Melvins frontman, Buzz Osborne, has explained why they fired Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain from producing their album ‘Houdini’.
Cobain was brought in to produce the 1993 album and at some point in the midst of creating the LP, Melvins let the iconic singer go. Osbourne slammed the long-standing rumours that claimed that the band fired Cobain due to him wanting to write all of their songs for them.
The Nirvana frontman was fired due to his addiction issues, Osborne revealed in an interview with Loudwire: “We fired him because he was too screwed up to finish working on the record.”
After being asked if there was a “catalyst moment” that triggered the split in a recent interview with Revolver, Osbourne said: “Yeah – that’s exactly what happened. He didn’t show up for one of the sessions, and it was just really obvious [that he was unfit].”
The Melvins frontman added that it wasn’t “wasn’t a judgment call” on Cobain’s abilities but more of a feeling that “isn’t going to work.” “I went into [Nirvana manager] Danny Goldberg’s office at Atlantic and told him this. And he conveniently doesn’t remember any of it, which is crazy,” he told Revolver.
Previously discussing the topic in 2009 with The Stranger (as reported by Loudwire), Osbourne said: “Unfortunately, Cobain was in no shape to produce anything. So we got into the recording sessions, and I went to the A&R guy at Atlantic and said, ‘Look, I’m not recording with him anymore. I’m firing him, essentially.’ Kurt did what he did as much as he possibly could as far as I’m concerned, and that was the end of that.”
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Reflecting on the time that had passed and his subsequent feelings, the frontman said: “I have a lot of hard feelings with a whole lot of stuff that went on around that whole camp. None of it is good. There is not a lot of good vibes or good scenarios in that situation. There is no happy ending.”
Cobain died by suicide less than a year after the release of ‘Houdini’. He is credited as co-producer on the album.
In other news, Nirvana recently announced the 30th anniversary reissue of their seminal album ‘In Utero. With three super deluxe editions that comprise a total of 72 tracks with 53 previously unreleased live tracks from some of the final live dates from Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, drummer Dave Grohl and guitarist Pat Smear, the reissue is set for release on October 27.
“I’m excited about the live shows on there, because they used AI,” Novoselic recently told NME. “We took the digital audio tapes from the soundboard in Rome, Seattle and Los Angeles, then the AI can separate all the instruments and we got a really good mix out of it.”
Asked if Nirvana ever consider using AI for unreleased Nirvana material, just as The Beatles are set to on their upcoming “final track“, he replied: “That’s a good idea! I’m going to bring that up with Dave and Pat! I can hardly wait to hear a new Beatles song. Come on, it’s The Beatles! I want to hear a new Beatles song! And if AI helps it, then absolutely – that’s the way it is today.”
On if there were any remaining unheard demos or sketches of Nirvana tracks that they could complete, he said: “I don’t know. We’ve got to start talking about this. That’s a good idea. There could be. There’s a point where it’s like, ‘Is this Nirvana or AI?’ There’s a lot of that stuff already on Youtube, and that’s a debate that’s going to have to be settled when it comes to copyright and disinformation. It’s like 2001: A Space Odyssey – ‘Don’t do it!’ ”
Elsewhere, Fantômas reunited on the closing night of the revived ‘Geek Show’ tour featuring Mr. Bungle, Melvins and Spotlights earlier this year.
Mr. Bungle’s Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn and Dave Lombardo, along with Osborne – all members of the supergroup which formed in 1998 – have been performing on tour together this month, but took to the stage together to reunite Fantômas to close out the run.