Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic on when Kurt Cobain decided he wanted to work with Steve Albini
As the music world mourns the passing of punk and production legend Steve Albini, check out what Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic told NME last year about Kurt Cobain’s decision to have him work on the classic ‘In Utero’.
Yesterday (May 8), it was announced that Albini, who was known for recording and producing classic albums, had died at the age of 61 after a heart attack.
Recalling working with the producer and how the band landed on the post-‘Nevermind’ sound of the record, Novoselic said: “Kurt was a fan of Albini. I remember being in a tour van in 1989 and Kurt was listening to Pixies. He raised his finger and said, ‘This shall be our snare sound!’ He wanted to do it with Steve for a long time.
“There’s that whole thing where you get famous and you have to transition into it. It was hard for everyone, but Kurt got all the attention, being up front there. I don’t comment on the lyrics as they’re open for interpretation, but you can listen and make up your own mind. ‘Radio Friendly Unit Shifter’ was a smart-ass statement that Kurt made, and really says it all. We signed a record contract and had all these expectations.”
He added: “What came after we made the record was the stuff of legend, but you just get back to the band. It’s a beautiful thing that someone invented this concept of drums, bass, guitar and vocals. This was our version of that.”
Speaking to NME previously, Albini spoke of how he was more of an “engineer” than a producer to Nirvana, and recalled how Cobain came to him as a vocal admirer of his work with previous band, Big Black.
“When my band Big Black did a farewell tour years before the ‘In Utero’ sessions, the final show was in some industrial space in Seattle,” he said. “It was in a weird building with a makeshift stage. It was a cool gig and at end we smashed up all of our gear. I distinctively recall some kid asking me if he could take a piece of my guitar off the stage and me saying ‘go ahead its garbage now’.
“Many years later when we were working on ‘In Utero’ at the studio in Minnesota, Kurt showed me this little piece of this guitar that he had saved. He had brought it with him after all those years. He had been that kid.”
Meanwhile, earlier today (May 9) Nirvana’s social media accounts shared the four-page letter Albini sent to them, proposing that he produce ‘In Utero’.
In the letter, he famously declared that “if a record takes more than a week to make, somebody’s fucking up”.
“I think the very best thing you could do at this point is exactly what you are talking about doing: bang a record out in a couple of days, with high quality but minimal ‘production’ and no interference from the front office bulletheads,” he wrote. “If that is indeed what you want to do, I would love to be involved.”
Following the news of Albini’s death, Pixies, Benefits and more have paid tribute to the late producer – you can read them here. Jarvis Cocker also recalled the impact that working with the producer during ‘Further Complications’ had on him, and The Cribs shared their fond memories of the icon.
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Damian Jones
NME
