Nirvana producer Steve Albini has revealed how he once imitated Kurt Cobain on the phone when the grunge icon didn’t want to talk to KISS frontman Gene Simmons.

Speaking to Nardwuar during a recent interview at SXSW, Albini explained how Simmons had called the studio while Nirvana were in the middle of recording ‘In Utero’.

“Gene Simmons actually phoned the studio looking to speak to the band. He had been given the number by the record label or management or something”, he said.


“He called the studio and Kurt didn’t want to talk to him, and he handed me the phone and said, ‘You can deal with him.’”

“I pretended to be Kurt for awhile talking to Gene Simmons. They had a thing set up where you could record the telephone calls, so we recorded the conversation with Gene Simmons, where he admitted basically that he wasn’t familiar with Nirvana’s music or any of the bands that Kurt was sort of friends with”, he added.

“He wasn’t familiar with their music.”

Amazingly, Nardwuar replied: “I one time interviewed Gene Simmons, and he said: ‘Oh, I talked to Kurt Cobain.’”

Albini added: “Yeah, sorry to break the spell there Gene”.


Away from Nirvana, Albini is also known for his work with The Cribs – with Ryan Jarman previously telling NME of how he recruited Albini for work on their most recent album.