Krist Novoselic is reviving a Nirvana favorite with his new band.
On Friday (June 21), the former Nirvana bassist appeared alongside his latest group The Bona Fide Band at Make Music Day in Aberdeen, Wash., the town where he and Kurt Cobain grew up and formed the iconic grunge band.
During Friday’s free performance, The Bona Fide Band — comprising Novoselic (bass), Screaming Trees’ Mark Pickerel (drums), Jillian Raye (vocals), Jennifer Johnson (vocals) and Kathy Moore (guitar) — performed a cover of Nirvana’s “Love Buzz,” which appears on the group’s 1989 debut album, Bleach.
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“Love Buzz,” with its catchy opening bass line, was released by Sub Pop in 1988 as the first single from Bleach. The track was originally recorded by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue in 1969.
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The Bona Fide Band, which is “playing mostly Giants in the Trees and 3rd Secret songs,” according to a website link shared through Nirvana’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, has a handful of live appearances lined up in Washington through late July, including stops in Seattle and Tacoma. The five-piece made its live debut at Easy Street Records in Seattle on Thursday (June 20).
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Giants in the Trees and 3rd Secret both featured Novoselic as a member. 3rd Secret was a supergroup consisting of Pearl Jam/Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil. The band released its self-titled debut in 2022.
Novoselic formed The Bona Fide Band in an effort to raise awareness for his new political party in Washington, the Cascade Party.
“It’s not just a run-of-the-mill party,” Novoselic told Seattle’s KOMO News. “We’re trying to do something different, we’re trying to be seminal, we’re trying to break ground. I’m also looking for something like that.”
The bassist, who serves as the party’s chair, says that in order to establish the Cascade Party, he needs to host conventions and run a presidential ticket. That’s where the Bona Fide Band’s live appearances come in.
“Need to get 1,000 valid signatures to qualify as a bona fide party, so these shows are actually political conventions, but there’s not going to be hardly any speeches from the stage,” Novoselic told KOMO. “We’re not going to go up there and clobber people with a bunch of rhetoric. Basically, please sign the petition if you want to see a new party in Washington State.”
He also hopes The Bona Fide’s shows will bring a sense of nostalgia to those in attendance.
“If it brings back memories and feelings for people, that’s the magic of music,” the musician said. “We’re not going to contaminate that with politics. We’re not going to make these political speeches.”
This year marked the 30th anniversary of Cobain’s death. The Nirvana frontman was found dead by suicide on April 8, 1994.
Watch Novoselic’s The Bona Fide Band cover a cover of “Love Buzz” here.