Guitarist Pat Smear has a massive resume. Starting his career with the Germs, he went on to join Foo Fighters in 1995. And while he left the band in ‘97, Smear officially rejoined in 2010. But between the two, from 1993 to 1994, Smear worked with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl in another band: Nirvana.
Smear made his Nirvana debut on Saturday Night Live, but in a recent interview on his Foo Fighters bandmate Chris Shiflett’s “Shred with Shifty” podcast alongside Dave Grohl, Smear revealed that Kurt Cobain almost didn’t let him play his first Nirvana gig because of the type of guitar he was using.
Smear recalled that he wanted to use his 1982 Charvel for the show – a guitar he got while previously working with singer-songwriter Nina Hagan – because it was his “good guitar,” but Cobain wasn’t impressed.
“She had a musical director, and they were snobs, and they hated that there was a fucking punk rocker in their band. They hated it so much. I mean, she didn’t, but the band did, and they’re like, ‘You need to get a good guitar.’ So I end up buying this Charvel,” he explained.
“It was gorgeous. I mean, this thing was so pretty. I thought, ‘Okay, now I have a good guitar.’ So we’re doing my first-ever gig with Nirvana [on] Saturday Night Live. And I’m like, ‘Well, better play my good guitar. I’m gonna play my Charvel.’”
But unlike Hagan’s people, Cobain was so off put by the Charvel that he seriously considered not letting Smear perform that night.
“And what I didn’t know at the time – I don’t even know if you [referring to Dave Grohl] were involved – but there was a discussion about me and that guitar like, ‘No, no, no, we can’t let him on stage,’” Smear recalled. “Kurt ended up giving me this rad fucking guitar [referring to the Mosrite Mark V in blue he ended up playing], which is not a Charvel.”
In a full circle moment, Smear’s Charvel story came to a bit of an amazing ending in October of last year (2023) after Foo Fighters performed with H.E.R. on Saturday Night Live.
“I noticed she was playing a Charvel. She goes, ‘Yeah!’ [and I said] ‘I have a perfect guitar for you,’ and I sent her that guitar,” Smear revealed.
