Nirvana Revisited

A tribute, in love and pain, to one of rock’s iconic bands.
It’s the classic story – three schoolboys start fooling around with guitars and other musical stuff, they join bands, school breaks up and so do the bands, the boys go their separate ways – until they meet up and rediscover their common interest in music. They jam together and voila! – another band is formed.

All four members of In Love and Pain! hail from Tai Po, three were students in the same school. But if the band’s genesis isn’t all that extraordinary, maybe its name is. Drummer Marvin, a little abashed by the ‘pretty stupid story’, tells how it came about. ‘We had written some songs and needed to think of a band name. Kid [guitar and vocals] thought of a name 20 words long. It started something along the lines of “We kill our mother tonight…”, and, to sum up, it meant “in love and pain”.’ The band start bickering about what the original title was before Kid says, ‘It is about things that will make you love and hate at the same time. [Things that evoke emotions that are] very contradictory but always together, [things] like playing music or relationships with your family and friends.’

Take as an example playing in a band while holding down a daytime job. ‘It is like having two full-time jobs. The energy and time I spend on the band is probably more than [what I spend on] my work. But the outcome is very satisfying and that you cannot find in any other job,’ says Marvin, whose occupation is to ‘email, email and email.’ ‘If you told me I was not allowed to spend time thinking about my music, I would feel incomplete.’ Even bassist Satva who sell music instruments, nods in agreement.

The band refuse to confine themselves in any particular genre. Their influences range from Radiohead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Incubus to darkwave duo Lacrimosa – Marvin, in fact, played in a gothic band before In Love And Pain!. Their coming gig will be a tribute to Nirvana and Kurt Cobain and Marvin jumps in with memories of the ‘grunge invasion’ – Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Nirvana back in early ’90s. ‘That was when I started to pick up a guitar and wanted to play in a band because I thought the music was cool and it should be fun playing it.’ To Kid, a toilet salesman, (‘Like people who like taking pictures of buses or appreciate women, I appreciate toilets and like taking pictures of them.Everyone needs them… like music.’) it’s rather more singular. ‘Nirvana are a legend in music history. That’s why I respect them a lot.’

The band don’t know which songs they will cover in the tribute yet, though they will play original tunes as well. You can hear On the Road Into the Wild and Warning on their MySpace site, and catch the abstractly named Warning from 2024 and 21st Century Exodus in their live shows. Satva, who pens the band’s lyrics, tells of his inspiration: ‘[The songs are usually about] things we see at work or from magazines or books we have read – mostly about social injustice. And sometimes we have darker songs, though some talk about love, some more personal stuff.’

The band, having played acoustic in Underground and Listen Up!, will explore that further. ‘A lot of people think playing acoustic is a very Albert Au thing but that’s not true. Like Nirvana… when they play unplugged, it is even better than the studio albums,’ says Marvin ‘The possibilities that open up in playing acoustic are actually much greater than anyone can imagine,’ says the drummer.

Five Minutes with Dear Jane...

The Cantorock four-piece is about to release a new album, XOXO, at the end of the month but before that they share their own Nirvana moments.

Adam [guitar]: To me, Nirvana make people want to play guitar. When I see Van Halen play I wouldn’t want to start learning guitar. It looks so difficult! But Nirvana makes you want to play – Come as You Are was one of the songs I always played when I started.
Howie [bass]: They redefined what cool rock music and fashion were, overnight. Before Nirvana we were still into Guns N’ Roses and their leather pants – I had a pair myself – and all that and then Nirvana came out and we suddenly thought what we were listening to before was so old-fashioned. I read an interview in which Kurt Cobain said he didn’t understand why people said they were playing grunge – he thought he was playing punk. I remember
that line very well. He brought punk to the US, so I think Dear Jane is influenced by him indirectly.
Jackal [drums]: What did you guys listen to Nirvana on? I still remember it was a cassette tape… I came across Nevermind when I was looking for the bands featured on the Wayne’s World soundtrack. Then I bought it because of its cover art.
Tim [vocals]: I migrated to the US in the ’90s after the grunge wave, but I definitely think Nirvana made their mark on the historical timeline of rock music. They are more arty – they are an outcast band and said what they wanted, which is very important in making music.

In Love And Pain! and Dear Jane, together with Born to Hula, F.B.I., Headhunter and Gong Wu will play in the Die?! Never Mind! A Tribute to Kurt Cobain/Nirvana concert on April 4 at Backstage. The gig starts at 9:30pm and advance tickets are $160 from Backstage and Zoo Records, or $120 at door (includes one drink).