Nirvana: A Tour Diary: My Life on the Road with One of the Greatest Bands of All Time

297 Pages·2013·6.65 MB·English

by  Andy Bollen

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A TOUR DIARY
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Andy Bollen played in bands from the age of 15. His friends
needed a drummer in an emergency so he helped out Captain
America and ended up touring with the hottest band on the
planet, purely by accident. Since then, he has worked in
comedy for 20 years, mostly with the BBC. He has written
topical gags and sketch-based comedy for network BBC TV as
well as BBC Scotland TV, Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 5
Live. He has been a columnist for the Sunday Mail, as well as
contributing to such diverse publications as the Glasgow Herald,
Scotland on Sunday and The New York Times. He plays drums
when the neighbours are out, DJs, has a dog called Bonnie and
walks around the park most days thinking about funny things.
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A TOUR DIARY
MY LIFE ON THE ROAD WITH ONE OF
THE GREATEST BANDS OF ALL TIME
ANDY BOLLEN
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Published by John Blake Publishing Ltd,
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ePub ISBN 978 1 78219 614 3
Mobi ISBN 978 1 78219 615 0
PDF ISBN 978 1 78219 616 7
First published in paperback in 2013
ISBN: 978 1 85782 875 7
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© Text copyright Andy Bollen 2013
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I
’d like to thank Sharron for her patience and support. John
Blake, Sara Cywinski for editing, Martin Roach at
Independent Music Press and Tom Bromley for his editing,
preliminary agent work and advice. Thanks also to Tony
McCluskey for proofreading. I’d like to personally thank
everyone for their belief, help and support, especially Norman
Ferguson. Everyone on the tour: Eugene, James, Gordon,
Naoko, Michie, Atsuko, Page, Krist, Dave and Kurt, Willie,
Michael and Murray.
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CONTENTS
Introduction On Stage with Nirvana 3
Chapter 1 ‘Our New Drummer: Andy Bollen.’ 11
Chapter 2 Smells Like Mudhoney 19
Chapter 3 Where Did You Sleep Last Night? 33
Chapter 4 Finding Nirvana 41
Chapter 5 Nirvana Gear 61
Chapter 6 Influences, Pop Music, Comedy 81
and The Monkees
Chapter 7 Shonen Knife, Laminates and Goths 91
Chapter 8 Nice T-Shirt, Kurt 103
Chapter 9 Getting the Tape, Touts and TOTPs 115
Chapter 10 Kurt’s Throat 135
Chapter 11 ‘I’ve Got Blisters On My Fingers.’ 143
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Chapter 12 Lost at Sea 167
Chapter 13 Surfer Rosa, Sobriety and 179
Japanese TV
Chapter 14 Breaking Point 209
Chapter 15 Drumming with Dave, T-Shirts, 235
Nirvana’s Tour Bus and Toast
Chapter 16 ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms 255
Around a Memory.’
Epilogue 271
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NevermindTour, Winter 1991
BRISTOL BIERKELLER 4 November
LONDON ASTORIA 5 November
WOLVERHAMPTON WULFRUN HALL 6 November
(Nirvana head to mainland Europe)
BRADFORD UNIVERSITY 26 November
BIRMINGHAM HUMMINGBIRD 27 November
SHEFFIELD UNIVERSITY 28 November
EDINBURGH CALTON STUDIOS 29 November
GLASGOW QMU 30 November
NEWCASTLE MAYFAIR 2 December
NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY 3 December
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 4 December
LONDON KILBURN NATIONAL 5 December
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