Smells Like Grunge

LOVE LETTER TO 90’s GRUNGE CENTRESTAGE

Dig out your old flannel check shirts and your Doc Martens because the heyday of 90's grunge is coming back into fashion next week as Centrestage pays tribute to four icons of the famed Seattle sound at Old Grey on 9th and 10th October.

Entitled “Smells Like Grunge” and featuring the music of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and the Foo Fighters, the show is given voice by Centrestage frontman and long term fanatic Wayne Kallis.

He will be joined by Hugo Kleinhans on guitar, Andrew Warneke on bass and Port Elizabeth's very own Dave Grohl - Gino Fabbri on drums.

"Every singer or guitarist has that song or band that first made them want to pick up a guitar and sing," says Kallis. "For me that was the music on my older brother's Pearl Jam and Nirvana cassettes. These are the songs I had spent hours and hours playing and singing to alone in my room before I had ever even made it near a stage!"

Combining elements of classic rock, punk music and even metal, grunge gave a voice to the hopeless, misplaced youth of the early 90's who could find no anchor in the over-commercialized and insincere culture of the 80's.

Iconic and seemingly unhinged frontmen such as Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain helped grunge become more accessible to a larger audience and soon the angst-ridden genre was a worldwide mainstream phenomenon.

The show draws extensively from the repertoire of Pearl Jam, which is the only band to survive grunge’s eventual implosion and continues as one of the most popular bands in the US still today.

The inclusion of Soundgarden and Foo Fighters was obvious. Kurt Cobain's tragic suicide gave birth to the Foo Fighters, fronted by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, while Soundgarden not only boasted one of the most impressive voices of the modern age in vocalist Chris Cornell, but also a direct connection to Pearl Jam via drummer Matt Cameron who joined Pearl Jam in 1999 after Soundgarden had split up.

While many of these musicians are still performing to this day, this show will be a love letter to the music they made in the 90's with songs such as Alive, Betterman, Elderly woman behind the counter in a small town, Smells like Teen Spirit, Lithium, Heart shaped box, Black hole sun, Monkeywrench, Everlong and many more.

Nirvana's famous MTV unplugged concert will provide a few acoustic moments to ensure that the show will not only cater to fans of distorted guitars and crashing drums.

"We want everyone who loves this music as much as we do to come and share it with us," Kallis adds. "If you haven't ever taken the time to be moved by it, then we urge potential fans to come and discover it."

Tickets for the two night run can be purchased through Wendy on 082-6616921 or through Computicket at R120 each, discounted to R110 for bookings of eight or more.

A bar and pre-show meals are available and shows start at 19h30.