Krist Novoselic

Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Krist Anthony Novoselic (born May 16, 1965) is an Croatian-American rock musician best known as the bassist for Nirvana. Apart from his musical endeavors, Novoselic has been active politically, including the creation of the political action committee JAMPAC. The original Croatian spelling of his surname is 'Novoselić' (eng. Novoselich).

Background

Krist Novoselic was born to Paulo and Misha Novoselic in Compton, California. He lived there for one year, before his parents relocated to San Pedro, California [1], where he remained for most of his childhood years. 1979 saw the Novoselic family on the move again, due to rising property prices in California, this time to Aberdeen, Washington. In 1980, Novoselic attended the gymnasia in Zadar, Croatia for a year, when the country was still part of Yugoslavia. There, he also picked up an interest in punk music, being exposed to bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, as well as various local bands. Returning to Washington, Novoselic graduated from Aberdeen high school in 1983.

One day, Novoselic's younger brother Robert walked in with his friend Kurt Cobain and Cobain noticed loud music coming from upstairs. Robert told Cobain that it was his older brother, who listened to punk rock. Cobain eventually befriended the elder Novoselic and the pair ended up sharing similar musical tastes, including a fondness for local band The Melvins. Some time later, Cobain gave Novoselic a demo tape of his former band Fecal Matter, which Cobain named Illiteracy Will Prevail. After several months of indecision, Novoselic finally listened to the tape, liked it, and agreed to start a band with Cobain.

Nirvana

Main article: Nirvana (band)

File:Nirvanaband.jpg

Nirvana, left to right: Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic

Cobain and Novoselic's first band lasted barely a few weeks before it disbanded, leaving the pair to move on. However, the duo eventually discovered that the Melvins could pull eighty dollars a night for one show. Inspired, Cobain and Novoselic started a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover band, in which Cobain played drums and Novoselic sang and played guitar. That band was short-lived as well. Some months later, Cobain and Novoselic met Aaron Burckhard. While the new band never used the name, it was the first incarnation of Nirvana.

Burckhard lasted barely a few months and Melvins drummer Dale Crover filled in until Novoselic and Cobain met Chad Channing. The trio recorded their debut album Bleach, released in 1989. Channing left the band in 1990 and was briefly replaced by Crover and Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters.

Later in 1990, Melvins singer-guitarist Buzz Osborne encouraged Novoselic and Cobain to check out a punk band called Scream. The pair were impressed by their drummer, Dave Grohl. A few weeks later, Scream disbanded, and Grohl placed a call to Osborne for advice. Osborne gave him Novoselic's phone number, and Novoselic invited Grohl up to Seattle. Grohl passed the audition and joined Nirvana. A few months later, in the spring of 1991, the band recorded their second album Nevermind, which launched the band as a worldwide phenomenon.

In 1992, the Washington state legislature attempted to pass a bill called the Erotic Music Law. The law would allow courts to declare certain albums "erotic" by their content, and would make it illegal to sell those albums to those under the age of 18. A lobbying group called the Washington Music Industry Coalition formed as a response to the bill. Novoselic and Nirvana actively campaigned against the bill and performed a benefit concert for the lobbying group in September of 1992.

For most of his life, Novoselic had chosen to go by the Western spelling of his name, Chris. However, following a 1993 trip to Croatia, Novoselic decided to honor his heritage and return to the original spelling of his name, Krist.

Novoselic was also well-known for telling jokes and having humorous conversations with Grohl in between songs during concerts, especially after 1991.

Nirvana ended abruptly in April of 1994 following Cobain's death. For most of the rest of that year, Novoselic retreated from the spotlight. Novoselic and Cobain had been virtually inseparable for the past 7 years, and the loss of his close friend was especially hard on Novoselic. One of few public appearances came that September at the MTV Video Music Awards, where the video for Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" was awarded for Best Alternative Video. Novoselic and Grohl took the opportunity to pay tribute to their bandmate.

Equipment

While Kurt Cobain was known for playing Fender guitars, Novoselic played mainly Gibson basses, although for the album Bleach, he used both a Fender Jazz bass and an Ibanez Black Eagle. He used a Gibson Ripper bass for the recordings of Nevermind and In Utero. His live basses included RD Artist basses and Thunderbirds. He has used his Ripper in the video for Come as You Are, while he used an RD in the video for Heart-Shaped Box and a non-reverse bodied Thunderbird in the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit. In the music video for In Bloom Krist can be seen playing an Ampeg AEB-1.

After Nirvana

The following year, the Erotic Music Law was reintroduced to the legislature as the Matters Harmful to Minors bill. Noting that the music industry had serious clout in Seattle given the success of the scene, Novoselic proposed creating a political action committee, which was named JAMPAC (Joint Artists and Musicians Political Action Committee). Over the next several years, JAMPAC fought a number of different issues, including the Teen Dance Ordinance, a 1985 law that severely limited the ability of minors to attend shows. With JAMPAC, Novoselic began to turn his focus more and more towards politics.

At the same time, Novoselic continued to dabble in musical endeavors. He turned down an offer from former band member and friend Dave Grohl who invited him to join his new band Foo Fighters because he was worried that people would think Foo Fighters would be a rip off of Nirvana. Novoselic instead formed the band Sweet 75 in 1995, releasing a single self-titled album. In 1999, he joined Jello Biafra and former Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil in the No WTO Combo. He then joined former Meat Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood and former Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh to form Eyes Adrift, which disbanded in 2003. Following the end of Eyes Adrift, Novoselic announced that he was quitting the music business, noting that he disliked the process of building up publicity for new records. However, in recent years, Novoselic has occasionally worked on music for a possible solo album, noting, "Right now, I’m just doing it for myself, and that’s what it’s all about."

Novoselic remains active in politics as an elected Democratic State Committeeman, making appearances to advocate electoral reform (especially instant-runoff voting and proportional representation) and running the website fixour.us. He considered a 2004 run for Lieutenant Governor of Washington (as a Democrat, challenging an incumbent of the same party), but ultimately decided against it. He is also on the board of FairVote-The Center Voting and Democracy. His first book, Of Grunge and Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy, was published in October 2004. He lives in the isolated community of Deep River, in Wahkiakum County, Washington.

Novoselic currently (2006) hosts a Saturday night radio program on Astoria, Oregon community radio statio KMUN. His DJ name is "DJ K-No". [2]

In November 2006, it was announced that Novoselic will join Flipper, replacing Bruno DeSmartass on bass, for a tour of the UK and Ireland.[3]

Trivia

• He stands 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall.
• The first instrument he learned to play was the accordion.
• He played the baritone saxophone in junior high school.
• During Nirvana's performance on MTV Unplugged, Krist played the accordion on the song "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam", while Dave Grohl played bass.
• On Nirvana's cover of Seasons in the Sun, Krist played guitar, Kurt played drums, and Dave played bass. This can be seen in the footage of the song being performed on the With the Lights Out DVD.
• During the credits of Nirvana's Saturday Night Live appearance in January 1992, Novoselic and Cobain jokingly "made out," bobbing their heads back and forth "wildly, as if in rapture"; Novoselic and Grohl subsequently repeated the gesture.
• During the outro to the song "Lithium", while performing at the MTV 1992 Video Music Awards, Krist tossed his bass into the air, only to miss catching it and having it hit him in the head.

References

• Bloch-Garcia, Peter. "Kick Out the Jams". Real Change News. 2000.

External links

• Murkyslough.com - A webpage managed by Novoselic.
• The Krist Novoselic Dedication Page
• Krist Novoselic w/ Flipper