On the road to Nirvana with Steve Double

Photographer of some of the most famous and influential cultural stars of the 21st Century; Steve Double has worked with Silver’s Chief Exec; Graham Dodridge on a wide range of shoots during more than twenty years of collaboration. He has photographed some of the I.T. greats such as Bill Gates, Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems and Apple’s Steve Jobs, not to mention our very own Sir Richard Branson. Here, however, we take a road trip with Steve and discover that his real passion is Rock Stars as Steve is interrogated by Graham about his time on the road with Nirvana and Kurt Cobain.

Graham: How did you become a ‘rock photographer’?

Steve: “I’ve always been in to music and played sax in a band myself. After college, when I was back in Reading in the early eighties and working as a debt collecter for Yellow Pages, I spotted an advert in the back of ‘Time Out’ placed by Stiff Records. They were looking for ‘brilliant’ young photographers. As The Pogues, who were signed to Stiff, were playing in Reading that night I decided to pop along with my Polaroid camera and take some reportage snaps of them in the bar before the gig. The next day I headed into London to Stiff HQ, and as luck would have it, The Pogues’ manager was at their offices and loved the shots. So Stiff began to give me bits andpieces of work and I was sent to cover the Mint Juleps, Bog Shed and then the infamous Alice Cooper – my first paid gigs! A ‘Sting’ job soon followed and then overseas to Los Angeles to photograph the wonderful and sinewy Iggy Pop. Somehow I was now well in with the ‘rock and pop’ scene and found myself also working for the late magazine ‘Sounds’.

Graham: So where next?

Steve: A new band called Nirvana whose 1989 album ‘Bleach’ which was highly influenced by the heavy dirge-rock of Mudhoney ­and 1980s punk were about to hit the road so I was dispatched to join them in New York for five days. I had previously photographed them at The Astoria in London where they had in fact supported Mudhoney.

I squeezed into a white ‘Transit type’ van between lead singer; Kurt Cobain and drummer Chad Channing. Bass player; Krist Novoselic drove and we set off on a loop to Hoboken, New Jersey, Massachusetts and back to New York. We slept on the floors of the friends of the band in the ‘indiest of indy’ style, the band had just $10 a day to spend. We chatted and drove and listened to music. It was fun but I didn’t for one minute suspect that the band were about to go intergalactic. There might have been a few hints on ‘Bleach’, but everyone thought that Mudhoney would take all the prizes. The NME largely ignored them and Sounds were the only magazine championing them.

At one of the gigs Kurt slipped on a dress belonging to the band’s Press Officer; Janet Billing and I got my shot.

Kurt was quiet and contemplative as we drove and so I chatted mainly to Krist. At one point they did cause some ‘rockstar’ damage to The Pyramid Club following a ropey gig, but they were also very pleased to be courted by the UK press and so I was made most welcome.

It was not until their single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ from the album ‘Nevermind’ hit the airwaves that the phenomenon that was Nirvana began to appear – and in an instant they exploded. It quickly gained momentum, thanks to significant airplay on MTV and everyone else it would seem. Billboard proclaimed, “Nirvana is that rare band that has everything: critical acclaim, industry respect, pop radio appeal, and a rock-solid college/alternative base.” Who am I to argue with that.

Graham: Was that the last you saw of them?

Steve: Not quite. I caught up with them three years later at The Reading festival. It was 1992 and Krist and Dave were pleased to see me, but Kurt was upset about an article that had appeared a few months before, that I had taken the photos for. Kurt disliked the piece as it had been critical of Courtney Love’s involvement with the group. I remember drinking late into the night with Kurt, ‘Hole’s’ guitarist, Eric Erlandson and a the journalist who had written the piece. It ended with pints being thrown!

Graham: And how do you feel about Nirvana now?

Steve: I was pleased for the band to have enjoyed such success and very sad to have observed the tragic end to Kurt. As time passes I feel privileged to have been there and seen them at the beginning.