There was no listing in Seattle's essential alt. culture weekly newspaper The Stranger for the gig scheduled at The Boathouse on February 19, 1995, no fliers being handed out outside the venue on Mercer Street, no mention at all of the show on any of the college radio shows dedicated to promoting left of the dial outsider art in the Emerald City. It was almost as if the four-piece band who'd booked the show didn't want anyone to know about it. Which wasn't too far from the truth.
"There was a lot of interest right off the bat," their frontman told Rolling Stone 20 years on. "and that scared us because we hadn’t done anything yet."
Except, of course, all four musicians had done things before, and that was precisely why they were deliberately choosing to manage expectations for their first public appearance. The rhythm section - bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith - had spent the previous three years playing together in local alt. rockers Sunny Day Real Estate, Seattle's best-known post-hardcore band, signed to the city's Sub Pop label. Guitarist Pat Smear was an American hardcore legend, a founding member of nihilistic Los Angeles punks Germs, and most recently, Nirvana's touring guitarist, until Kurt Cobain's April 1994 death by suicide brought that new opportunity to a definitive end.
The 'face' of the band might never have fronted a group before, but it was always going to be his presence that would ensure that the band would be under the spotlight from day one, as he was only too aware.
"I was always going to be “that guy from Kurt Cobain’s band” and I knew that," he admitted.
