Nirvana rose to prominence in the early 90’s due to the astronomical success of their second album in 1991, Nevermind. Two years later, amongst all the band’s success and internal tensions that came along with it, drummer Dave Grohl briefly quit the band.
Internal Tensions Between Dave Grohl and Kurt Cobain
In the biography, This is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl, author Paul Brannigan revealed that tensions in Nirvana’s camp came to a head in 1993. Brannigan would claim in his book that by this point in time, there were two camps. Dave Grohl with Krist Novoselic and Cobain with his wife, Courtney Love.
In other interviews, Grohl talked about the camps, saying there was one group who did drugs while the other didn’t. He was a member of the group who didn’t do drugs.
“Kurt was kinda f—ed up and I heard him talking about how shitty of a drummer I was.” – Dave Grohl
Grohl told Vulture years after the book came out that the band was on a flight between Seattle and LA to start work on their In Utero tour. Grohl was sitting a few rows ahead of his bandmates, Krist Novoselic and Kurt Cobain when he overheard the two talking. Grohl revealed to author Paul Brannigan, “Kurt was kinda f—ed up and I heard him talking about how shitty of a drummer I was.”
In a separate interview, Grohl told Vulture, “I could hear Kurt saying, ‘I think we need a drummer that’s more rudimental, along the lines of Dan Peters,’ who was the guy they almost hired. I was really upset because I thought things were okay.” Peters had played in Nirvana prior to Grohl joining. There have also been two differing versions of what happened next.
“I don’t want to have to deal with any of this craziness.” – Dave Grohl
According to Brannigan’s book, which involved interviews with Grohl, he claimed that as the plane touched down, the drummer was upset, telling Nirvana’s tour manager Alex McLeod that he was quitting the band, “I just want to f—ing play music. I don’t want to have to deal with any of this craziness.”
Fortunately for the band, Grohl’s exit was short-lived after McLeod convinced him to stay in the group. The book’s author claimed that Grohl briefly quitting the band likely never reached Kurt, “In the cold light of day, Dave decided that everyone has to eat a little shit at work sometimes.”
However, years later, Grohl told Vulture a slightly different version of events, “I talked to Krist, and I said, ‘Is that really what you guys want to do? Because if that’s what you want, maybe just let me know, and we can call it a day.’ I eventually talked to Kurt about it, and he said, ‘No. That’s not what we want to do.’ I just felt like, ‘It’s up to you guys what kind of drummer you really want,’ and they decided I should stay.”
“At some point, I feel that Dave would have parted company with the pair.” – Paul Brannigan
Brannigan concluded in his book that if Cobain was still alive today, Nirvana would likely still be around, but Grohl wouldn’t be a part of it, “Dave was very aware that Nirvana was Kurt and Krist’s band, and that as lifelong friends, they shared a bond which went beyond music. At some point, I feel that Dave would have parted company with the pair.”
Prior to Dave Grohl joining Nirvana, when he still played drums in the band Scream, he was always writing music. Within a few days of joining Nirvana, Grohl wrote the song “Friend of a Friend”, which was written about his first impressions of his new Nirvana bandmates.
Dave Grohl Releases Pocketwatch Demo Under Late!
As Nirvana grew in popularity, Grohl continued to write and record his own music and eventually released a 10-song demo tape called Pocketwatch in 1992 under the pseudonym Late! The tape was released through the now-defunct indie label Simple Machines.
Grohl revealed to Timeout Chicago in 2011, the origins of the recording, “My friend Barrett Jones, he had an 8-track studio in his basement. Before I was in Nirvana when I was in Scream, I would go over and record a lot of drums on a lot of his music and I realized, wait a second, I could probably record a song all by myself if he would let me. Then I’d say Barrett, ‘Can I please use the last minutes of tape?’ and I’d record a song just by myself. I’d do the drums first and then guitars and bass.”
“I called it Late! because I’m an idiot and I thought it would be funny to say to everybody, ‘Sorry we’re Late!'” – Dave Grohl
Jenny Toome, the co-founder of Simple Machines, came across Grohl’s cassette tape and persuaded the musician to release his recordings on her label. Much like the early days of Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl wasn’t a fan of attaching his name to the project and instead, wanted it to remain anonymous. He claimed in the same interview, “When she asked me if I wanted to do it, I said yeah sure, but I don’t want it to be called the Dave Grohl Band, Let’s call it something else. So I called it Late! because I’m an idiot and I thought it would be funny to say to everybody, ‘Sorry we’re Late!'”
Scream fell apart in 1990 and later that year, The Melvins’ leader Buzz Osbourne connected his friend Dave Grohl with the members of Nirvana, who just happened to be looking for a drummer. Grohl joined the band shortly afterwards.
The original 6 recordings that were part of the 1990 recording sessions were combined with a second session Grohl did in the summer of 1991 after he joined Nirvana.
Fans of Nirvana and Foo Fighters may be familiar with several of the songs off the release including “Color Pictures of a Marigold” and “Friend of a Friend”. “Color Pictures of a Marigold” was eventually changed to “Marigold” and it appeared as a B-side on the single for Heart Shaped Box. “Friend of a friend” was released on the 2005 Foo Fighters’ record, In Your Honor.
The Late! Pocketwatch cassette tape was eventually released in 1992, about a year after Nirvana released their landmark record Nevermind.
Demand for Pocketwatch Grows
Dave Grohl revealed that once Nirvana blew up, demand for his cassette tape increased. When he started Foo Fighters in 1995, interest once again increased and Grohl claimed in the same interview, “At one time Toomey was getting a lot of requests for the Pocketwatch cassette and she was literally dubbing them on a double cassette deck in her bedroom.”
With the demand increasing for the cassette tape and the master cassettes deteriorating, the label got in touch with Dave Grohl to release the recordings on CD to satisfy demand, but Grohl declined.
According to Grohl, he chose not to release it on CD because, “It was never intended to be a big thing,” while also joking in the same interview, that he wanted to drive up the prices of cassettes to $3,000. It was funny that Grohl mentioned that because as recently as 2019, one of the Pocketwatch cassette tapes sold for over $400 US on Ebay.
Like this story? Check out The Tragic Story of EMF, the Band Behind “Unbelievable”.
Check out our YouTube channel