Matt Cameron has opened up about his memories with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl in a new interview.
In an interview with the Seattle Today podcast, the former Soundgarden (and current Pearl Jam) drummer said, “We heard about this OK Hotel show with Nirvana – with Dave. I think it was his second or third show here in Seattle with Nirvana, maybe it was his first show, I don’t know. So anyway, we went to the alleyway behind the OK, knocked on the door and Krist [Novoselic] was there so he let us in.
“There was one point where Kurt – I didn’t know him that well, but we were definitely familiar and acquaintances and stuff – but he broke his guitar string [while playing] and he handed me the guitar and was like, ‘Change my guitar string!’
Cameron continued, “There was this Scooby-Doo lunchbox with, just some, like, wrapped up guitar strings. I don’t know which string I was supposed to change. So I started to change his string, like “I don’t know which string goes on which thing here!”.
“Then somebody came in and finished the job for me, luckily. But it was cool, ‘Change my string!’. ‘Gladly, sir! My pleasure.’ It was an honour.
“They were always great guys. I remember seeing them at a Tuesday Vogue show with Chad and everything. Kim and I were there, and Kurt came up and introduced himself, we’d heard Love Buzz and fu**ing loved it. I think there’s a photo of Kurt with a Soundgarden sticker on his guitar. I heard he really loved Screaming Life, our first album, so that’s cool.”
Cameron also goes on to share his memory of Dave Grohl at the show. “I was watching Dave play, I was just amazed at his f***ing power. just how tight he was, and the tempos were spot on. But he had this disgusting plastic water pitcher right next to his left foot. There was this drum stick sawdust in it, and the container was really dirty.
Love Foo Fighters?
Get the latest Foo Fighters news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“Then he had these disgusting hiking socks, like wool hiking socks, and I think he had Converse on. It was like, ‘That’s the worst combination for drumming shoes I’ve ever seen in my life!’. But he was just fucking pounding, and he’d drink this disgusting sawdust water…but that was all there was, you know?”
For more on this topic, head over to the Classic Rock Observer.
Check out Matt Cameron discussing Kurt Cobain:
