Nirvana, especially Kurt, was very busy for promotion booked by record label … We hired a van with a Scottish band, Captain America … We basically toured in our own van but a few times, we had a ride in Nirvana's tour bus from hotels to venues. They were very kind to us.

DAN TREACY,
Television Personalities:
The gig at the Astoria was a very last-minute thing for us. We got a phone call out of the blue from Kurt's manager. Apparently Kurt had asked for us. We were supposed to be on first, but ended up going on before Nirvana. I got the impression the other support bands were a bit pissed off about that. Nirvana were lovely guys … They played very loud! We played quite well … Kurt watched us from the side of the stage. We got some of their fans on our side … Had a brief chat with Kurt at some point … I couldn't understand him very well, but it turned out we had a mutual love of the Terry Jacks's song “Seasons in the Sun” … Kurt asked, and I think he was testing me, what the B-side was: “Put the Bone In.” We connected … I had no inkling at all he had issues, but Kurt in particular seemed a little uncomfortable with the sudden success. But I couldn't say what that was down to. He was very introvert[ed], shy … he and the rest of the band were a little unsure but also enjoying it.