And so when the people started swooping in from outside, were very distrusting of it.”Īs Pavlovic puts it, the big promoters might have had “their swinging dicks and their swinging wallets, but they just weren’t relevant. “If you’re endorsed by that community, you’re part of the crew. They’re very DIY, it’s very community based. Because what these other promoters don’t understand is that these guys come from a punk rock background. “But then I had a moment of clarity where I realised, you know what, they are gonna stick with me. It was like, are they gonna really stick with me? They’re going to have to go with a big promoter. “Then there was a moment I just had to hang on. They came to me and said, ‘Let’s do a joint venture.’ And I said, ‘I’m all good.’ “Then the other parties tried to get involved. Through his roots in the underground music scene, “Pav” – as he was (and still is) universally known – was part of that connection, which gave him an edge over established promoters such as Michael Gudinski or Michael Chugg when they tried to muscle their way in on the hot new thing that was Nirvana. We did love bands from Australia, and there was some sort of Seattle-Australia connection.” “This place was a mystery to us,” Grohl says in one clip. Jesse PeretzĪ series of interviews by Pavlovic with indie rock luminaries such as Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), Mike D and Ad-Rock (Beastie Boys), Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) and Nirvana drummer (and Foo Fighters founder) Dave Grohl sheds light on their recollections of touring Down Under. It features more than 200 items from Pavlovic’s personal archives – posters, graphic art, backstage photographs, fanzines, tour itineraries, setlists, handwritten letters and postcards – along with previously unseen video footage, unheard music demos and live audio recordings. Now, 30 years after that momentous Nirvana tour, the vibrant era of live music in the ’90s is being celebrated in Unpopular, an exhibition at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. Pavlovic went on to bring ground-breaking acts such as Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth and Pavement to Australia, set up the Summersault festival, and later launched the Modular Recordings label, exposing Australian artists such as The Avalanches, Wolfmother and Tame Impala to a global audience. Mudhoney at the Barwon Club, Geelong, Victoria, Australia, February 26, 1990. “I could then go to another agent anywhere in the world and say, ‘I just did Nirvana.’” “But doing that legitimised what I was doing,” he says. Until then, he had just been pursuing his passion. It was to be the making of Pavlovic as a promoter. “And watching it in real time, because it happened so quick … It was going nuts, I was shitting myself.” “It was definitely like, ‘Is this really happening?’” Pavlovic recalls. The record they had been working on, Nevermind, was released in September, and by the time the band touched down in Sydney in January 1992, it had just reached No.1 on the US billboard charts, ousting Michael Jackson from the top spot, and was selling 300,000 copies a week. And that record we’ve been working on is coming out in a few months, but we definitely want to stick with you.’”Ī deal was struck, and by July 1991, Pavlovic had booked the relatively unknown Seattle trio for their first Australian tour. “They’re like, ‘Oh, we’ve got a manager now. Neil WallaceĪ year later, Pavlovic called again. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Big Day Out, Hordern Pavilion, 1992. “‘Yeah, we’d love to, we’re busy making this record. “So I just call them up – ‘You wanna come to Australia?’” recounts Pavlovic. Having brought pioneering US grunge misfits Mudhoney to Australia’s shores for a run of small gigs in inner-city pubs, they gave him the phone numbers of their friends Chris and Kurt, who were also in a band. In 1990, then 24-year-old punk rock promoter Steve Pavlovic had a serendipitous encounter.
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