Artist you most want to have a conversation with
Murdock
542 Posts
Parrish Smith for me:
Murdock
542 Posts
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Spoke to him on the phone several times - didn't know it was him until a year or two later.
^^ Gotta hear this story.
How come, and how come you didn't realise until later ?
It's a bit of a long story...
In the 90's I was playing in a band and sharing an apartment with guitarist Tom Five, who was the original guitar player for White Zombie (pre beer commercial metal days). Kurt often mentioned him as his favorite guitar player in interviews (as I'm sure he did with some others).
One day a raspy voiced dude called and asked to speak with Tom:
H: "Sorry he's not here"
K: "Do you know if he's still playing?"
H: "Yeah, I'm in a band with him"
K: "What band?"
H:"________"
K:"Oh, I thought you guys broke up"
H: "No, we're still playing, we're just unsuccessful"
Awkward silence
K: "Uh, do you think he'd want to jam?"
H: "Maybe, give me your number"
He gives me a number with an unfamiliar area code and says his name is Kurt. We talked for a bit more and hung up. I didn't think for a second about Kurt Cobain.
Anyway, Tom and Kurt play phone tag for a bit and he always calls when I'm there but Tom isn't and we talked several more times. Finally Tom and I figure out that his area code is in Washington state and Tom says fuk it, I'm not going to Washington to jam with some dude and stops calling back.
A few years later, after Kurt died, our drummer is also playing in Dinosaur Jr. They had the same management as Nirvana did, and one day we go to their office to see if maybe they would be interested in our band. When Tom is introduced to the woman in charge she says "Tom Five? We were really trying to get a hold of you a couple of years ago!"
It turns out that Kurt wanted Tom to be the second guitarist on tour and when it didn't pan out they got Pat Smear instead. Opportunity missed.
As a side note, years earlier, our drummer was offered the job with Nirvana to replace Chad Channing before they got Dave Grohl. He thought the band he was in at the time had more potential and declined. Another opportunity missed.
My claim to fame is that I was the only member of our band that wasn't asked to join Nirvana.
Its a small world.