Musician Krist Novoselic: biography, family, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Krist Novoselic is a musician born on May 16, 1965. Krist is best known as the bass player for Nirvana. But after the group disbanded, he formed Sweet 75 and then Eyes Adrift, releasing one album with each group. From 2006 to 2009 he was a member of the punk band Flipper, with whom he played on the studio album Love and the live album Fight. And in 2011, he played drums on the song I Should Have Known by the Foo Fighters.

In addition to his musical activities, Krist takes an interest in politics and creates a JAMPAC committee to protect the rights of musicians. From November 2007 to September 2010, he wrote a weekly music and politics column for the Seattle Weekly website. From 2008 to the present day, he has been chairman of the electoral reform organization FairVote.

Krist Novoselic's early life and formationmusical preferences

The biography of Krist Novoselic begins with his birth in Compton, California, in a family of emigrants from Croatia, Kristo and Maria Novoselic. He lived there for a year before Krist's parents moved to the Croatian area of Los Angeles in San Pedro, where he lived for most of his childhood. Novoselic has two brothers, Alan and Dillon Malloy Novoselic. He also has a younger sister, Diana.

When property prices rose in 1979, Krist Novoselic's family moved to Aberdeen, Washington. Here he becomes interested in such bands as Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath and Devo. According to Krist Novoselic, in Aberdeen he began to be very complex, about his large height - 202 cm. He began to become very depressed. This was the reason that in 1980 Krist's parents sent him to study in Zadar, Croatia, which at that time became part of Yugoslavia. There he feels better. His interest in punk music grows even more, he learns about the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. Krist Novoselic himself notes that John Entwistle, Geezer Butler, Gene Simmons and Paul McCartney had a fundamental influence on him.

Return to Aberdeen and meet Kurt Cobain

After a year of living in Croatia, the family brings him back to Aberdeen. After a while, Novoselic's brother Robert introduced him to his friend Kurt Cobain, who noticed the loud music. Robert told Cobain that this is his older brother who loves punk rock. Cobain at the endhe eventually became friends with the older Novoselic, as the pair ended up sharing similar musical tastes, including a fondness for local band The Melvins. In addition, they had many common friends.

Formation of Nirvana and global popularity

At some point, Cobain gave Krist a demo tape of his former band Fecal Matter and suggested that he form a band together. A few months later, Novoselic finally listened to the tape, which, in the end, he liked and agreed to form the Nirvana group with Kurt Cobain. Kurt and Krist remained the same members of the group. But several musicians managed to be drummers, including Aaron Burkhard, Melvins Dale Crover, Chad Channin with whom they recorded their debut album Bleach in 1989.

Subsequently, Chad also left the band, and further search for a drummer led Cobain and Novoselic to a punk band called Scream. They were impressed with drummer Dave Grohl. And after a couple of weeks, having learned that Scream had disbanded, they invited Dave to join their group. Grohl auditioned and joined Nirvana. In 1991, the band recorded their main debut album Nevermind, the disc made the band famous all over the world with the single Smells Like Teen Spirit.

The death of Kurt Cobain and the collapse of Nirvana

Nirvana broke up in 1994 after the unexpected death of Kurt Cobain. For most of this year, Krist has stepped back from the limelight. Novoselic and Cobain were practicallyare inseparable, and the loss of his best friend was especially hard on him. One of the few public appearances was at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, where the Nirvana Heart-Shaped Box video was awarded Best Alternative Video. Krist Novoselic took the opportunity to pay tribute to his bandmate and best friend.

Continuation of Krist Novoselic's musical career

The next year, Novoselic continued to play in various musical groups. He was approached to play bass in the new musical act Foo Fighters with friend and former bandmate Dave Grohl. But both musicians refused. They figured people would think the Foo Fighters were a Nirvana revival.

In 1995, the group formed by Krist Novoselic, Sweet 75, released one album, and disbanded in 2000. After that, he joined Gell Bafr and, out of Soundgarden, Kim Thayil in No WTO Combo. Then to former Puppets vocalist Kurt Kirkwood and Bud Gaugh drummer to form Eyes Adrift, which also disbanded in 2003. This band was significant for Krist as it was the first official release in his career where he performed vocals. He also took a very active role in the songwriting and recording process, along with Kirkwood. After Eyes Adrift disbanded, Novoselic announced that he was leaving the music business, stating that he did not enjoy the process of creating publicity for new records. However, in recent years, Novoselic has occasionally worked on music for a possible soloalbum. "Now I'm just doing it for myself," Krist said.

In November 2006, it was announced that Novoselic would join Flipper, replacing Bruno DeSmartas on bass for a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Krist was a full member of the band and worked hard on his new album. On September 22, 2008, due to family circumstances, Novoselic announced his departure from the band. As a result, the band canceled the remainder of the tour. In 2009, he played a newspaper salesman in the film The Best Dad, starring Robin Williams. In October 2010, Nirvana's former assistant Dave Grohl announced on BBC radio that Krist Novoselic would join the Foo Fighters on the band's next album as bassist and accordionist. The record was released in 2011.

In 2012, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, along with Paul McCartney, performed at a charity concert to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Musician's Public Activities

In parallel with music, Krist Novoselic was engaged in social and political activities. In 1992, Washington state legislature attempted to pass a bill called the Erotic Music Act. The law allowed the courts to distinguish certain erotic albums by their content and prohibit them from being sold to persons under the age of 18. In response to the bill, a lobbying group called the Washington Music Industry Coalition was formed. Krist Novoselic Nirvana actively campaignedopposed the bill and performed at a benefit concert for a lobbying group in September 1992. In 1995, the Erotic Music Act was reintroduced to Washington state law as the Harm to Minors Bill.

The music industry was a big influence in Seattle, which is why Novoselic created a committee to protect the rights of musicians JAMPAC (Artists and Musicians Joint Action Committee).

Political activities

Av 2004, wrote and released the book Of Grunge and Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy. It was published in October 2004. In it, Krist talks about his musical background and the existence of Nirvana prior to the world fame of the 1990s. The book also covers Krist's interest in politics, his support for electoral reform.

Novoselic supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. In 2007, he made a donation to Libertarian Republican Congressman Ron Paul. Krist Novoselic is a vegetarian and publicly advocates for animal rights. Also calls for self-organization and electoral reform in the US.

Personal life of a musician

Krist Anthony Novoselic has been married twice. The first time his wife was Shelley Dilly. They met in high school and started dating. They were married since December 1989 and divorced by the end of 1999. In 2004, Novoselic married a second time, to the artist Darbury Stenderi. After that hemoved to live in the small rural town of Wahkiakum in Washington State.