Jason Everman Recalls Kurt Cobain’s ‘One Man Show’ In Nirvana

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-Jason Everman, formerly of Nirvana and Soundgarden, recently recalled how reluctant Kurt Cobain was to let others have the creative vessel of Nirvana while sitting down with Joe Rogan.

Everman is a relatively unknown and underappreciated figure in the rock scene, but when you look through his resume, it surely is impressive. He was there, performing alongside Nirvana, before millions knew all about the act, and got to witness how firm Cobain’s grasp on the creative vessel was before anyone was aware of the frontman’s genius.

So, while recollecting some early memories with Nirvana, Jason discussed how the act was a ‘one-man show’ rather than a team project, as their rehearsals often played out with Cobain halfheartedly asking whether anyone wanted to contribute any ideas and then carrying on as they were by saying that he had new music, suggesting it would be for the best if they fixated on that.

-The guitarist discussed how he and his former bandmates didn’t know how to communicate but reasoned that to be quite normal since they were too young and didn’t know what to say to one another or express their displeasures open forward. For Everman, Nirvana felt more like a garage band formed by aspiring young fellows than a professional outfit.

Jason’s words on working with the Nirvana icon:

“With Nirvana, I guess initially when I came onboard, Kurt wanted a second guitar player for the live show. Initially, I thought I was going to be able to contribute to the band creatively, and then it got to the point when I realized that wasn’t going to happen.

On the rare times where we actually rehearsed as a band – which was not a lot – Kurt kind of halfheartedly [asked], ‘Who has ideas?’ I’d throw a couple of ideas out. And Chad [Channing, drummer], a very accomplished musician in his own right, would throw some ideas out. And then it would just be glossed over, and [Cobain] would be like, ‘Well, here’s the new song I wrote,’ and we’d start learning that.”

So, it’s evident that Nirvana had a bit of trouble with creative differences and democracy early on in their career since the frontman always had new ideas and wanted to pour out those into the band’s rehearsals and discography. Still… We might say Kurt’s firm grasp over the act proved fruitful since most of the singer’s songs became timeless hits and made Nirvana a powerhouse of grunge