"I was sitting on a small couch and Tad was sitting in a chair across from me and we were talking. Just then Kurt walks in and jumps on Tad's lap and hangs on him with his arms around Tad's neck. Tad says, "Merry Christmas, little boy! What would you like for Christmas this year?"
Kurt then says, "I'm not so happy with you, Santa Tad..."
Tad: "Oh, really? And why is that?"
Kurt: "Because last year I asked you for a rubber fist shaped like this" [gestures with his hand in a tight fist] "but instead you gave me a rubber fist shaped like this!" [makes a gesture with his hand with all his fingers pressed together and straight forward] We all laughed."
-Tim Soylan, member of opening band who toured with Tad, recalling a 1990 tour story (2015, I Found My Friends by Nick Soulsby)
"Scream broke up in LA, and Buzz Osborne told Dave that he should join Nirvana. So Dave called us and the first question I could think to ask was who his favorite bands were (I thought I should ask!)"...Kurt's in the background going, 'Shut up! Why are you asking that shit? Tell him to get up here!' It all sort of snowballed from there."
-Krist, 2005, Sliver: The Best of The Box booklet
"I can't think of one show that I ever played with that band where we walked offstage and said, 'That was great.' Never one. Only two times did I get any reassurance from Kurt. Once when I joined the band, in 1990, we were drunk at some disco in England, and Kurt came up and said, 'I'm so glad you're in this band. I'm so glad you're down-to-earth.' I was like, 'Wow!' The next time was in late '93 or early '94 when I came home and turned on my message machine and had a message from Kurt that said, 'Y'know, I was just sitting here listening to 'In Utero', and your drumming is so awesome. You did such a great job!' I was like, 'Wow!' Those two things were spread out by about four years [laughs]."
-Dave, Rolling Stone 2005