Quote: Krist on how Nirvana formed (2014)
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"I met these fellow teenagers, they were in this band called the Melvins. Buzz Osborne was the guru. And he turned me on to American hardcore music, which is like the second generation of punk in the United States. This really independent music - it wasn't on major labels. And there was this whole scene that was independent, it wasn't part of the corporate structure, it wasn't part of the state structure, it wasn't part of the mainstream entertainment complex. And it was vital; there was a lot of great music, and there was this community of young people. And we'd go to punk rock shows and there would be like, fanzines - this was before the internet. [...]
I got into the music scene and the culture of it, then I met this other kid in Aberdeen. His name was Kurt Cobain. And we shared this interest with this music and I was playing guitar and he played guitar, and, 'Well, let's start a band!' and we found a drummer. And then I started playing bass. Kurt was very artistic - he was always painting, sculpting, writing, music, always doing something. And so we started our band and that creativity came out and we had our own identity.
Dave Grohl was in 1990, we went through a few drummers. Kurt and I drove to Los Angeles from Tacoma, WA, which is like a 14 hour drive. We slept in our van in a parking lot on I-5 somewhere. We came here [L.A.] and we talked to some music industry people to get a major label deal. [...] And then we took our leisurely drive back north, 'Let's stop in San Fransisco and see Buzz and Dale from the Melvins.' And Buzz is like, 'Hey, Scream is playing!' 'Oh, we love Scream!' [...] They had this drummer who was really good and played this really big drumset, and I met him briefly and we talked to Buzz, like, 'Wow, what a cool drummer.'
And then Kurt and I drove up 101, we went up north. I think we found a cat. We stopped somewhere on the Oregon coast and this cat came up. We found this cat. Gave it a home. And then we get a call from Buzz, he says 'Hey, man, Scream went down to L.A. after San Francisco and their bass player split. And they're just broke at the singer's sister's house.' [...] And Dave was stuck in L.A. and he got enough money to get a plane ticket and his drumset and he came up and started playing with us, and we were hooked. It gelled right away."
-Krist on how Nirvana formed, Young Turks Interview 2014