More than two decades have passed since the death of legendary Nirvana singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain. Numerous bands around the world still cite the early grunge and rock group as a major influence on their music.
A new documentary focuses specifically on the South Puget Sound music scene and the impact Nirvana had on it.
The title is pretty simple: “20 A.C.” — short for “20 years after Cobain.” Russell Brooks, the film’s producer and one of the directors, said the idea for the movie came during an Olympia Film Collective meeting just prior to the 20th anniversary of Cobain’s 1994 death.
“It came up about just exploring the music scene of the South Sound — how it was still affected by the legacy and influence of Kurt and Nirvana, and what they were able to accomplish, and to see where it was at 20 years later,” said Brooks, a board member for the nonprofit Olympia Film Collective.
A lot of the film’s music is taken from a Nirvana tribute concert held in the Capitol Theatre in 2014, and the bands seem to comprise a wide spectrum of punk, rock and grunge.
Brooks said he tried to reach former Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl about attending that concert, but didn’t hear back from them.
The movie also is sprinkled with interviews with a variety of current bands from the South Puget Sound area and Cobain’s hometown of Aberdeen. Important figures from the band’s history, such as original Nirvana drummer Aaron Burckhard of Aberdeen and Cobain’s first guitar teacher, Warren Mason, also are featured.
Through these interviews, Brooks said, it was interesting to compare the various ways Nirvana influenced the area’s bands, depending on if the musicians are older and saw Nirvana perform live, or are part of a later generation.
“You have some younger bands that were still influenced, but in a different way,” Brooks said. “They were part of that Evergreen State College influence, and were certainly aware of that influence by Nirvana, but were probably in Pampers at that time. That influence still exists, and I think that’s the defining piece of (the film).”
There also are a few stories thrown in about Cobain and his time living in Aberdeen and then Olympia, where he and his bandmates wrote the music for the historic “Nevermind” album.
“I remember hearing and reading about him in Rolling Stone, but then I would see him walking around town with one shoe on, lacing the other shoe up as he was walking down the sidewalk,” bassist Sean McCoy, a member of the Olympia band Mosquito Hawk, says in the trailer.
In another clip, a member of Aberdeen band Gebular says: “It’s tough, it’s sad that Cobain is a bigger deal everywhere else in the world than his hometown.” (As a side note, that particular interview was conducted years ago on Cobain’s old couch, which was on display in the Aberdeen Museum of History until the June 9 fire likely destroyed it.)
“I think when people watch the film, maybe in retrospect they’ll look back years from now and see it as a real slice-of-life time capsule piece to what it was like here in the area where Nirvana was born and Kurt and Krist (Novoselic) cut their teeth,” said Brooks.
The movie premiered recently at the Capitol Theatre in Olympia.
Brooks says his next plans are to take the movie on a tour of Northwest film festivals, like, “Spokane, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle,” he said. After that, it will likely be available online.
Photo courtesy Russell Brooks Members of the band Whatserface are interviewed for the documentary “20 A.C.” by the film’s makers. Whatserface is one of eight bands with live performances in the movie, which documents the South Puget Sound music scene after Kurt Cobain.
