Nirvana Demos Dating Back to the ’80s Surface Online

Story by Charles Ken

It seems as if every few months, some never-before-heard Nirvana tidbit surfaces, and the latest is a batch of rare demo recordings from the grunge band dating back to the late ’80s. Musician John Purkey, who was friends with late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain back in the ’80s, has uploaded four demo recordings that he explains Cobain personally gave him. The tapes, which are streaming now via Purkey’s YouTube page, feature early recordings of tracks that were eventually released on the band’s debut full-length album, “Bleach,” as well as tracks recorded with Melvins drummer Dave Crover and drummer Chad Channing.

These recordings were made before the band was with drummer Dave Grohl, so Grohl isn’t featured on any of the tapes. Listen to the tapes below.

In total, the cassettes bring together roughly two hours of material. Purkey also makes comments about each tape on YouTube, starting off with, “This is the first tape Kurt gave to me. Sound quality is not perfect but it’s not too bad. It is listenable. Paper cuts sounds a little warbaly at first and that is exactly how it was when Kurt gave it to me. I got used to it. It slowly becomes clear sounding.”

In other news, Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic is part of a new band called Giants In the Trees. The group launched last year and recently released its self-titled debut album, which is available online.

Check out the band’s tunes at GiantsintheTrees.com.

Publication date: January 13, 2018

Charles Ken
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Posted by Charles Ken | Alternative, Music, Rock, Rock News

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