by Nick Soulsby
And with this last whimper, Nirvana’s first tour was over.
7.0
Still Broke: Second Tour
September to October 1989
Like most bands, Nirvana was naïve regarding the realities of indie-label life and the mechanics of getting a record to market. They had poured their all into the Bleach sessions only to wait another half year for it to actually emerge; they endured the discomfort of their first tour while feeling almost no one could find their album; they had music on the market but no royalties in their pockets.
COLIN BURNS, Slaughter Shack: It was easy to feel very Rodney Dangerfield-ish about things. There wasn’t “alternative rock” yet. The local press and college radio seemed enamored of college rock. Men with cargo shorts and jangly guitars were critics’ darlings. And for a while the hardcore audience didn’t know how to react either.
SLIM MOON: The process of putting out “Love Buzz” and trying to get Sub Pop to put out an album was very frustrating for them, and they talked a lot about feeling that Sub Pop thought they were hicks from the sticks and didn’t really believe in them.
CHRIS QUINN: Jonathan Poneman even said at one point, “We like them as people so we signed them, we thought it’d be cool,” but it felt like Sub Pop was banking more on Mudhoney and Tad and some other stuff. That isn’t to say they weren’t behind Nirvana, but from my level of enthusiasm it seemed like everything was “less.”
Although there was undoubtedly a kernel of truth in certain gripes, there was never anything bad enough to justify Cobain’s claims that the band was treated like a bunch of rednecks, or neglected, or underpromoted.
SCOTT VANDERPOOL: I could see where Kurt and Krist may have felt that way early on … it was sort of cliquish … but I always moved pretty freely among different groups, kind of like when I was in high school and had plenty of stoner, jock, and nerd friends.
JAIME ROBERT JOHNSON: I’m not gonna smack-talk Sub Pop, because they did some great things … I always had the idea that Bruce and Jon chose a particular group of artists to focus on and worked their way outward from that core group of artists … Sub Pop seemed to me always to be controlled by a really small group of people who were intent upon keeping it that way regardless of what they were doing.
STEVE MORIARTY: I didn’t always like grunge. Mudhoney, they could play pretty well, the guy could scream pretty good, but they still had that element of rock stars and Sub Pop was about making them into rock stars in order to make money. And that was true with Soundgarden, true with Alice in Chains, true with Nirvana. It was about the mystique of the rock star—the antithesis of punk. So when we were there in 1989 we were thinking, We don’t care about all this publicity, and how good these bands are and how long their hair is and all this stuff. We were there to communicate the fact that we’re all the same and we’re going to play on the floor instead of the stage and so we brought a different ethos and we had a female singer, which was also not done.
While prone to excessive honesty regarding his darkest thoughts and suspicions, it’s unlikely that Cobain, in his more considered moments, didn’t recognize how lucky Nirvana had been to have the support of Sub Pop.
JOHN PURKEY: Kurt just wanted to be part of Sub Pop; he really wanted to be part of Sub Pop and really liked the scene around Sub Pop at the time.
A typical contradiction: he wanted to be in the club as long as he could complain about it.
Sub Pop was supporting Nirvana as best they could.
SHAMBIE SINGER: I recall being in Seattle in May 1989, and riding with Jonathan Poneman out to a guitar store he wanted to show us … We were talking about Mudhoney. I was telling them how much I liked their stuff and how psyched I was that they were doing well, in terms of selling records, getting decent shows and lots of college radio airplay. And Jonathan said, “Oh, you think Mudhoney’s doing well, we’ve got another band that’s gonna be even bigger.” And I asked who and he said, “Nirvana.” And my disbelieving response was, “Even bigger than Mudhoney?” Which seemed impossible in May of 1989. But Jonathan was sure of it. I asked him why he thought so and he said because of Kurt’s voice.
In fact, Nirvana’s status as the first band with a formal Sub Pop contract, getting the first release on the Singles Club and the chance to release an album made Nirvana look a touch pampered compared to the way other bands on Sub Pop were scraping by.
GEOFF ROBINSON: I felt bands were out there to be beaten. It was raw competition. We felt we were the heaviest and could be the fastest, or the slowest. Whatever the case, loud was the prime directive. We certainly did not live out of other bands’ pockets. For the most part, with a few exceptions, we felt that they secretly hated us because we were “from the wrong side of the tracks.” Many of the other bands’ members’ parents had money, so these guys got up there with some pretty nice equipment … We were working stiffs. I was working for Boeing at the time. T-man [Tracy Simmons] was a fiberglass boat builder and Doug [Day] was a landscaper. Michael [Anderson] was a chef … we were pretty self-absorbed with our own material and that Nirvana seemed to be the darling child of Sub Pop. That gets back to the competitive thing.
JAMES BURDYSHAW: I didn’t make a living off my music then and have never been able to do that. I worked in a deli in 1988 making $4.25 an hour for thirty hours a week. I moved back in with my mother to save money so I could go on tour. In between tours in 1989, I worked temporary labor jobs, including at a fish-packing plant for $5 an hour. It was not easy. It wasn’t until the final Cat Butt tour that Danny gave us a per diem of $5 a day. I always took savings with me.
CHRIS PUGH: When we were on Sub Pop, they were just barely squeaking by, not making a lot of money. When we first started they were well regarded and had some success but didn’t have any money though their bands were doing well—especially in the UK. Swallow was never one of Sub Pop’s favorite bands—not critically acclaimed or crowd favorites. So we did receive some support—they helped us with touring a bit—but we weren’t on top of their list of bands they were interested in spending money on … If you’re in a band where you’re creating a buzz, then it’s self-perpetuating and it’ll start taking on a life of its own, but that was never happening for us … The thing about us and Sub Pop was that we were given plenty of opportunity but we weren’t able to capitalize on it—if we’d delivered a record like Bleach then that would have been great, but we weren’t able to do that.
Also, Nirvana never had to endure the grind of booking their own tours; their good fortune in finding Sub Pop set them a couple rungs up the ladder.
LISA KOENIG: We got pretty well known as the three-piece all-girl band in the area. Then we recorded an album in Seattle and set out on a US tour that I pretty much booked myself. Now, remember, we had no cell phones back then, so we would have to physically use our index fingers to dial a number. And no … I’m not talking about a push-button number, I’m talking about a rotary-dial number. Just thinking about that makes me realize how much work went into everything back then … These were times where we had to send out tapes or singles to the clubs through the US mail and hope they actually made the effort to (1) open it, and (2) listen to it. Then you’d have to call back and basically beg them for a show for, if you’re lucky, gas money and free beer. So, you’ve got to have appreciation for the good ol’ days. It took work.
Cobain wondered once more about a second guitarist—Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. were considered—but it was still a trio that set out for their second tour. At least there’d been time for the album to spread.
BILLY ALLETZHAUSER, Grinch: I remember borrowing Bleach and having a mix tape that had the first single. We all loved it. I wore out Bleach and was happy to be asked to open for them.
BRUCE PURKEY: Even after Bleach, it seemed that they might be a moderately big indie band. Still, that wasn’t saying much. Other bands like Hüsker Dü had received a bit of major-label push and still were barely known by the average person.
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br /> Nirvana was also developing sufficient chops such that the band could impress in scenes less open to punk-derived music.
JAIME ROBERT JOHNSON: In Ann Arbor because of the Stooges/MC5 thing it was much harder to put a punk show together because so many of the people at the top of the musical food chain had already been rock stars and pretty much acted like royalty—except it was in that pathetic tiny small-town way—and honestly did not seem to give a fuck about what the punk, alternative, or hardcore punk kids wanted or needed for a long time. You had to be in with them to even get near a club gig of any kind, which for a seventeen- to eighteen-year-old homeless punk skater kid was impossible.
MIKE HARD: Ann Arbor at the time was a Republican’s wet dream, despite being known as the hippie-dippy mecca of the Midwest, but at one time Ann Arbor really did rock … The Blind Pig is one of those legendary two-hundred-seat showcases to see a band at. In Ann Arbor, Nirvana was all the buzz. This West Coast new sound. Tad had already been through. I think Mudhoney, too. So the crowd was well prepared for the next new thing from Sub Pop. But I guess Nirvana was not prepared for the home of the Stooges and may have decided to take the night off in this sleepy little college town … Their set started off kind of laid back and the crowd resented it, like a lot of Detroit-area rock fans are known to do … the audience started trying to encourage them to rock that great Seattle sound everyone was talking about. My friend said he started throwing plastic beer cups at them, then people were flicking cigarettes at them and yelling “You suck!” as well as some other traditional rock phrases of encouragement. A few songs into the set Nirvana finally realized this audience wasn’t a bunch of Republican rich kids living in the dorms, or some leftover hippies from the hash bash. Nirvana was playing in the living room of the family who gave birth to punk rock … When Nirvana realized they were in for a fight, they fought back, watched and waited, grabbed each other’s backs and proceeded to kick some punk-rock ass. They left their bodies and equipment onstage, wrecked.
Sub Pop’s efforts had spread a sometimes-lurid portrait of the band; Nirvana said later it was exaggerated, but hearing that the wild men had come to town can’t have hurt attendances.
TOM DARK: I was told if they had a good show, they all threw their instruments in the air and trashed the stage, much like the Who. We did it, but not every time, it’s just how we felt at the end of the show … When Nirvana went on, my mouth dropped. The sound/songs were so mind blowing. This was the first time ever seeing them play live, we knew there was something special about them. Krist had this painting of Elvis Presley with Alice Cooper makeup under his eyes right in front of his amp. I thought that was so cool!
BILLY ALLETZHAUSER: They roared through the set the best they could. There was good energy. I remember Kurt having trouble with a pedal or something and was a bit frustrated. There was blood all over his guitar from his hands bleeding … Nothing was smashed except maybe that pedal that was crapping out. I remember Kurt not wanting to do an encore because of the gear and the other guys talking him into it.
FORREST, 24-7 Spyz: I remember somebody from Nirvana’s crew fighting with our guitar tech, Warren Tremeni, over stage space. We were in the back during their sound check and boom! The fight started! I never heard of them before that night so I didn’t know their songs or set list but some of the kids did. I just remember the rawness and power of them and they were loud as hell … Spyz approached a live performance with great vigor! It was very active, innovative, energetic, and wild; we also are very good musicians and everyone knew that … Nirvana was the same with their raw approach and honesty [but] they had no performance. It was like four dudes pouring out their souls but it was dense and hard as hell. We were a very playful bunch; they seemed more laid back and local … The Outhouse in Lawrence, Kansas, was in the middle of a cornfield and it seemed like you couldn’t see a house in miles [but] they had a huge college fan base there. That place was like drugs, drugs, drugs, with no police presence. It was really sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll. Hell yeah, that’s all everybody was doing at the Outhouse. We were in the middle of nowhere! Now, me, I never took drugs in my life, but Nirvana was fucked up! It seemed like those students had every drug on and off the market. But not too much weed; it was, like, the hard stuff—heavy shit. College students back then were very brave. The music scene overall was heavy into drugs like they say [sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll] is true, man…!
Wild men, perhaps. Bedraggled ones? For sure.
MIKE MORASKY: A couple of them had come down with something, maybe bronchitis? They all seemed tired and getting a small audience excited on an off night is tough even under the best of circumstances.
MIKE HARD: Nirvana were very tired. They had to have been. Everyone in a band traveling across the US knows this. Sleeping on other people’s floors or [at] a very occasional hotel. No one made money. We all played for free beer and some gas money … On the road, money is a huge distraction. If you made money, you did not have to live on free beer, table scraps, and handouts. Money was evil: you could buy friends who had drugs and other cheap distractions from the band and the road. When you got money, you start meeting boys and girls who are hungry and you become their meal ticket. Without money, you can drink all the free beer in the world and you’re just going to puke up the free pizza or pass out. This was the Nirvana I first met. Playing shows for free beer and food. If you got a free place to stay after the show, it was considered a good gig.
CRAIG CRAWFORD: Frankly, they seemed exhausted. They had been playing nonstop every night, touring in a little van with all their gear. West of the Mississippi River, travel times between cities are enormous, so getting from one gig to another can take a lot out of you. I remember them being friendly and pretty nice guys. They were frustrated by the turnout, but they played well and solidly. That being said, I don’t think they were overjoyed about playing a biker bar in a rundown city in Nebraska … Back then you played for a percentage of the door receipts and you were lucky if you got even that. They were tired, broke and traveling in a van that probably needed much maintenance. It was really hard touring back then and it showed on them. Most bars didn’t want bands like them. They wanted a band that played hit songs and looked good, which is why most bands on their initial tours played crap venues. The Lifticket was definitely not crap; it was a great dive bar who hosted tons of great bands over the years. It was always one of Henry Rollins’s favorite stops when he went through town. That being said, it was also famous for large bikers refusing to pay cover charge because there was free pool inside.
BILLY ALLETZHAUSER: I admired his [Kurt’s] denim blazer that had a patch of the Thing on the back that said “It’s Clobberin’ Time,” and I refused to believe you could find something that cool in a thrift store.
It certainly wasn’t as rough as the previous tour; there was more room in the van, more cash with one member gone, and more shows with relatively established bands.
MIKE MORASKY: The Flaming Lips had already been touring for years and had a relatively large college following, so the shows with them were generally well attended. On the off nights, when it was just Nirvana and Steel Pole, the crowds were pretty small … this was, however, pretty typical for bands like ours visiting small towns for the first time.
Pavitt and Poneman’s shrewd common sense was also on display. For a Denver show, Sub Pop’s Denver band the Fluid were the headliners, giving Nirvana a good crowd.
MATT BISCHOFF, The Fluid: We had an excellent fan base in Denver and Nirvana was really coming on. Denver folks always dug the Seattle bands when they came through. I remember Kurt’s distortion pedal was not working correctly at sound check; don’t remember why, though. He came up with something by showtime, however, and they killed it.
MIKE MORASKY: All three bands were represented by the same booking agency … Bulging Eye started picking up Sub Pop bands, including Nirvana, which is how they ended up joining us on that tour for some of those dates … After one of the sho
ws we were staying at the promoter’s apartment together and we were totally broke, as was often the case, but the Nirvana guys had a little bit of money (maybe a small “per diem” from Sub Pop?) and bought us a frozen pizza. Man, that was one great pizza!
Both the band’s good vibes and Cobain’s occasional moods were on display.
TOM DARK: Krist and Chad talked to us a lot through the whole evening. Kurt was very shy and quiet; he hung out with our guitarist, who was my brother [Scott F. Eakin, RIP], who was very much like him. They both took off and hung out in our van, talking and playing guitar. Before we went on, Nirvana went out to do a radio interview and came back just in time as we hit the stage. They ran up to the front, raising their fists, screaming our band name, really giving us support, along with Peter Davis from Your Flesh magazine/Creature Booking.
BILLY ALLETZHAUSER: While they were all nice, amiable guys, Kurt seemed further away somehow. It’s almost like, when I picture talking with the other guys I can imagine their faces with a vivid crispness or clarity, where Kurt’s seems more obscured in my memory. I just couldn’t focus on him in the same way; he seemed kind of hidden. Maybe it was all the hair in his face, but I don’t think so. He just didn’t seem to be occupying the same space as the rest of us somehow, and I don’t think that’s me glorifying the memory.