Everybody Loves Our Town_ An Oral History of Grunge - Mark Yarm [59]
While I was playing with Bundle of Hiss, I joined another band called Feast, which was quite a popular band in town in that era. Feast’s singer, Tom Mick, was a wild man, divin’ on tables and swingin’ from the curtains and whatnot. There was two females in the band, a female bass player and a female singer, and they tried to get me to wear poofy shirts and stuff. I was like, “No.” The closest I came to accessorizing was when they bought me some concho belt. I think I put it on.
KURT DANIELSON At some point, H-Hour broke up, mainly because Tad wanted to play guitar and not drums anymore, and so he joined Bundle of Hiss, though he also played drums in Bundle of Hiss. So we had two drummers or two guitarists, depending on the song. Bundle of Hiss had been more of an art band, but at this point we started to put more humor into the music and lyrics, partly because of the influence of Tad.
DAN PETERS By the time Bundle of Hiss recorded, we went into the studio with Jack Endino. I knew Jack because Bundle of Hiss and Skin Yard played together all the time. When Jack started working at Reciprocal, anybody who could pony up $100 could probably go in and record with him.
JACK ENDINO I was making about five bucks an hour working at this little studio. Bands tend to trust people that they know from other bands, as opposed to producers they’ve never met, and so as a peer I had an advantage.
In January 1988, Kurt Cobain called me up at the studio and said, “I don’t have a band name, but I’ve got the Melvins’ drummer helping me out. We just want to come up and record some songs.” I’d already been a Melvins fan for years, and thought, This is a no-brainer. Let’s do it.
Between noon and 5 p.m., we recorded and mixed 10 songs. I thought Kurt had a really good scream and a really good melodic approach. And I thought it was good enough that I insisted they let me keep a cassette of it, and said, “Hey, can I play this for some people?”
DALE CROVER When I first played with them, they weren’t even called Nirvana. They were in between names; they couldn’t decide. One show we did as Pen Cap Chew. Next week, we’d be Skid Row. I named the band Ted Ed Fred for a show. I recorded their first demo with them with Jack Endino at Reciprocal studios. They wanted to have their stuff on tape so they could shop it around and find a drummer. They got a record deal instead.
JONATHAN PONEMAN I got the tape from Jack and I listened to half of the first song, “If You Must,” which later ended up being part of the box set, and I went, “Oh, my God.” I went to Muzak, where Bruce was working, and I lent him the tape.
RON RUDZITIS I was working at Muzak at the time, and I remember Bruce playing the demo for the people who worked there. We all stood around the little blaster in the cart room. It was a little too metal-ish for my taste. I really liked Kurt’s vocals, but nothing really grabbed me. There was kind of a collective “Hmmm …” in the room.
JACK ENDINO Frankly, to those guys, I think it was a little too metal. It wasn’t indie rock enough sounding, because Nirvana basically started as a heavy-riff rock band.
DAWN ANDERSON I was there when Jack first called Jonathan and asked, “What did you think of the tape I gave you?” Jonathan was saying that he loved it, but that Bruce thought it was a little too arty. And Jack thought that was just incredible. I remember he got mad. He said, “He’s into mediocrity!”
JONATHAN PONEMAN But Bruce did me a solid and joined me in seeing Nirvana play at the Central Tavern. I remember they were pretty good, but the room was practically empty. Tracy Marander, Kurt’s girlfriend at the time, was there. There was a bartender, a sound guy, and maybe like one other person. I remember when they played “Love Buzz,” which was not on the tape, Bruce looks at me and says, “That’s the single.”
DALE CROVER I was friends with the Nirvana guys, but I’d