Krist Novoselic

Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Krist Anthony Novoselic II (born May 16, 1965) is an American rock musician best known as the bassist for Nirvana. In addition to Nirvana, Krist has played for Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift, and currently plays in Flipper. Apart from his musical endeavors, Novoselic has been active politically, including the creation of the political action committee JAMPAC. Since November, 2007, Krist has written a weekly column on music and politics for Seattle Weekly's website. His first name is pronounced either "Chris" or "Krist".

Early life

Krist Novoselic was born to Croatian and Bosnian immigrants Krist and Marija Novoselić on May 16, 1965, in Compton, California. He lived there for one year, before his parents relocated to San Pedro, California, where he remained for most of his childhood years. He has two brothers, Robert, and Dillon, and in 1973, Novoselic's sister Diana was born. 1979 saw the Novoselic family on the move again, due to rising property prices in California, this time to Aberdeen, Washington. Worried about Krist's depression, his parents sent him to live with relatives in Zadar, Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia, in 1980. There, Novoselic attended the gymnasium. Krist was already interested in bands like Led Zeppelin, Devo, Black Sabbath, and Aerosmith. He also enjoyed Yugoslav rock bands like Zabranjeno Pusenje, Prljavo Kazaliste and Azra. While in Croatia, he picked up an interest in punk rock music, and discovered bands like Sex Pistols and Ramones.

Sometime later, Novoselic's brother Robert walked into his friend Kurt Cobain, who had noticed loud music coming from upstairs. Robert told Cobain that it was his older brother, who listened to punk rock. Cobain eventually befriended the elder Novoselic and the pair ended up sharing similar musical tastes, including a fondness for local band The Melvins. The two had several mutual friends and began hanging out shortly thereafter. Some time later, Cobain gave Novoselic a demo tape of his former band Fecal Matter. After several months of indecision, Novoselic finally listened to the tape, liked it, and agreed to start a band with Cobain.

Nirvana

Main article: Nirvana (band)

Krist playing on the left with Kurt Cobain while in Nirvana.

Cobain and Novoselic's first band lasted barely a few weeks before it disbanded, leaving the pair to move on. However, the duo eventually discovered that the Melvins could pull eighty dollars a night for one show. Inspired, Cobain and Novoselic started a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover band, in which Cobain played drums and Novoselic sang and played guitar. That band was short-lived as well. Some months later, Cobain and Novoselic met Aaron Burckhard. While the new band never used the name, it was the first incarnation of Nirvana.

Burckhard lasted barely a few months and Melvins drummer Dale Crover filled in until Novoselic and Cobain met Chad Channing. The trio recorded their debut album Bleach, released in 1989. Channing left the band in 1990 and was briefly replaced by Crover and Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters.

Later in 1990, Melvins singer-guitarist Buzz Osborne encouraged Novoselic and Cobain to check out a punk band called Scream. The pair were impressed by their drummer, Dave Grohl. A few weeks later, Scream disbanded, and Grohl placed a call to Osborne for advice. Osborne gave him Novoselic's phone number, and Novoselic invited Grohl up to Seattle. Grohl passed the audition and joined Nirvana. A few months later, in the spring of 1991, the band recorded their major label debut, Nevermind, which launched the band as a worldwide phenomenon.

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For most of his life, Novoselic had chosen to go by the English spelling of his name, Chris. However, following a 1993 trip to Croatia, Novoselic decided to honor his heritage and return to the original spelling of his name, Krist.

Nirvana ended abruptly in April 1994 following Cobain's death. For most of the rest of that year, Novoselic retreated from the spotlight. Novoselic and Cobain had been virtually inseparable for almost a decade, and the loss of his close friend was especially hard on Novoselic. One of few public appearances came that September at the MTV Video Music Awards, where the video for Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" was awarded for Best Alternative Video. Novoselic and Grohl took the opportunity to pay tribute to their bandmate.

Equipment

While Kurt Cobain was known for playing Fender guitars, Novoselic played mainly Gibson basses, although for the album Bleach, he used an Ibanez Black Eagle. He used a Gibson Ripper bass for the recordings of Nevermind and In Utero. His live basses included RD Artists, a Gibson Victory Standard (that he smashed on stage in Belgium) and Thunderbirds. He also used a Gibson RD Standard, which was very similar to the RD Artist, but has different wiring. He has used his Ripper in the video for Come as You Are, while he used an RD Standard in the video for Heart-Shaped Box and a '60s Zen -on bass which got smashed up in the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit. In the music video for In Bloom Krist can be seen playing an Ampeg AEB-1. For amplification, Krist used an Ampeg SVT 400T through Mesa Boogie Road Ready cabinets. He had several 4x10's and 2x15's for his live rig. After the success of Nevermind, he was able to purchase in upwards of 4 Ampeg 8x10 cabinets for the In Utero tour. He also purchased a Hiwatt bass head and two matching 4x12's, which he still uses today.

He also used a Pro Co RAT distortion pedal on many recordings.

Music after Nirvana

The following year, Novoselic continued to dabble in musical endeavors. He turned down an offer from friend and former bandmate Dave Grohl who invited him to join his new band Foo Fighters because he was worried that people would think Foo Fighters was a new reincarnation of Nirvana. Novoselic instead formed the band Sweet 75 in 1995, releasing a single self-titled album in 1997.

In 1998 Novoselic directed his first movie "L7: The Beauty Process", A pseudo-documentary that utilizes concert footage taped in 1997 in three American cities.

In 1999, he joined Jello Biafra and former Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil in the No WTO Combo. He then joined former Meat Puppets front man Curt Kirkwood and former Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh to form Eyes Adrift, which disbanded in 2003. His spell was significant as it was the first offical release in his career where he sang lead vocals and also he took a very active roll in the song writing process along with Curt Kirkwood. Following the end of Eyes Adrift, Novoselic announced that he was quitting the music business, noting that he disliked the process of building up publicity for new records. However, in recent years, Novoselic has occasionally worked on music for a possible solo album, noting, "Right now, I'm just doing it for myself, and that's what it's all about."

In November 2006, it was announced that Novoselic would join Flipper, replacing Bruno DeSmartas on bass, for a tour of the UK and Ireland. He is now a full time member of the band and has been working on their new album due for release in 2008.. His future in the band remains unsure after the band announced they were postponing their tour due to Krist's personal commitments.

Krist Novoselic (left)

Politics

In 1992, the Washington state legislature attempted to pass a bill called the Erotic Music Law. The law would allow courts to declare certain albums "erotic" by their content, and would make it illegal to sell those albums to those under the age of 18. A lobbying group called the Washington Music Industry Coalition formed as a response to the bill. Novoselic and Nirvana actively campaigned against the bill and performed a benefit concert for the lobbying group in September of 1992.

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In 1995, the Erotic Music Law was reintroduced to the Washington State Legislature as the Matters Harmful to Minors bill. Noting that the music industry had serious clout in Seattle given the success of the scene, Novoselic proposed creating a political action committee, which was named JAMPAC (Joint Artists and Musicians Political Action Committee). Over the next several years, JAMPAC fought a number of different issues, including the Teen Dance Ordinance, a 1985 law that severely limited the ability of minors to attend shows. With JAMPAC, Novoselic began to turn his focus more and more towards politics.

Novoselic remains active in politics as an elected Democratic State Committeeman, making appearances to advocate electoral reform (especially instant-runoff voting and proportional representation) and running the website. He considered a 2004 run for Lieutenant Governor of Washington (as a Democrat, challenging an incumbent of the same party), but ultimately decided against it. He also joined the board of FairVote, then the Center for Voting and Democracy. His first book, Of Grunge and Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy, was published in October 2004.

Novoselic spoke on matters of electoral reform at the 2006 Libertarian National Convention.

In January 2008 he was appointed chair of FairVote.

Personal life

Krist cites Paul McCartney, Geezer Butler, John Entwistle and Gene Simmons as his favorite bass players who influenced him.

Krist has been married twice. His first wife was Shelli Dilley, whom he met in high school, and began dating in 1985. They were married in December, 1989; they divorced in late 1999. In early 2004, Krist married artist Darbury Ayn Stenderu.

On November 7, 2007 it was confirmed that Krist would write a blog for the Seattle Weekly website.

Novoselic resides near the rural Wahkiakum County, Washington, community of Deep River.

Krist is 6'7" tall.

References

• Bloch-Garcia, Peter. "Kick Out the Jams". Real Change News. 2000.

External links

• Krist Novoselic's blog at the Daily Weekly
• Murkyslough.com - A webpage managed by Novoselic.
• Krist Novoselic w/ Flipper
• Krist Novoselic at IMDb
• Novoselic.com - a website dedicated to Krist Novoselic

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