David Markey's 1991 Tour Diary
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August 18 1991: LAX - Met up with John Silva and Nirvana at the United terminal @ 10:30 am. I meet Kurt, Chris, Dave, & their soundman Craig Montgomery. They are tired 'cos they we're up all night shooting a video. Chris makes a few underhanded comments about the director being a jerk. They seem like good guys, there is something familiar about them. Remind me of a band that might have been on SST. We board United flight 934 and we're off to Heathrow, outside of London, England, arriving 7:30 tomorrow morning. We're meeting up with Sonic Youth, and starting a two week European tour, mainly consisting of festival shows. I'm along on this trip to shoot a documentary, and my camera was baggage checked (duh.) I'm real excited, and everyone else seems to be too. Played poker with Chris and Craig, won 4 out of 5 hands. I don't usually have this luck in cards. I've had 5 beers and a couple screwdrivers. Attempting to get drunk, but can't quite get there. Tried to sleep but couldn't. Walkman is on now, listening to Beefheart, Monk, & Coltrane. Worried about customs, and smuggling in my suitcase full of film past 'em without paying any taxes. Also, I don't have work permits, so I gotta play it cool. 8-19-91: England - Holding pattern over Heathrow delays our landing by a half hour. After this long flight it seems like we're circling endlessly. Cruised right past a dozen or so guards at customs. Was able to fool immigration about my entry, played the part of a student good enough. Nirvana was held up for quite a while in there, due to paperwork. Meet Kim, Thurston, Steve, minus Lee who's arriving tomorrow and meeting us in Ireland. SY's crew are more like their friends; Suzanne, Keith, and Nick are real nice folk, and we check out the plush tour bus we'll be riding in. I break out my old reliable super-8 and start shooting. Shortly thereafter, the bus moves on me, and I'm lost. I luckily see Kurt and Dave boarding a Euro-van, a much less accommodating tour vehicle. I catch a ride. Dave Grohl pops in Redd Kross' "Third Eye" and starts playing air drums. They ask me who the naked girl on to cover is. I inform them that it's Sofia Copolla. Chris starts imitating Sofia's performance in "Godfather 3". Kurt looks like he might be embarrassed. We arrive at the equipment rental place, meet up again with the Youth, and I do a bit of filming. Jet-lag and lack of sleep creeps in. I chow a veggie burger and chips at the cafe. I board the Sonic bus, am handed a tour itinerary and climb into my bunk and fall fast asleep. Wake up six hours later just in time for sunset in Wales. See a huge castle with a draw bridge that looks like it's a thousand years old. There are a few movies on the bus, most notably "This Is Spinal Tap". I watch "The Untouchables" and it puts me to sleep. Meanwhile the bus boards a ferry boat to cross the waters to Ireland. I wake up an hour later in a cold sweat from a strange dream to find the bus empty inside a huge auto compartment in the belly of the boat. Feeling claustrophobic, I make my way up on deck and find Thurston at the bar and join him in a Guiness. I find out that it's illegal for passengers to be in their vehicles down under, due to the possibility of the boat sinking. And, hey, didn't one of these boats sink recently? 8-20-91: Ireland - Wake up on the couch in the back of the bus at the crack of dawn. Moved here in the middle of the night from the coffin-like, crawl-space bunk. Beautiful super-green Irish country side rolling by. Everyone else is still sleeping. Have a coffee and rap with Terry, SY's sound guy. He's awesome, and I tell him I plan on using his sound board tapes as audio for my film. Arrive at our first stop on this tour, in the county of Cork. The band(s) and crew all have breakfast together in this old inn we're staying at that's attached to the club, Sir Henry's. My first impression of Europe as an American: everything is old. I dig it. This is my first time here, and I'm stoked. It's like walking into a history book. Nothing lasts for long in LA, it's great to be somewhere so rich with time. Cool out for a while back at the room. Lee arrives and attempts some shut eye, he's been up all night in transit. European MTV is showing Motley Crue struggling through a version of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK" at some big European festival. Perhaps maybe one of the ones we'll be at. Can jetlag cause you to hallucinate something this surreal? I make a sarcastic comment, "Wow, 1991 is the year that punk rock finally breaks." The show tonight is in a small club, I guess a "warm-up" for the big festival shows to follow. I hear bus loads of English fans are arriving just for this gig. There are old go-go cages in the back of the club, and I film Grohl go-going for it inside of one. Nirvana open the show and rock especially hard in this small space, 'tho filming suffers tonight due to the little light available in this pub. I shoot Kurt backstage nursing a tall-can of Heineken. I bust out with the obligatory Blue Velvet/Frank Booth reference "Heineken?! Fuck that shit! PABST BLUE RIBBON!" Kurt smiles back at me. Sonics take the stage and workout big time. They play good, alot of "Goo" songs, and quite a few older ones, and some new. There is a girl up front who keeps yelling for "Bubblegum" in between each song. Needless to say, she didn't get her request. No Watt in the house tonight, and I don't think they've ever played this song live.
8-22-91 Dublin - Early wake up in the bunk, climb out and head to the back of the bus. Thurston is there reading a book on palm reading, says he's been up since 5:30 am. The bus is stopped. We are somewhere in Dublin. I buy a box of Sugar Smacks from the mini-mart across the street and we split it. We go for a walk, it starts drizzling, and we buy some postcards. Jet lag still weighing down heavy. Back to the bus for more sleep. Wake up and we're at the venue for tonight, the Top Hat, a large sized club/hall. Eat beans on toast for lunch. The bands soundcheck, and I write to my mom and friends back in the USSA. Later, stroll through downtown Dublin with Kim & T, and do some filming. Saw a girl in a Fugazi T-shirt. Kim buys a "I Hate School" new-wave button. We run into a fan who claims he has the cover of "Goo" painted on the front of his scooter. Gig time; I get a good master shot of Nirvana from the back balcony. Film quite a few songs in their entirety, with my 200 foot mags of Kodachrome 40. Enough light in the house tonight thanks to Suzanne. Back up battery and charger working A-O-K. Shoot alot of the Youth tonight. Burn thru 6 200 footers without any problems. At the end of the set, during a grand version of "Expressway" my Bealieu 7008 pro Super-8 camera just up and dies. Bummer. Try everything to get it up and running to no avail. The motor just isn't pulling the film past the shutter. My one and only camera bites the dust! Super 8 motion-picture cameras are fucking rare these days, and I can't imagine what it's like over here, probably even harder to track down. Onwards to the hotel, have a few Irish Whiskeys with the band and crew at the bar while arrangements are made to get me a airline ticket to England tomorrow to see about getting my camera repaired. Share a room with Lee again, and probably snored him out. 8-22-91 Ireland/England - Was supposed to stay in Dublin today, and ride back to England with the bus and crew tomorrow, but as fate would have it, I'm flying with Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and manager John Silva to England. They've got a day of press interviews to do. Kurt came running up to me in the airport, glowing with a rare OG copy of "Naked Lunch" he had just scored, happy as a clam. We're flying Aer Lingus {I think the name sounds funny, like, you know...} Breakfast is served. It is meat with more meat. Ham on beef! Blood sausage! It's looks too intense to eat. I retreat to my walkman and play at full volume Jesus Christ Superstar (the original Broadway version, of course). Just then, behind me I notice a Catholic priest fiddling a rosary, sharing a window seat next to Silva. Land safely at Heathrow (again). Drive out of there again with Kurt, Chris, and Dave, head straight to the grey MCA offices to begin an morning of telephone calls to every camera place I can find in jolly old London. I get an advance tape of the new Nirvana record, "Nevermind". Had a fish 'n chips lunch in the pub around the corner with the band. Getting to know them, and I think they're real cool guys. Had a laugh at the mundane questions they keep getting from the English press. "What are your influences?" I finally talk to a guy who repairs Bealieu's, and arranged to meet him tomorrow. We then all go see Hole & Mudhoney play some club.
8-23-91 London - Wake up six am, on the floor of Steve Shelley's room in a Ramada Inn. I take a train out to Gatwick to meet the only man who knows my camera in all of the U.K. I pop "Nevermind" into my walkman as the train rolls along the track. The first thing I see is the creepy factory depicted on the cover of Pink Floyd's "Animals" off to my left. I snap a photo of it with my 35mm and drift off into total Nirvana. I really like this tape. As it turns out, the camera guy can't help me, and I'm headed back the way I came, this time listening to side 2. Back to London to check every camera shop I can find. I'm riding double decker busses to tube stations to various stores, until I find a Bealieu 5008, an older version of my camera, one that will use the same power system, and accept the 200 ft loads of film. I pay the overpriced 350 pounds and make my way through Pickadilly Circus, to the tube, to the big gothic station, to the train that will take me to the Reading Festival. They sky is gray and looks like rain as we pull into the Reading station. Walk to the festival grounds, lots of people comin' in. Trudge through the mud and make my way to the backstage and board the bus. Steve's wearing my brown corduroy jacket and I'm wearing his shirt! My pal Joe Cole is arm in arm with his girlfriend, Michelle Leon, bass babe of Babes In Toyland, who are about to take the stage and open today's show on the main stage. Joe's over here touring as a roadie for Hole, who aren't on the bill today. I get my battery charger fired up, and so begins a hectic day of shooting. I gather there was 60 thousand plus people out there, it sure looked great from the stage. And if I wasn't on stage, I was backstage capturing the insanity. The bands had to do more press today, so I crashed the interviews when I could. Courtney bum rushed the MTV Sonics interview with Thurston's encouragement. Matt Lukin from Mudhoney (who also are strangely absent from the bill today), filled in for an absent Steve Shelley in a Japanese TV interview. Lee and Kim we're then taking the piss out of French journalists, and they didn't even notice. Nirvana pretty much stole the show, hands down. Kurt dove into the photo pit, and spoke right into my camera and said; "...this is known as the blues scale..." as he wailed away discordantly on his guitar with a Feederz sticker on it. And then he dove into the crowd, should be a cool shot. At the end of the set, during the "noise song", he ran across the stage and tossed himself right into Grohl's kit. Best show for them so far on this tour. Dinosaur Jr. had the entire crowd singing along, I had no idea they are so huge here. There were a few other bands that played that I paid no attention to (like Pop Will Eat Itself). I filmed Sonic Youth in a communal prayer tonight right before they walked on stage, and yet the Sonics we're just allright tonight, not one of their four star sets. Iggy headlined doing more Stooges songs than I've ever heard him do. He looked good too, and he even got naked, right on! Anyhow, a real heavy day (and night) of filming (burned the most so far today.) 8-24-91 Cologne, Germany - Overnight drive into Cologne (didn't Devo record "Shrivel Up" here?) Right before we hit town I woke up in the back of the bus on the couch. Can't stand the bunk anymore. I know this is how Cliff Burton went, but what the heck. We stop at a highway restaurant (rathskeller -sp?). Another currency change, and of course I didn't have the d-marks, but Thurston covered me. Had French fries and eggs and rapped with Silva & Lee. And then, on to the second festival of this tour. This one again with Dino Jr., Bob Mould (acoustic/solo), Danielle Dax, and a bunch of other crap. I'm really getting into Nirvana, who were late and almost didn't make the show. They blew their set time but Thurston scrambled and got all the remaining bands to cut 10 minutes from their set so they could play. Great show, got lots of good stuff. Not nearly half the size of the Reading crowd, this festival (dubbed "Monsters of Rock") was graced by the best Sonic Youth set yet so far of this tour. Like that new song "Chapel Hill".
8-25-91 Hasselt, Belgium - "Pukkelpop" Another festival, this one looks as big as Reading, with an even stranger bill. The Pouges and The Ramones are the big stars here. Dino again. Black Francis too. Nirvana had to open the show at 11 am. Alot of sub-par "alternative" nobodies like An Emotional Fish cluttering up the bill. I pee'ed in Ride's dressing room (terriorial pissings?) Anyhow, the day started out soberly enough with a classy breakfast at the Ramada. I filmed Thurston espousing on my "the year punk broke" thesis with tour manager Peter Van der Velde. Then a quick taxi ride to the gig, which was in the middle of some heavy forest foliage. Got there just in time to catch the last half of Nirvana's set. They are getting progressively wilder as the tour goes on, and all this at 11 in the morning! The crowd just kinda stood there dumbfounded. The sight of Kurt straddling Chris and spinning into oblivion was priceless. Kim, Thurston and I watched from the photo pit in awe. Alot of hanging out went on today, bolstered by the most alcohol I've seen backstage yet. Nirvana covered their trailer in hand picked flowers by their road manager, Alex Macloed. All the bands had very formal table placards bearing the band's names on it. Shot a great scene between Kim and J. Mascis which was a knock-off of the Madonna/Sandra Bernheart scene from "Truth or Dare". Later, we parodied another scene from that flick, the Kevin Costner gag-me scene with Cobain in the Costner role. Sonics open with "Schizophrenia" and it's just massive and majestic. A perfect set follows as I keep the camera a-rollin'. The crowd was into it, and it showed. During "Kool Thing", Kurt danced with his friend Ian on stage, like a spaz on rittalin. As the day went on, everyone got more drunk. The Nirvana and Youth trailers we're parallel, and things started flying thru the adjacent windows; food, bottles, chairs, & clothes! By the time dinner was served, the inevitable food fight began, much to the chagrin of the concert promoters. Silva got as drunk as a fish, as this is his last day on the tour. I later encouraged Chris and Kurt to pilfer the Pouges' booze (risky business when you think about it). And I even filmed Joey Ramone hanging out, tho I was too shy to talk to him. I later even filmed the Ramones live in action! I have no idea how I held the camera for that one, I was so wasted. I was wasted. 8-26-91 Overnight drive w/ day off in Bremen. Went record shopping, found a store called Helter Skelter, bought a Butthole Surfers boot, a Circle One boot, a Charles Manson boot. Filmed Thurston runnin' wild in the streets, talking up dogs, babies, & little girls. Kim bought me a candy clown egg with bubblegum inside. Later walked through a red-light district, it was right out of a movie. Steve bought me a Bros candy bar (Bros are a Euro-New Kids on the Block-type band). 8-27-91 Bremen, Germany - Large club show tonight at The Aladdin w/ Gumball opening. Sung back-up on their tune "Yellow Pants". It was rough filming in this pad, no good vantage points. Big pillars blocking the view of the stage. Kim tells a MCA record exec to "fuck off" via a post-it note in Nirvana's backstage, which later gets thrashed. I start feeling a bit wierd, all these excesses catching up. The bands play exceptionally 'tho, and this gig is being recorded on a 24 track. Thurston trashes (and buys) a couple disco mirror balls.
8-28-91 Halle, (former) East Germany - OK, no more USSR, DDR, the times they are a-changin'. Went to this million-year old church & castle, never seen anything like this before. This club (didn't get the name) reminded me of Mike Myers' "Sprockets" skit. Very Deiter. Very Kraftwerk. They cranked the most awesome techno during dinner. There was a catwalk above the stage, made good for filming. The people here probably have not gotten much rock in their day, but tonight they get Nirvana and Sonic Youth wailing, flailing, and burning bright. Must have been really weird for them. Another gift from Steve, a Mickey and Minnie tambourine (just 'cos I commented how Disney was so omnipresent in Germany.) Filmed Thurston taking a dump, hope that comes out. 8-29-91 Stutgart, Germany - The gig is in a huge country and western bar, The Longhorn, a real "Urban Cowboy" type place replete with a mechanical bull. Shot alot of stuff today: Thurston doing a beat/hip hop mantra while Kurt and Kim do interpretive dances on a railroad track, Thurston rapping with some local kids about the state of underground rock in '91, an uneventful game of spin-the-bottle, and a bunch of other wacky stuff that should be good for segues in this film. And I got alot of great Nirvana & Sonics live stuff tonight too. 8-30-91 Nuremberg, Germany - The gig is outdoors, adjacent to a massive German Disneyland-on-acid amusement park. Imagine Coney Island 10 fold, mix in Dantes Inferno, and top it off with drunk Germans in polka tents. Had the camera working overtime today. Rode a chamber-of-thrills type ride with Kim, it was the greatest! I filmed a 50 foot robotic King Kong that spoke German, and seemed to be talking directly to me. If this is any insight to the German psyche, yow! I got Kim, Lee, and Steve to ride the log fume ride (Thurston chickened out). Thurst just came to life in this place, captured alot of classic, hilarious stuff. Was having so much fun in the amusement park, I missed Nirvana's set. Kurt said he thought it was kinda rough anyhow. He was into checking out the carnival, and I filmed Kurt walking around this twisted theme park tripping pretty hard. Whether it was my state of mind or not (didn't matter), Sonic Youth just tore it up, burn baby burned, etc. al. I was able to film alot too. Easy access all around, lit perfectly. Looked and sounded beautiful, and the set ended with a massive fireworks display. Stayed up till 5 am playing cds with Thurston and his German pal, Axl. Everything from Thin Lizzy to Meat Puppets, Talking Heads to King Crimson. 8-31-91 Rotterdam, Holland - Day off (not really). The first day of a massive 2 day festival. Spent most of the day sleeping, but was woken up by Keith who just got the most amazing weed from the local hash bar for something like $15. American dollars. Unbelievable. Did a bit of record shopping, found a mint copy of The Osmond's psychedelic opus "The Plan". Ate Frite's w/ pinter sauce (French fries w/ peanut butter- most excellent). Checked out Dinosaur Jr. @ the festival before passing out.
9-1-91 Rotterdam, Holland - Day 2 of this fest starts with another call from Keith. We hit the local hash bar for a space cake breakfast. Hard to believe tonight is the last show of this tour, it's been great fun. Hung out with Nick Cave, a really nice gentleman who bought me a beer. Thurston introduced us, and mentioned "Desperate Teenage Lovedolls", and Mr. Cave said it sounded great. The festival is held in a big indoor multi-hall convention center-type place, with many bands playing simultaneously. Nirvana we're getting really tanked-up backstage, and Chris tells me Kurt is flying on mushrooms. I film Kim doing the band's make up. Courtney Love enters the room, with Billy Corgan {Smashing Pumpkins were playing too} and introduces him to everyone. I think everyone was vastly underwhelmed. After they leave, Kurt scrawls on the wall in magic marker; "Courtney + Gish" and smiled incessantly. Nirvana go on and just about drive me to tears. They were fucking up too, but fucking up gloriously. I film most of the set, loading the cartridges non-stop. I was even calling out songs from stage right. "Hey Kurt, play In Bloom!" {They haven't played that song on this tour 'til tonight.} At the end, Kurt goes into distructo mode, and won't stop, until he is accosted by bouncers. Alex soon puts a stop to it. Sonic Youth are playing in a different room, in a larger hall. Sonics pull out all the stops, a real solid set, and a perfect ending to this tour. A killer "Teenage Riot", a two-thumbs-up "Mote", a very tasteful "Brother James", and another epic "Expressway". Shot it all. That's it. Tour's over. There is a post tour party at the Hilton, and I go only to say goodnight & goodbye to everyone. I'm gonna miss you all greatly, 'til next time. I am too burned to hang tonight. The last two weeks have been a non-stop party. I've gotta be up @ 6 am, heading back to England to shoot a music video, and then back to LA. I stare at the suit case filled with the hundreds of rolls of spent film and wonder what it will all look like. Should be some fun putting all this together. |
