Krist Novoselic

Krist Novoselic
Novoselic in 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Krist Anthony Novoselic
Born	May 16, 1965 (1965-05-16) (age 44)
Genres	Alternative rock, grunge, punk rock
Occupations	Musician, politician, songwriter, author, director
Instruments	Bass, vocals, guitar, accordion, farfisa organ
Years active	1987 - present
Labels	Sub Pop DGC / Geffen Records SpinArt Records
Associated acts	Nirvana Eyes Adrift Sweet 75 Flipper No WTO Combo The Stinkypuffs Sky Cries Mary Aya
Notable instruments
Gibson Ripper Gibson Thunderbird Gibson RD Artist Ibanez Black Eagle

Krist Anthony Novoselic II (Croatian surname spelling: Novoselić) (born May 16, 1965) is a Croatian American rock musician, best known for being the bassist and co-founder of the grunge band Nirvana. In addition to Nirvana, Novoselic has played for Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift, and most recently in Flipper. Apart from his musical endeavors, Novoselic has been active politically, including the creation of the political action committee JAMPAC. Since November 2007, Novoselic has written a weekly column on music and politics for Seattle Weekly's website.^[1]

Biography

Early life (1965 to 1986)

Novoselic was born to Croatian immigrants Krist and Maria Novoselić in Compton, California. He lived there for one year, before his parents relocated to San Pedro, California,^[2] where he remained for most of his childhood. He has two brothers, Robert Alan Novoselic and Dillon Malloy Novoselic, 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 his depression, his parents sent him to live with relatives in Zadar, Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia, in 1980.^[3] There, Novoselic attended the gymnasium. Novoselic 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, and discovered bands like the Sex Pistols and the Ramones.^[4] He has cited Paul McCartney, Geezer Butler, and Gene Simmons as the fundamental influences of his bass playing. ^[5]

Sometime later, Novoselic's brother Robert walked in with 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 (1987 to 1994)

Novoselic (left) playing with Cobain (right) 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 $80 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.^[6] 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 with their hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

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 him. 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.

Post Nirvana (since 1995)

The following year, Novoselic continued to dabble in musical endeavors. He discussed creating a new band with friend and former bandmate Dave Grohl but both decided against it because they believed people would think of Foo Fighters as a new incarnation of Nirvana. Novoselic instead formed the band Sweet 75 in 1995, releasing a single self-titled album in 1997. Even though he turned Foo Fighters down, in 2002 he performed uncredited background vocals on one song during the One by One album sessions. The track is Walking a Line, released on the One by One bonus DVD and as an iTunes bonus track to the album, in a tribute to Cobain.

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. This band was significant as it was the first official release in his career where he sang lead vocals. He also took a highly active role in the song writing process, co-writing several songs with 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."^[7]

In November 2006, it was announced that Novoselic would join Flipper, replacing Bruno DeSmartas on bass, for a tour of the UK and Ireland.^[8] He was a full time member of the band and had been working on their new album.^[9] On 22 September 2008, due to responsibilities at home, Novoselic announced his departure from the band.^[10] As a result, the band canceled the remainder of the tour. Rachel Thoele then replaced Novoselic.^[11] In 2009, he played a newspaper vender in the movie World's Greatest Dad starring Robin Williams.

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 1992.

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 State Committeeman, making appearances to advocate electoral reform (especially instant-runoff voting and proportional representation) and running the website.^[12] 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. It covers Novoselic's musical past, including Nirvana's rise to a world wide phenomenon of the early 1990s. Novoselic also covers how he got involved in politics, his support of electoral reform, and his belief in the need to return to grassroots movements and clean up politics in general.

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

In January 2008 he was appointed chair of FairVote. ^[13]

He withdrew from the campaign for county clerk of Wahkiakum County.^[14] He was running under the "Grange Party." He is a member of The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.^[15] However, the Grange is not actually a political party. He was running in order to protest Washington State's system in which a candidate can claim any party as their own (real or fictional). ^[16]

Personal life

Novoselic has been married twice. His first wife was Shelli Dilley; he met her in high school, and they began dating in 1985. They were married in December 1989; they divorced in late 1999. In early 2004, he married artist Darbury Ayn Stenderu.^[17] He currently resides near the rural Wahkiakum County, Washington, community of Deep River.

He currently writes a blog^[18] for the Seattle Weekly website.^[13]

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Krist Novoselic

• Krist Novoselic's blog at the Daily Weekly
• Murkyslough.com - A webpage managed by Novoselic.
• Krist Novoselic w/ Flipper
• Krist Novoselic at the Internet Movie Database
• Novoselic.com - a website dedicated to Krist Novoselic
• [1] Krist Novoselic on Twitter