The Kings of Noise & the Rock Star
“Evolution brings human beings. Human beings, through a long and painful process, bring humanity.”― Dan Simmons
Recently someone posted a photo of Nirvana (the band, not the state-of-mind) with The Boredoms dating back to November of 1993, when they were on tour together with The Meat Puppets. I had signed The Boredoms to Warner US earlier in the year and had released Pop Tatari, their Warner US debut, considered via Wikipedia and Spin Magazine to be the strangest record ever released by a major label..thank you very much…sorry Captain Beefheart1. Kurt loved the band and took them on an extensive leg of Nirvana’s tour on the heels of his post-superstardom moment…the In Utero tour, which came out soon after the Nevermind record blew everything up; when a label releases a crazed record like Pop Tatari, having the biggest pop star on the planet give support really helps.
For those who are unaware of The Boredoms, they were a band from Japan led by EYƎ Yamatsuka (he has since changed his name to EYƎ Yamataka) that in 1993 featured six members including two drummers and two lead singers. When I signed them, they were in their chaotic phase of trenchantly slamming every genre of music into each other, often within one song, effortlessly going from reggae to noise to heavy metal to hip hop to hardcore punk rock on the turn of a dime. They were fantastic musicians and very much a well-tuned musical unit, which allowed them to pull off some pretty complicated ever-changing compositions. They sang in their own language, the language of The Bore, and had achieved a big enough success in their homeland to be signed to Warner Japan. Their records were challenging, their stage show was dangerously exciting, with body parts flying every which way projected by the lunaticious tidals of their explosive amplifications.
In 1993, major labels were trying to grasp for relevance by signing cutting-edge acts that would hopefully lure bigger acts to the roster. Geffen signed Sonic Youth which helped them sign Nirvana, as one of the best examples. And even with that in mind, a band like The Boredoms was a hard sell to much of the staff of the US major label where I called home. Yes, in The Boredoms camp was project manager Geoffrey Weiss, who also worked with my artists The Flaming Lips and Mudhoney, Jo Lenardi and the rest of her alternative marketing department, of course my boss Roberta Petersen and the bigger boss, President Lenny Waronker (who got their true artistry)…but for every ally there were five people who just shook their heads in bewilderment: “Hey everyone, we have a Seal record coming…are we really talking about The Boredoms right now?” Initially the band’s staff publicist Jim Baltutis, who had started at the company around the same time I did, saw his being handed The Boredoms project a slight to his attempt at making an impact to the label. That would all change when the band would outscore Clapton on the amount of print and prime mag placement.
Soon after the US release of Pop Tatari, we got the call that The Boredoms were asked to go on a leg of Nirvana’s American tour. Flying the band into the states and putting them on the road was a costly affair, but not even the band’s loudest detractors at the label could turn down a tour with the biggest band at the moment; the tour budget was approved without a second thought or push back. I jumped on the tour mid-way through. It was a snowy Halloween night in Akron, Ohio as I left my grain-silo-turned-hipster hotel wearing a Batman mask, walking to the James A. Rhodes Arena and getting there just as The Boredoms took the stage.
The venue was packed with Nirvana fans. After searching for a while, I found a decent viewing perch next to a gaggle of frat brothers all wearing the Nirvana tour t-shirt they had bought that night. The Boredoms blew up onto stage, throwing sounds of chaos and visions of hot-tin-roofed cats at an audience that was pre-drinking as they waited for Kurt Cobain to show up. Watching singers EYƎ and Yoshikawa doing flying belly slams while Yoshimi and Atari stood atop their drum stools both playing trumpets and Yamamoto demonstrated his Hendrix-in-an-electric-socket guitar bravado…in front of a packed, huge stadium…felt truly life affirming. That is, until people in the front of the stage started throwing pennies at the band. As The Boredoms hit a groove between the chaos (and their grooves, driven by Hira’s bass slinging, were pure alien-styled slam dance cosmopolis) the youngest of the frat brothers near me got genuinely into it, bobbing his head, reflecting his feelings to his brother to his left with a smile and a nod…only to be scolded, “this stuff is crap, these guys need to get off the damn stage” whereupon the boy’s face changed, maddened, body tensing, “YEAH!” as they both picked up the plan of penny chucking. A few fliers hit EYƎ in the head (in his earlier band Hanatarash, it was he who would do the throwing). This pop culture crowd was not to be moved by counter cultural regals.
I went backstage after they were done to say hello to the band…to see if they were all right post-penny incident (they were…but were definitely a little freaked out). The backstage area was the antithesis of what you would expect for a colossal band’s arena tour: it was a ghost town….empty halls, dead quiet. The Bore and Nirvana were hanging in the same room, but the vibe was off, strange. Kurt seemed forlorn and the crew walked around solemnly, as if on rice paper as they toed in and out of the Nirvana dressing room. Even in the Meat Puppets room, the brothers Kirkwood seemed almost displeased to be there, often glazed-over talking about the tribulations they had beheld before getting to this point, this night. No partying, no crazy antics…not even an off-color joke. It was like being in a dreary office setting. The only excitement was a tiny Francis Bean, Kurt’s baby, who was running wild backstage, being chased by this crazy eyed, kids-birthday-party dressed fellow who I was told was the sitter (there were a few times that I came upon Francis Bean alone, and I would hang with her…making faces…until the babysitter found us). She alone had inherent knowledge of the energy of the post-concert who-ha.
When Nirvana hit the stage the crowd went wild. The band blew through a set of most of their hits-to-date and some deep album tracks. I never thought Nirvana was the incredible live band Mudhoney was in the family of Grunge, but it was still nice to hear songs like About a Girl, and School, from their debut LP Bleach, in a huge space, as well as the ultimate power-pop ditty Sliver (I don’t think they played Smells Like Teen Spirit that night); seeing a band that had learned how to connect with thousands of people for over an hour and a half. You can hear the whole Nirvana concert from that evening here.
It was very apparent that Kurt loved having The Boredoms around (and they loved him). They had complete access to him at all times and he would even whisper a brief conversation with them once in a while through fractured English and rock and roll references. They represented the anarchy that was wrestling deep in his core, stuck down there by a fame that propelled him to unexpected and unwanted places; The Boredoms were free, and I don’t believe he felt he was. Nirvana might have been kings of the Billboard charts, but The Boredoms were kings of noise with a musicality and stage show that was stunning. Kurt wanted to show these new fans that he could barely relate to a best-side of the musical landscape they would never normally tread through…maybe just maybe open up a few minds along the way.
After that tour, I flew to Las Vegas to catch Mudhoney opening for Pearl Jam. The joy Pearl Jam exuded on stage was contagious, even for a non-fan such as myself. And then there was the encore where Eddie Vedder handed the microphone to Mark Arm as he introduced a momentarily reformed Green River composed of both bands, seeing them perform their old song Swallow My Pride and watching the nutty joyful antics onstage that befit a friendly reunion. And after the show, the backstage party was a romp of epic proportions, befitting both a rock band on top of the charts and a sin city built to roll.
Listen to The Boredoms! Get Crazy: Molecicco, Acid Police, Hoy!!!!
Here are scenes from The Boredoms’ US tour, 1993 (and some Super Roots).
Marian Zazeela, Artist Behind Dizzying Drawings and Transcendent Light Shows, Dies at 83
Marian Zazeela and her husband La Monte Young help establish the minimalism wave of music and provided space for young composers to perform and grow. She was also a a fine artist in her own right, opening up a recent show in New York just one month ago (it is up until May 1). She is such an important figure in the art world, and will be missed.
I went on several nature walks with Ms Terwilleger as a really young lad. She was an incredible, kooky guide, leading us through the ecosystems of the Bay Area, turning us on to the edible plant world all around us, show us how to dig for soap, teaching us about the local birds and fish…she was inspirational. I was blown away to find this article….
Explosive New Documents Unearthed On Live Nation/Ticketmaster
As the person who turned me on to this article said…this is bat shit crazy. A needed read for anyone who has an inclining of what it is that Live Nation and Ticketmaster pull when the story comes out about how they fleece the fans and offer high ticket prices…but doesn’t know the details. Matt Stoller lays it all down in such readable, understandable pros….just nuts.
Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum Moving to Former Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street
Oh yeah….
Another Bummer :: Neil Young’s On The Beach At 50
One of Neil’s more brilliantly obtuse offerings hits 50. There are truly beautiful moments to this record, recorded under the influenced of the strongest pot of the day as supplied by cajun crazy Rusty Kershaw. If you want some behind-the-scenes stories around the making of this record, may I suggest Episode 13, Season 1 of Cocaine and Rhinestones whose main focus is on Rusty and his brother Doug…but Rusty’s deep involvement on the record is definitely floodlighted.
“You Be in Movie”: Danny Trejo Tells Rob Zombie His Wildest Stories
TREJO: I got into this business because somebody couldn’t handle an actor. [Writer] Eddie Bunker and [director] Andrei Konchalovsky had a lot of trouble with one of their star actors, and he wanted to learn how to fight, so I taught him how to fight.
ZOMBIE: That was for Runaway Train, right?
TREJO: Yeah. They pulled me in, and said, “You be in movie.” I’ll never forget that. Just, “You be in movie. You fight Eric [Roberts] in movie.” And Andrei puts his hands on both my cheeks, kisses me, and says, “You be my friend.”
Maya Angelou's Most Inspirational Quotes
Today would have been Maya Angelou’s 96th birthday. In her honor, Essence magazine put together this piece celebrating her through her words.
THE LESSON
By: Maya Angelou
I keep on dying again.
Veins collapse, opening like the
Small fists of sleeping
Children.
Memory of old tombs,
Rotting flesh and worms do
Not convince me against
The challenge. The years
And cold defeat live deep in
Lines along my face.
They dull my eyes, yet
I keep on dying,
Because I love to live.
Some works by Marian Zazeela:
With the release of the band's critically acclaimed Pop Tatari, generally seen as one of the strangest albums ever released by a major label,[7] Boredoms took to the road and toured with Sonic Youth in 1992, Nirvana for eight consecutive shows in late October and early November 1993, and Brutal Truth in 1993. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boredoms
this was a lot of fun. thanks for sharing. wondering if Kurt or Nirvana chastised the fans for their penny-throwing?
In...1991, I think, I saw Pearl Jam open for Smashing Pumpkins who in turn opened for RHCP. This was in Detroit. I saw Pearl Jam totally cold, meaning I hadn't heard Ten yet, though it would soon blow up. They were really, really good live - I thought they were the best show of the night. Just great positive energy.
go Davtd go