LIVE NIRVANA INTERVIEW ARCHIVE September 24, 1991 - Boston, MA, US

Dave Pierre
Krist Novoselic
Dave Grohl
Publisher Title Transcript
WZBC Radio ZBC Rock Yes

Dave Pierre: Wooo! Wake-up call! Hello! ZBC Rock, it’s new from Nirvana, from their brand new CD Nevermind, that's On A Plain. And we're joined by Dave… we've lost Krist! Dave, where is he?

Dave Grohl: Krist is probably getting coffee.

DP: Getting coffee! First question, you don't have an extra copy of the Molly's Lips single, do you?

DG: No, I don't. That single was a fluke, anyway.

[feedback whistling]

DP: Darn it! Why are we getting that?

DG: Oh, it’s the headphones!

DP: OK, yeah, put those on the floor… OK, I'm sorry - those are, like, the evil headphones!

DG: No, that Molly’s Lips thing was really weird, just becuz…

DP: It was awesome, I loved it, but you can’t find it anywhere!

DG: Never mind…

DP: Why? You didn't like it?

DG: No comment.

DP: Uh, oh.

DG: Oh, no, it was a cool single. It's just weird because it wasn’t really intended for release and then it came out…

DP: As a Singles Club thing, that's why it's so hard to get.

DG: Right…

DP: I hear people who have it are asking, like, three digits for it…

DG: Pffft… Whatever!

DP: Whatever!

DG: Anal collector bull…

DP: Bull bull…So, congratulations - excellent new record here, Nevermind! So, you guys were in town last night. I had a friend who called me up after he got home from the show and he was just raving, he thought you guys were the greatest thing!

DG: He said it was good?

DP: Huh?

DG: He said it was good?

DP: He thought it was, like, the greatest thing he’s ever seen!

DG: Wow! Well, that's flattering!

DP: Now, tell us about… what's this thing going on tonight? And how did this come about?

DG: Oh, well, on this tour we made a point not to play places that were 21+ just ‘cause we wanted to get…

DP: Right.

DG: …all-ages shows everywhere and we found out yesterday - the day of the show - that it was 21+, so we were sorta ripped off…

DP: Ripped.

DG: So, tonight at 8 o'clock we're playing at the Axis again…

DP: 8 o’clock, Axis… and this is all-ages?

DG: This is all-ages.

DP: Wow…

DG: Is that surprising?! I mean, aren't there ever any all-ages shows?

DP: There’s not that many all-ages shows… there are hardcore shows on the weekends that tend to be all-ages and then when Fugazi comes to town, of course, it’s all-ages [laughs]. But is it true that it's only this many dollars?

DG: It's that many dollars.

DP: $5!

DG: Oh, you can say that?

DP: Huh?

DG: Oh, I didn't know you're allowed to say prices.

DP: Well, we're not really supposed to.

DG: Five bucks! Five bucks!!

DP: [laughs] OK. Oh, we've totally broken the rules, but that's OK!

DG: Cool! Have you got a 7-second delay on this?

DP: No, we don't.

DG: [laughs]

DP: It's kinda illegal but, hey, it’s a cheap show…

DG: You know, I heard this station was the first station to introduce Crack Rock to Boston…

DP: Crack Rock?!?! Uh oh! [nervous laugh]

DG: Yeah… is that true? Is this true?

Voice in the background: Yes.

DP: Who’s saying “Yes”?

DG: This is true!

Voice in the background: True.

DG: This is true! This is true! That's what I heard… and Hardcore.

DP: Hardcore?

DG: Hardcore.

DP: Maybe that's true, I dunno. We've gotta find Krist… he’s off getting coffee.

DG: He’s probably wired, jumping around. I think, last time I saw him, he was by the money machine, bumming off of some girl with some Pratt sweater or something…

DP: Oh, OK. Tell… any good stories about this new album?

DG: No.

DP: No? [laughs]

DG: I dunno, what do you wanna know? There’s no good stories… Oh, no, here’s a great story…

Voice in the background: The cover…

DG: The cover’s boring.

DP: The dollar bill is just kinda pasted on there, right?

DG: Well, I dunno. That's just some kinda graphic wizardry, I suppose.

DP: Well, Polly… what's your story… here comes Krist…

DG: There really is no story… well, unless…

Voice in the background: He’s back!

DG: Alright, Krist! Tell us about the Jim Beam bottle! Tell ‘em about the Jim Beam bottle!

KN: La la la la la….

DP: Krist is a tall… Krist, how tall are you?!

Krist Novoselic: Tall enough for my feet to touch the ground. Wooooo!

DP: Krist… Krist, you're taller than the door!

DG: Tell ‘em about the Jim Beam bottle. The Jim Beam bottle…

KN: OK, man… it was super-cosmic…

DG: This was freaky…

KN: It had a magical, shiny rainbow oracle in it.

DG: Embedded in the glass…

KN: Embedded in the glass.

DG: It was an impurity.

KN: See, it was behind the label and you could only see it if you looked behind the bottle. I was like, “Whoa! What’s that?!” I thought it was something in the bottle, like maybe somebody had hocked a loogie in it or something. And then, upon closer inspection, it looked like a face or something, so we thought we’d had some kind of apparition. But it wasn’t that, so we decided to break the bottle open and there was this weird piece of metallic-type defect-type thing.

DP: Right.

KN: But all these freaky weird occurrences started happening to us…

DP: You started writing really awesome songs?

KN: Yeah, stuff like… um, we were all struck with a bout of impotence, while all our partners were incredibly aroused, so it was frustrating!

DP: Well, you know about the subliminal thing that alcohol people tend to do, maybe it was just one of those...

KN: Alcohol is a subliminal thing. Yeah, I don't know about that.

DP: Let's play another one off the new album and we'll come back and talk with you a little more. We've got 12 tracks here, pick a number or something.

KN: Number, uh… what did we hear already?

DP: We heard 11, On A Plain, already.

DG: Play 2!

DP: Number 2, In Bloom? That sounds cool. Why don't we do it? This is In Bloom, it’s new from Nirvana, their new album called Nevermind. We're talking with Dave and Krist and we'll be right back. ZBC Rock.


DG: Get that Gospel goin’!

DP: OK, this is gonna be our, like, little bed for our chat with Nirvana we're having. Their new album is out, it’s called Nevermind, that one there called In Bloom. [laughs] You guys are liking that Gospel, aren't you?

DG: I can’t hear it!

KN: [inaudible] Catholic school.

DG: Turn it up, Brother!

DP: It's up! It's at a good level where we can talk over it but people can still hear it. What’s his name again? Reverend Johnny Bloom?

DG & KN: Johnny L. Jones!

DP: Oh, Johnny L. Jones.

DG: Reverend W. Leo Daniels.

KN: Right on!

DG: Where has he gone? Hurricane Johnny L. Jones!

DP: So how do you like Boston so far, guys?

KN: Oh, it’s pretty nice.

DP: Is this is your first time to Boston College?

KN: No… oh, here? Yeah, Boston College.

DG: [laughs] No, see, I never went to this college, this friend of mine went to this college and ended up getting kicked out because his roommate snitched on him for smoking pot! He was kicked out!

DP: Oh, no!

DG: For smoking a flower! An innocent flower! For some reason, this school…

KN: This country! You can go to jail for smoking a flower!

DG: you're sweatin’ me!

DP: What’s that?

DG: you're sweatin’ me!

DP: I'm sweating you?! [laughs]

KN: Do you smoke pot, Dave?

DP: I can’t answer these questions! [laughs]

DG: What’s your favorite ethnic group?

KN: Are you Jewish?

DP: [laughs] Who’s asking the questions here?!

DG: Where’s the Gospel?

KN: There’s a lot of eternal questions that need to be answered, like, “Where has he gone?!”

DP: Oh, boy!

KN: So lay it on me, brother! Go ahead…

DP: Um, people have called up asking about Club Babyhead. You guys are playing there tomorrow night?

KN: No, it’s Club Baby Seal.

DG: What’s Club Babyhead?

DP: It's a club in Providence…

DG: Oh, I guess we're playing there…

DP: You are?

DG: I think that's tomorrow night.

DP: So what's the deal? Are you guys on the road for good? For the rest of your lives? Until you guys sell a million copies of this?

DG: ‘Til we sell… is it a billion copies?

KN: Yeah, a billion copies.

DP: Can you guys write on the road, or no?

DG: Write on the road?

KN: Well, postcards and… I usually try to call.

DG: No, it’s phone-numbers.

KN: Yeah, it’s all phone-numbers. We have a book of phone-numbers.

DG: Can you give us your phone-number?

DP: Yeah, you can have our phone-number.

DP: Um, did you know, you guys… In Sliver, you guys say “Grandma Take Me Home” 43 times, did you know that?

DG: Really?!

DP: Yeah, I counted.

DG: Is that a trivia question?

DP: No, but I counted them.

KN: I’ve talked to other people who have counted too.

DP: Really?

DG: I don't think it’s 43 times.

DP: I counted! Do you wanna count now?

KN: No!

DG: Is that Kennedy?

DP: Kennedy?

DG: Who said that this song is…?

DP: Oh, no. JFK, no…

KN: He’s alive! I know he’s alive!

DP: Same initials, same initials.

DG: Have you ever visited Belushi’s grave?

DP: I never have! Where is Belushi’s grave?

DG: Martha’s Vineyard, isn’t it?

DP: Oh, it is! That's right! That's right, I should’ve known that! I forgot that… Have you guys been down to Martha’s Vineyard yet?

DG: No… too busy doin’ radio interviews. So, we'll get a bottle of wine.

DP: No. Um… OK, how’s the coffee, Krist?

KN: It's pretty good! Pretty good stuff. Just filtered, drip… What happened to your coffee?

DP: Keep it away from the board, though!

KN & DG: Whoops!

DP: [laughs] No, don't do that!

KN: I’ve seen the light!


KN: Caffeine… So let's talk about something here. What’s your name again?

DP: I'm Dave. [laughs] It's very simple, your friend here, his name is Dave too.

KN: OK, Dave. What do you wanna know? Ask me somethin’.

DP: Um, so are you guys happy with this record and that's it’s kind like of a big deal?

DG: Is it a big deal?

DP: Yeah, it is kind of a big deal. It seems like it’s a pretty big deal.

DG: That's just talk…

DP: OK, I do have a question: Smells Like Teen Spirit, OK, where did that title come from? Because I’ve had people calling up and now I'm real curious myself.

KN: Well, Kathleen wrote it.

DG: This girl, Kathleen Hanna, a friend of ours… One night, we went out and we all got really drunk. We came back inside and we were leaving to go record down in California, so we decided to trash our apartment, and there was a lot of paint-slinging. I woke up the next morning and there were all these little slogans written across Kurt’s bedroom and one of them said “Kurt smells like teen spirit.” We thought “Oh, that's really clever”.

KN: Kathleen’s a clever girl.

DP: Good! So it’s like one of those titles that has absolutely nothing to do with the song! Good!

DG: Well, then we found out that it’s a deodorant.

KN: It could kinda fit with the song…

DP: It is? Teen Spirit is a deodorant?!

KN: It could fit with the song. You can put anything in perspective… you know what I mean?

DP: That's right.

DG: Stinky little girls.

KN: Girly smells.


KN: It's like L7, Smell The Magic.

DG: Exactly!

DP: OK. You know, we have tickets to give away for the show tonight. Like, 5 pair, I believe. 5 pair, Mark? Is Mark around? He said 5 pair. Yeah, OK, do you wanna do that? Shall we ask trivia and stuff?

DG: Yeah. How many times did…

DP: How many times do they say “Grandma Take Me Home” in Sliver?

KN: You already said, 43. What’s the zip code of Aberdeen, Washington?

DG: What’s 7+9?

DP: OK, how about if you can answer any of those!

DG: The zip code of Aberdeen, Washington.

KN: Yup.

DG: Zip code of Aberdeen, Washington!

DP: Is it on the back of the Bleach album? No?

DG: And whoever gets it, gets all the tickets!

KN: All the tickets!

DG: All the tickets! 5 pair, that's 10 tickets!

DP: No, we can’t do that!

KN: Why not?

DP: OK, here we go…

DG: Who’s calling the shots?!

DP: Hold on 1 second, here’s what we're gonna do… we're gonna go to the phones, OK?

DG: You are so not in control here, Dave!

DP: We're gonna go to the phones.

DG: You are so out of control!

KN: Raise your hand if you're sure.

[phone rings]

DP: OK. Hello, ZBC.

DG: Do we still have the Gospel goin’?

Listener: Hey, Dave.

DP: Hey, who's this?

Listener: This is JB.


Listener: Yeah. [inaudible]

DP: Hold on, what's that?

Listener: Tell the boys, I like the single [inaudible]

DG: Hey, JB, we can’t hear you! He’s denying us!

DP: OK… He likes…

Listener: [laughs] I'm gonna guess the area code…

DP: He’s guessing the area code…

Listener: As opposed to the…

DG: You don't even know, do you?

Listener: What?

DG: Shhh! Quiet!

Listener: The area code?

DP: Yeah, guess it!

Listener: Alright, I'm thinking it’s 806.

DP: 806.

KN: What is it?

DP: 806.

DG: The zip code! Christ! Do you go to this college?!

Listener: Area code! Yeah…

DG: What do they teach you here?!

DP: That's the one you use when you mail the letter!

DG: 806?

KN: First of all, the West Coast…

DG: Duuurrrrrrr!

KN: The East Coast is 0 and the West Coast is 9!

DP: Why don't we put you on hold, OK? [laughs] OK, ZBC…

DG: Think about it, JB!

Listener: Dave?

DP: Yeah?

Listener: It's Joanie!

DP: [laughs] Hey, Joanie! you're on the air with Nirvana!

KN: Hey, Joanie, are you… do you have no arms? [inaudible] type with your feet?

DG: Where’s Chachi?!

DP: You guys know Joanie?

DG: No…

DP: Oh, she’s the disc jockey at MBR, the station you guys were at this morning.

KN: Come back, Joanie!

Listener: So, I know it begins with 98 or 99.

DP: She knows it begins 98 or 99.

KN: 99... 98… it’s 98.

Listener: You have to know more than that?!

DP: Mark is giving the thumbs up, OK. He’s says that's good enough.

Listener: The area code is 206.

DP: The area code is 206, she says.

KN: 206, yeah. It's 98520.

DG: OK, and with each pair of tickets, we also give out Chris Cornell’s phone-number!

KN: 206-441-8441.

DG: 206-441-8441, ask for Chris!

DP: Joanie, hold on, OK. Hello, ZBC.

Listener: Hi, Dave.

DP: Hi. Who’s this?

Listener: This is Sue.

DP: Sue?

Listener: Yeah.

DP: Do I know you?

Listener: Yeah, but that's OK… I'm another one of those people…

DP: Oh, MBR?! [laughs]

DG: This is turning into, like, a personal [inaudible]

KN: Schmoozers…

Listener: And I know Dave and Krist, ‘cause [inaudible]

DP: Sue Safton?

Listener: Yeah.

DP: Aural Fixation, what is it - Friday nights on MBR? [laughs]

Listener: Not anymore, Wednesday now. [laughs]

DP: Wednesday night, OK.

KN: What’s [inaudible]

DP: The MBR plug day!

DG: Oh, my god!

DP: What station is this?!

Listener: It goes to prove we listen to your radio station!

DP Oh, that's good… I'm glad you're listening! Do you have a guess on the area code?

Listener: We already got the area code!

DP: Sue, hold on, OK. OK, ZBC, who's this?

Listener: Dave, it’s Jake.

DG: No tickets to industry movers!

DP: [cries] What’s with all these people I know!

DG: Stop it! No tickets to people Dave knows!

DP: Hello?

Listener: Yeah. I definitely, definitely don't know you.

DP: You don't know me? [laughs] What’s your name?

Listener: Um… Karen.

DP: Karen?

DG: Lie!

DP: Lie! Not!

DG: Give your correct name, because we have to get your name for the tickets.

Listener: I know, Karen Stacham.

DP: OK. OK, we've got 5 people on hold. That's it, isn’t it? I think so… Oh, I have 4 people on hold. Hello, who's this?

Listener: Hey, this is Chris from The Eels.

DP: Don’t plug your band! Hold on 1 sec… [laughs] Chris from The Eels, OK, he’s plugging his band…

KN: Did you see all the eels come out of the horse’s head in Tin Drum? Gross!

DP: OK.. OK.. Guys… I think we've had fun, haven't we?

DG: You know, there's… there's this vomit scene in Backdraft. I watched Backdraft last-night. Fell asleep…

KN: Where did you see it?

DG: In the fuckin’… in the hotel.

DP: Oh! [laughs] Thank you!

DG: [laughs] Sorry!

DP: We gotta go! 3 o’clock, WZBC Newton.

DG: Alright!

DP: Go see Nirvana tonight at Axis. 3 o’clock, WZBC Newton. Their new album, Nevermind. All-ages, tonight at Axis, 8pm. Thanks, guys.

© Dave Pierre/WZBC Radio, 1991