In the early 1990′s Nirvana made a massive impact on popular music, and the band’s influence seems even more impressive when remembering that they only released three studio albums. Of course, like most artists, their official output is only part of the story of the band’s production. And fans like me are always on the lookout for more material that will help us to understand where the band was coming from or where their music might have gone if not for Kurt Cobain’s untimely death.

This week a trove of old Nirvana demo recordings was uploaded to YouTube by Tacoma rocker John Purkey who claims that the cassette tapes were given to him by Cobain himself. Uproxx offered this overview on the recordings…

On the four tapes, which feature over two hours of material, are recordings from Nirvana’s first ever studio session, at Reciprocal Studios in Seattle in 1988 with Melvins drummer Dale Crover. There are also Nevermind demos recorded with Chad Channing, who replaced Crover in the band for a brief period before himself being replaced by Dave Grohl. One of the tapes includes Montage Of Heck, which was later officially released a few years ago (although it didn’t sell super well). As that last point makes obvious, some of the material on these tapes has already been distributed on various bootlegs.

Kick out the jams here on my YouTube channel…

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Tonight I got to see Calvin Johnson play a live show just down the road from my house at Fond Object. Johnson is an indie music pioneer based out of Olympia, Washington. More specifically, Johnson and his K Records label — along with the scene around The Evergreen State College — created a breeding ground for some of the best music at the end of the 20th century. And here’s the thing: no Olympia, no Nirvana.

If you don’t know who Calvin Johnson is, watch this video…

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Over the weekend, while many of us were involved in some kind of springtime revelry whether motivated by Easter, the equinox, the lunar eclipse or just the general retreat of the winter weather, I enjoyed a fun Saturday night and a lazy Sunday: I played a set at the Melodia Studio open house on Saturday night before heading to Nashville’s downtown art crawl. On Sunday I caught a matinee screening of Things We Do in the Shadows at the Belcourt Theatre. The movie is a mockumentary about a group of vampires sharing a flat in New Zealand. The movie was incredibly funny and I’ll be publishing a proper review in the next issue of The Contributor. At some point on Sunday i was reminded that it was the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s suicide, but this article on Loudwire spotlights the odd coincidence that finds Cobain sharing the day of his death with another tragic figure from his same grunge rock circles…

Coincidentally, two grunge pioneers died on April 5 — Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in 1994, from a self-inflected gunshot wound to the head, and Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley in 2002, from a mix of heroin and cocaine.
Cobain died at the height of Nirvana’s popularity and his demise shook the world in the same way as the violent deaths of presidents and high-profile celebrities like Robin Williams. For many who were in their teens or twenties when Cobain’s body was found in the greenhouse behind his Seattle home, losing the singer of Nirvana was comparable to the death of a parent or other close family member. Millions identified with, and were inspired by the gifted, prolific artist, whose music resonated with equal parts rage, vulnerability and self-hatred.

Ironically, it was that very loathing that made Nirvana’s music so poignant and led to Cobain’s demise. For all the wealth, success and adoration he earned, Cobain was utterly miserable. He felt like he was pulling the wool over the public’s eyes and had become a fraud. We’ll never know whether Cobain killed himself because of his genetic predisposition to depression, his inability to kick heroin, his turbulent marriage to Hole singer Courtney Love, or his contempt at having been labeled the spokesman for a generation when he felt like he couldn’t even understand his own convoluted thoughts. Only one thing is certain. Cobain’s death was no accident, and police have very little reason to believe there was any foul play involved.

In addition, his suicide wasn’t unprecedented. He had been using heroin for years and had overdosed on more than one occasion. On March 1, 1994, Nirvana played a show in Munich, Germany, that turned out to be their final concert. Three days later, he OD’d on Rohypnol and champagne in Rome and spent the next five days in a hospital before flying back to Seattle. The incident is widely believed to have been a suicide attempt.

Like Cobain, Layne Thomas Staley was an integral part of the grunge movement, but became too dependent on heroin to be able to appreciate his importance in the scene. Though Alice in Chains started out as a hair metal band, they quickly tapped into the frustration and self-immolation of the Seattle movement in the ‘90s. The band’s dense, chugging, metallic riffs combined with soaring vocal harmonies reminiscent of Crosby, Stills & Nash defined a new style of grunge that arguably became an even more influential template for hard rock in the years ahead than that constructed by Nirvana.

As the singer for Alice in Chains, Staley was a natural — charismatic, commanding and with a voice that carried all of the power and agility of his heroes, coupled with a self-loathing caused by his insecurity and drug dependency. Staley wasn’t the only member of Alice in Chains who used drugs, but his addiction impaired the band’s ability to tour. Even after AIC released their excellent self-titled third album in 1995, they couldn’t hit the road to support the disc. Three years after it was released, the band performed a set for MTV Unplugged, which was released in July, 1996. Staley’s final performance with Alice in Chains was July 3, 1996, in Kansas City, Mo. — the last of four shows scheduled to support a KISS reunion.

Staley never officially left Alice in Chains. However, gripped by addiction, he became a recluse and, as the years passed, in the words of Neil Young, Staley would “fade away” in the eyes of the public. Guitarist and co-vocalist Jerry Cantrell launched a solo career, but Alice in Chains remained inactive until years after Staley died.

The coincidental connection of the death dates of these two artists is eerie, but likely just that – a coincidence. In the meantime lots of suspicion continues to surround Kurt Cobain’s supposed suicide. Here’s a video that offers lots of insights from Courtney Love’s lawyer regarding her suspicions about the singer’s death.

Stay Awake!

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There’s a fine line between the truth and a good story when it comes to celebrities. And when it comes to the death of a celebrity like Kurt Cobain, there is a fine line between the findings of the police investigation that ruled his demise a suicide and the conspiracy theories that insist the singer was the victim of a murder.

This week that line got even thinner as stories about police in Seattle re-opening their investigation into Cobain’s death began to appear and new, never-before-seen photographs of the scene where the singer’s body was discovered hit the internet. Here’s the story via COS…

Now, 20 years later, Seattle police have found new evidence, prompting them to re-open the case. Reportedly, four rolls of 35 mm film had been sitting for years in the department’s evidence vault. Last month, the film was processed by King County Sheriff’s Office photo lab “under high security”. Police told KIRO that the film more clearly shows Cobain’s death scene than earlier photos taken by investigators. Why the photographs are only being developed now is unclear.

KIRO has reportedly obtained one of these photographs, which it will show during its broadcast tonight. Additional details regarding the investigation are also expected to be shared during the telecast.

Police plan to release the photographs and will answer questions on the anniversary of Cobain’s death next month.

Technically speaking, the new photos constitute a re-examining of the case, but not an official re-opening. Here are two of the newly-discovered photos…

Kurt Cobain’s heroin kit

Cobain’s belongings at the scene of his death

It’s unlikely that questions about Cobain’s death will really ever abate, after all, folks are still claiming that Elvis is alive and well. For me, the circumstances of the singer’s death aren’t as interesting as the culture surrounding those who continue to question the findings of police and coroners. Conspiracy theories aren’t necessarily as interesting in and of themselves as they are as part of a storytelling, myth-making culture that insists that things simply aren’t as they may so plainly seem.

When it comes to Cobain’s death, the queen mother conspiracy theory is supplied by Nick Broomfield’s documentary Kurt and Courtney. Watch it for yourself and see what all the fuss is about.

Stay Awake!

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