Half way through I
Found My Friends: The Oral History of Nirvana, Kevin Franke of the band
Vegas Voodoo describes Kurt Cobain as “almost a ghost presence.” This kind of
sums up Nick Soulsby’s book, which largely consists of the memories of
musicians from obscure bands who played some gigs with Nirvana or saw them play
but didn’t really know them very well. Too often we get snatches about how
Krist Novoselic is tall or liked to party, or Cobain seemed shy or like he
might have been on drugs, but insights about who these people really were and
continue to be are rare. That’s because I
Found My Friends is less the story of Nirvana and more the story of the music
scene surrounding them. One thing we already knew about the group is that they
were always supportive of bands that never cracked the “Alternative Nation”
playlists, and Soulsby gives these musicians a chance to explain what it was
like to play all the shitty, lice-infected clubs Nirvana did in their early
years, or in the case of Calamity Jane, open for Nirvana at a huge post-stardom
show in Buenos Aires where the crowd showered the opening act with abuse.
While Nirvana fans who come to this book expecting inside information
on the band members’ personal lives or studio work will be disappointed, I Found My Friends is a compelling read
for those who are simply interested in the nineties rock scene or the often
thankless and grinding experience of being in a band in any era. And along the
way we do get some genuinely valuable tidbits about Kurt and Krist’s
generousness, playfulness, loutishness, devotion to worthy causes, and talent
(there’s precious little about their drummers, and that includes Dave Grohl).
Soulsby includes some odd comments as well, such as the occasional “I didn’t
stick around to watch Nirvana’s set and never thought they were any good anyway,”
an anonymous person’s account of his/her own heroin experiences, and the concluding
string of eulogies for musicians from other bands, some of which are never even
mentioned elsewhere in the book.
