Former Nirvana drummer Aaron Burckhard discussed Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck in a recent Reddit AMA. Alternative Nation edited his quotes for grammar.
“[It is] mostly bullshit. I kind of think Kurt made up the story about a lot of it.”
“[It has] a lot of BS, but it’s always cool to hear Kurt’s voice.”
On his favorite memory of his time in Nirvana: “Packing all our gear up and heading to Tacoma to play the Community World Theater.”
On what he misses most about Kurt: “Probably his laugh and his character the most, he was a prankster lol.”
On if he has any Nirvana demos: “I have no demos his estate has all that.”
On playing drums: “I started playing drums at age nine and took drums through junior high and high school. I have no recordings, I wish, just what’s out there on bootleg.”
Burckhard also revealed the 5 names Nirvana played under while he was in the band during their early days in the AMA.
1. Skid Row
2. Pen Cap Chew
3. Ted Ed Fred
4. Bliss
5. Nirvana
Below are other quotes from the AMA.
“One of my favorite memories is after I left the band, my new band opened for Nirvana, and Kurt [Cobain] showed up with his neck all painted red with lipstick, and he declared himself a red neck lol.”
“One of our first covers was ‘Tramps and Thieves’ by Sonny and Cher, a few Led Zeppelin songs, and of course ‘White Lace and Strange.'”
“I’ve been listening to a lot of heavy stuff lately, a lot of hard rock. I see Krist [Novoselic] every once in a while, he doesn’t live too far from me.”
“Love [all Nirvana songs] but ‘Drain You’ has always been one of my favorites. The lyrics are totally like a painting.”
“I met [Kurt] at a Melvins practice. I would also see him around north Aberdeen a lot at the time, I lived across the alley from Dale Crover, drummer for the Melvins.”
Burckhard was the first drummer recruited for Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic’s rock group that soon came to be known as Nirvana. Burckhard played drums for the band until December 1987.
