Nirvana Bassist Reveals Why Rock Is Not Dead

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Photo taken by Brett Buchanan

Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic discussed returning to touring and recording with Giants in the Trees in a new KEXP interview. He claimed that touring again has shown him that rock is not dead.

“It seems like it’s basically the same, I think. At least on the level we’re playing, if you’ve got a good crowd and you’ve got good music, it’s an event. When a band starts playing and people congregate, it’s to celebrate the phenomenon of music. And I’m grateful people know the songs now. When we started to play out, people really didn’t know the music. So we were asking a lot of the audience — like, here’s this new band, check us out! But now a lot of people know the material so they recognize some songs they like.

Playing clubs — when I first started playing clubs in the late ’80s, it’s pretty much the same. You get there for soundcheck and you can smell the beer and the bleach from the night before. It’s the same old thing. It’s a very Venture Capitalist system. People take a chance on you and promote the band and if you sell tickets and get good attendance, you make money. If not, you eat your shorts. It’s a high risk, very capitalist business, especially the local music scene. And you don’t want to fool yourself; you’re selling beer and booze. It’s better now, though, because there’s no smoking. Before, when you went out, your clothes would end up smelling like cigarettes – and I used to smoke. But now they’ve banned smoking and it’s a lot better. It’s great that rock ‘n’ roll is still alive and people are still doing it, too.”

KISS icon Gene Simmons infamously stated in 2014 that rock was dead.