I Found My Friends re-creates the story of Nirvana, from its earliest days in 1987 to its sudden end seven years later, through the words of the musicians and producers who played and interacted with the band. Soulsby interviewed over 200 musicians from bands that played and toured with Nirvana, including well-known alternative bands such as Hole, Mudhoney, Meat Puppets, Buzzcocks, Butthole Surfers, and the Jesus Lizard, as well as countless others from the alternative rock revolution. Readers get a more personal history of Nirvana than ever before, including Nirvana's consideration of nearly a dozen previously unmentioned candidates for drummer before settling on David Grohl; a recounting of Nirvana's famously disastrous South American shows from never-before-heard sources; and recollections from their first manager, who hosted the band's first ever gig. I Found My Friends relives Nirvana's meteoric rise from the days before the legend to through their increasingly damaged superstardom. More than twenty years after Kurt Cobain's tragic death, Nick Soulsby removes the posthumous halo from the brow of Kurt Cobain and travels back through time to observe one of rock and roll's most critical bands as no one has ever seen them before. “Fans of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana should find much to savor in this fascinating oral history of one of rock's most iconic bands.” ― Booklist “The book ably captures the lost milieu of independent rock, which Nirvana's moment irretrievably transformed.” ― Kirkus “[T]his history is captivating enough to distinguish itself among the crowded canon. Hard-core and casual Nirvana fans alike will find this book engaging.” ― Library Journal “Nick…demonstrates true passion for the music and a deep understanding of the musicians who create it. His words are more than just ciphers to exchange for dollars, just as the music he's writing about was always more than just noise for profit.” ― Kurt Danielson, Tad / Vaporland Nick Soulsby  is the author of Dark Slivers: Seeing Nirvana in the Shards of Incesticide and blogs about the band on his web site. I Found My Friends The Oral History of Nirvana By Nick Soulsby St. Martin's Press Copyright © 2015 Nick Soulsby All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-250-06152-2 Contents Title Page, Copyright Notice, Preface, 1.0 First Fruit, February to December 1987, 2.0 The First Album: Nirvana in Studio, January 1988, 3.0 The Lost Drummer, February to May 1988, 4.0 Becoming a Seattle Band, April to June 1988, 5.0 Sub Pop and Bleach, June 1988 to January 1989, 6.0 First Tour, First Lessons, February to July 1989, 7.0 Still Broke: Second Tour, September to October 1989, 8.0 Young Band in New Land: Europe, October to December 1989, 9.0 Home Soil, January to February 1990, 10.0 Nobody Knows We're New Wave, March to May 1990, 11.0 Intermission, June to September 1990, 12.0 New Blood, October to December 1990, 13.0 Corporate-Rock Whores, January to July 1991, 14.0 Takeoff, August to December 1991, 15.0 Falling Apart in Asia/Pacific, January to February 1992, 16.0 Festival Season, June to September 1992, 17.0 Politics, Pressure, and South America, October 1992 to January 1993, 18.0 In Utero, February to September 1993, 19.0 Creaking: The In Utero Tour, October 1993 to January 1994, 20.0 One More Solo? The Curtain Falls, February to April 1994, Timeline, Index, Acknowledgments, About the Author, Also by Nick Soulsby, Copyright, CHAPTER 1 First Fruit February to December 1987 One evening in April 1987, a sweaty-palmed and fidgety trio of young men purporting to be a band named Skid Row (and decidedly not the more famous hair-metal band) lined up at the doors of the Community World Theater, Tacoma—a ramshackle punk venue in a small town in Washington. There was no reason to notice them; they were nothing special. Just two house parties into their life as a band, with their first performance only a month earlier, this show was the big test. Their scrawny, fragile, and shy front man, at twenty years of age, wasn't even old enough to drink. Sandwiched on a four-band bill, Skid Row's performance passed without incident or laurels. BRIAN NAUBERT, Yellow Snow: A combination of having to tear down after our set, deal with our gear, and all the beer we drank—forty-ouncers of Old English, if I'm not mistaken—I'm sorry to admit it but I don't remember being impressed by anyone that night. We were a little bit shy and defensive because even though the punk scene welcomed us, we were not one of them. Yellow Snow was appreciated for having its own sound. Something that would be considered "indie" these days. PAT WATSON, Yellow Snow: They were older than we were, I was sixteen, seventeen, high school—they seemed to be pushing past twenty. We were nervous because we were one of the young bands age-wise ... We might have bailed, so I don't remember if I saw them. But while we were playing our set