“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Abraham Lincoln 

I am still learning how exactly to use this medium to write, let alone the intricacies of Squarespace.

The lack of content for a while is not indicative of an absence of posts to publish, rather a “getting to know one’s surrounds”.

Thanks.

This is Sysadmin Sunday, a post of interesting links from throughout the previous week.

• Change-automation vs. LazyCoder
• You should log all successful user authentication
• Ants and TCP
• skypipe : a cloud based named pipe
• Windows Core Needs to be the Future
• 8 Linux Commands Every Developer Should Know
• The truth about Goobuntu: Google’s in-house desktop Ubuntu Linux
• Visualizing SPDY vs HTTP

Subscribe to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter for interesting links throughout the week.

The post Sysadmin Sunday 95 appeared first on Server Density Blog.

The Earth moved for Filipino Tweeps before needles moved for boffins

Twitter has beaten instruments to the punch at the US Geological Survey – but the geeks at the country’s lead earth-sciences agency are perfectly happy.…

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A few months ago, we had an interesting issue with another website stealing our content in an unusual way. Essentially they ran a proxy service on a similar domain (a .com.ar instead of .com) and then replicated our site, replacing our ads with their own. They also ran our content through a content replacement algorithm, removing certain pieces of text and also replacing our own domain with theirs. It is fairly easy to do.

We had a few concerns about this. Firstly, we were worried that unsuspecting users would enter their login information on this site. Also, they actually were showing up in Google search engine results, which both hurts our brand, ranking and perception by users (this site loaded much slower than ours obviously).

First Attempt To Stop The Proxy Spammers: IP Blocking

Determined to put a stop to it, the first method we tried was blocking their crawler IPs. However, they owned enough IPs in enough ranges that it was simply a cat and mouse game. We would block them, and then a day later they would be back up. After a few weeks of this it didn’t seem to be a viable long-term solution for blocking these spammers.

Next, We Used Their Mirroring Of Our Content Against Them

Next I thought I would use the fact that they were modifying our page content and disable their site that way.

I created a box in html/css which would trigger via JavaScript only when loading from their domain. But, you wouldn’t think it would be that easy would you? They replace our domain with theirs, modifying any mention of their own domain. So I used a quick hash function to create a unique identifier from the loaded domain and then matched against that.

Also, figuring they would just take out the HTML box I created, I also found it useful to display a hex-encoded version of it. You can encode text to the hex-escaped version for Javascript with the following command line:

The final Javascript I started loading on our site (and therefore their site) is below:

After thoroughly testing and then putting up the code, we launched it live. It was very satisfying knowing that end-users were getting the warning message when visiting their site, and the actually reported their experience back to us. After about 12 hours, they figured out our play out and turned off their proxy. Success!

…

Not quite. The next morning I woke up to see their site back up. Looking into their code, they had removed the JS completely. I changed our code, embedded it in a JS file, and used other creative means to get it back up – but in the end they were just able to disable the Javascript entirely and defeat this attack. It was just another cat-and-mouse game.

We also tried DMCA/Abuse Contacts

We also tried to send notices to their hosting company to get them to take down the site. They were hosted in Argentina, so DMCA is not applicable. Their abuse contacts were non-responsive.

Originally we thought we could go after their domain registration since it violated our trademark – but this is a long and involved process involving lots of paperwork and time, and for another $10 they could just register another domain name. We didn’t think this was a viable option.

Going to the Source: Google

Google is involved in this scam in a number of ways. First, they were indexing and serving his site in their search results. Secondly the scammers were replacing our ads with their own Google AdSense ads, which I am sure is a ToS violation.

While we were attempting to defeat their site from a technical perspective, we also began looking at Google to see what we could do from there.

Google has a process for submitting DMCA requests. The issue in this case is that they make you submit one batch at a time, and with millions of pages on our site and indexed in Google, it just doesn’t make sense to list out urls line by line. It worked to remove those submitted results from search engine results, but it was like cutting grass with scissors. Finally, I attempted to contact Matt Cutts via Twitter:

Thanks. So much for that venue. I know @mattcutts is the public face of Web Spam at Google so I’m sure that he gets lots of @’s with dumb questions, but we were already way beyond this.

Finally, What Worked

Members of our site had a few personal contacts at Google both in an AdSense representative and otherwise. One of our contacts with Google was able to bring this issue up with the right people and they finally took the offending domain out of the SERPs permanently. We also reported their AdSense account – but we don’t know what happened with that. Without them showing up in SERPs, it was a moot point because they won’t be getting many visitors any more.

The Problem With Google

Google has become so large that it is almost impossible to get a situation like this taken care of without knowing someone who works for them. They have many automated systems in place, but scammers will continue to utilize loopholes for their own profit. Google enables this type of scam, yet they also profit from it.

I wish Google would have some sort of Ombudsman or review system set up so that someone like us, who is having our content ripped off by others using Google’s own tools (and with Google taking a percentage of profit from these people), has a way to efficiently deal with them without resorting to personal contacts. We spent much time on this, time that could have been put to better use.

Or maybe personal contacts are the only real way to deal with a situation like this?

Anyway – I am welcoming comments and any other ideas for dealing with these Proxy Hijackers and how to keep them offline. I’m curious how widespread this type of incident is, we know of only one other site that was having the same issue from the same scammer.

After all, they can always get another domain for $10.

This post originally appeared on Brendan’s Blog at DTrace.org 

I’ve been developing a 2 day DTrace training course, which I’ll deliver in San Francisco on September 6th this year. The course materials include a copy of the DTrace book, written by myself and Jim Mauro.

This course focuses on how to use DTrace: In particular, how to analyze performance issues and troubleshoot mysterious errors. It includes techniques and methodologies for approaching real-world issues, including workload characterization and latency analysis. The hardest part when learning DTrace isn’t the syntax (which is awk-like, and covered in the DTrace guide), but knowing what to do with it, which is the focus of this class.

This course is suitable for a variety of backgrounds and environments, including sysadmins, support staff and developers, and those working in SmartOS or other operating systems with DTrace. Each student will have access to a SmartMachine (similar to a Solaris Zone) with DTrace for performing the labs and exercises during class.

Read More on Brendan’s blog »

Terrific guide to the WebKit Inspector by Majd Taby. (But note that it’s three months old, and thus doesn’t cover the even-better brand-new but much-maligned Inspector in Safari 6.)

Bryan Cantrill, Corporate Open Source Anti-Patterns: Doing It Wrong
video, slides
Bryan speaks his mind about corporate open source patterns with insights from Sun, the OpenSolaris project and Joyent. He does a bad job hiding what he thinks of Oracle ;)

Brendan Gregg, Performance analysis, the USE method
slides, video
Brendan on performance analysis using the USE method with good examples.

Update: Added Brendans video.

The article provides an architectural overview of Oracle VM Server for SPARC and even discusses some new and advanced features. I recommend this to anyone wanting to get a good understanding of Logical Domains / Oracle VM Server for SPARC.

I would like to take this time to thank everyone that expressed their support while Offensive Computing was offline. It was a trying time and I really appreciate everyone's support. Without getting into any of the specifics of why the site was offline for two months, we are back and here to stay. There are a couple of people who were instrumental in helping to keep everything up and running. Paul Royal, from the Georgia Tech Information Security Center helped out significantly with hardware and the new home of the site. Kelcey Tietjen also stepped in and helped out tremendously. If you see either of them at some upcoming conferences (hint: Paul is giving a talk at Blackhat) buy them a drink.

There are a couple of changes that are going to happen that more accurately reflect the intentions of the site. First, the name will be changing to Open Malware. The new name more accurately reflects the purpose and intention of the site. Way back in 2005 the intention was to make this a place where you could find information related to malware and other types of hacking. As things (and life) have progressed it has changed into a malware research site, specifically with the ability to download malware samples. The domain will be OpenMalware.org in the very near future.

The second big item of news is that we will be transitioning to a download-only malware repository in the coming weeks. The blog site will be officially shutting down. There are much better forums maintained by commercial services that have taken up the role of a discussion area. Specifically the /r/ReverseEngineering and /r/Malware sub-Reddits, and OpenRCE are better avenues of communication. I will maintain a static version of the site to archive the old content.

To accommodate the new download site, there will be a couple of changes. First, a lot of the back end software has changed. Searches will be faster, more malware will be available, and the overall maintenance will be a lot easier. Second, you will need to have a valid, verified Google Account. Having a Google account allows us to use industry standard authentication, and most importantly not to have to maintain a user database. Get one here if you haven't already. In the meantime new account creation is disabled while we make the transition. Old accounts should work as normal.

Finally, we are discontinuing our commercial services. I would like to thank all of our customers for their business. You all helped to support this site and maintain an open service. We will be looking at transitioning to a non-profit status in the coming years.

Thanks again,

Danny Quist

read more

I made these a couple of weeks ago because I had a wicked craving for fish tacos and all I had on hand was shrimp. So I made a command decision: I made shrimp tacos.

It’s called troubleshooting! I’m good at it, but only if it involves food.

Put me in the desert and tell me I have to find my way out using my awesome sense of direction? Goodbye forever. Ain’t happening.

Did you know I can spin Marlboro Man around a thousand times with his eyes closed and with his eyes still closed he can point in any direction and determine whether it’s north, south, east, or west simply because it’s so embedded in his being?

Did you know I can spin around a thousand times with my eyes closed and throw up?

I digress. Let’s move ahead with the tacos, okay?

 
Because you can’t have shrimp tacos without slaw, you’ll want to make the slaw first. Slice up some regular and purple cabbage really thinly…

 
 
 
Then give a bunch of cilantro a rough chop…

 
 
 
And mince up a jalapeno, seeds and all if you can handle the heat, man.

 
 
 
Then whip up the dressing: It’s just milk, mayonnaise, salt, sugar, vinegar, and a little bit of cayenne.

All the good things in life.

 
 
 
Throw the cabbage and jalapenos into a bowl…

 
 
 
Drizzle in the dressing…

 
 
 
Then toss in the cilantro until it’s all combined. Divine! I love this stuff and make it all the time. Goes with everything.

Except maybe Belgian waffles.

It’s best if you can make the slaw a couple of hours ahead of time at least so it can fall in love and get married.

Sometimes if I make it more than a few hours ahead of time, I’ll wait to the end to stir in the cilantro so it doesn’t get grody.

You’ll also want to make some pico de gallo (or grab some storebought if it’s fresh and wonderful.)

 
 
 
When you’re ready to make the tacos, heat a little vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat. Throw in the shrimp…

 
 
 
And toss them around, trying to get as much color on them as you can.

 
 
 
Once they’re opaque, reduce the heat to low and pour in some Mexican tomato sauce. I get mine in the Hispanic aisle of my small grocery store and I absolutely love it. El Pato’s the brand, but not all stores have it. If yours doesn’t, any Mexican red sauce (even enchilada sauce) will do.

 
 
 
Stir it around and let it bubble up…

 
 
 
Then add a little cumin or other seasoning if you want to increase that flavor a bit.

 
 
 
At the very end, after cooking for a couple of minutes, throw in a tablespoon or so of butter and let it melt into the sauce.

 
 
 
Use your freaky pink alien hand to remove the shrimp to a plate or bowl and set them aside.

 
 
 
To serve it all up, throw some corn tortillas onto a plate and warm them in the microwave for a bit.

 
 
 
Then let everyone build their own tacos as their hearts, souls, minds, bodies, and appetites lead them. I did shrimp, otherwise known as shuh-ree-yump…

 
 
 
Then I piled on the slaw, making sure to get a little of the cool, creamy dressing so it could run down on the spicy shrimp.

I love it when cool things drip over hot things.

 
 
 
Next, spoon on some cool, spicy pico de gallo…

 
 
 
Lay on some slices of creamy, heavenly avocado…

 
 
 
And the very, very essential part: a squeeze of lime. I can not express to you how important this element is. It’s so important, in fact, that if you leave it out, your life will begin to spiral downward into a series of mishaps and disappointments and forty years from now you’ll knock yourself over the head and say “WHY didn’t I add that squeeze of lime to my shrimp taco that one day? WHY?”

Don’t let this happen to you.

 
 
 
The fun part is to see if it’s even remotely possible to fold it up enough to get it in your mouth.

I love those kinds of challenges in life.

Enjoy, guys!

We write about a variety of platforms here at Lifehacker, and even if you’re perfectly happy with what you’re using, nothing makes you feel more appreciative (not to mention knowledgeable) than trying something new. Take some of your free time this weekend and give a new OS a shot. Windows Windows gets a bad rap these days, but it’s actually a great operating system. If you have ...

With the closure of Melbourne’s famed record institution Missing Link today (October 7), NICK ARGYRIOU converses with owners past and present to reminisce on a wonderful 40-year ride. Photos by LEAH ROBERTSON.

After four decades in the game with four key owners – from Keith Glass and David Pepperell in the 1970s to current proprietors Nigel Rennard and his sister Diane – Missing Link, an icon of Melbourne’s independent music scene, closes today. More than just a store that sold CDs, rare vinyl, 7”s and associated merchandise, it was an eternal meeting point for likeminded music fans, and was one of the last independent record stores in the CBD following the closure of Gaslight, Au Go Go and Dragonfly Discs over the years.

In a statement issued to media last month, Nigel Rennard – who’s been in charge of Missing Link for the past three decades – blamed adverse trading conditions, the continued decline in hardcopy music sales and piracy for the closure. “[We] wish to thank all those that have supported us over a very long journey,” Rennard said, “and hope that in return our support for Australian and overseas independent music will be remembered.”

But sadly the writing was on the wall since last year when continuing effects from the GFC and illegal downloading led to Missing Link’s entry into the online space. Their digital download service was born in June 2010 in the hope of stimulating sales, but it couldn’t compete with the “worldwide behemoth monster” iTunes and was scaled back earlier this year.

Matters weren’t aided by the imminent redevelopment of 405 Bourke Street, their home since 2002. Then came the merger with Collectors Corner in August last year, which aimed to keep Missing Link afloat by broadening their range and sharing the costs of rising CBD rents. “They came to join us because their economic circumstances in renting in the city were similar to ours,” Rennard told M+N at the time. “It made a lot of sense to try and combine and share costs rather than go on paying the very high rentals in the city.”

Keen to pass the business on, Rennard put Missing Link on the market in March of this year, but his search for a likeminded music fanatic did not prove successful. “There were a few interested parties many months ago,” he says, “but they were not experienced enough in a store like ours. After in-depth discussions about what would be required they declined.” In July, Missing Link entered into an arrangement with Collectors Corner to sell off all remaining stock, which they’ll continue to do from a new CBD location as of tomorrow.

Rennard, however, remains resolute that the decision to close was based on a collective of issues, not in the least a desire to pursue other interests as he entered his mid-50s. He will continue operating his DVD licensing business Siren Visual, which releases mainly anime titles from Japan, and plans a move to the country. “My wife and I are also looking at establishing a Thai restaurant-farm that grows herbs and ingredients for Asian food. I am aware that just as the music business is in steep decline the DVD business is likely to follow the same path although at present sales remain strong. Future growth industries are food, retirement homes and funeral parlours for the coming demise of the baby boomers,” he says, laughing.

Missing Link was opened as Archie and Jughead’s on Collins Street in 1971 by Keith Glass and David Pepperell, before its shift to Flinders Lane on the corner of Port Phillip Arcade. It later moved 100 metres down the road into a huge street front store. The name was changed to Dr Peppers in 1977 when Pepperell left the partnership, and then to Missing Link in 1978. The new title was inspired by ’60s Australian surf, garage and pop group, The Missing Links, whose sound Glass believed embodied the spirit of the shop.

“We were big on distribution and having our own record labels,” recalls Glass from Mobile, Alabama, where he now resides. “I guess getting the Missing Link label to mythic status was the main achievement. [We had] various artists going on to big careers and others fondly remembered.”

The signing of the legendary Boys Next Door (which later became The Birthday Party) in 1978 still stands as Missing Link’s crowning achievement. Glass became the band’s manager before signing them to his Missing Link Records label, which put out all their early albums.

Missing Link fought back against retailers being dictated to by major labels. They stocked what they wanted, when they wanted, and gained a strong independence while giving Melbourne music fans a sense of identity in the piquant days of the punk revolution. “We sorta changed the rules, so we stocked what we wanted – the youth-oriented stuff – and many others in all states followed. The shop became a magnet in the ’70s and I guess we sort of stayed that way.”

A burnt-out Glass sold the store to Nigel and Diane Rennard in 1982. Since handing over the reigns, Glass says he’s involved himself in a number of music-related projects. “[I’ve] run a collectors store, worked for another record company, wrote a lot of articles, toured some folks and kept playing music. [I’m] still doing it.” And whatever became of David Pepperell? “DNP continues to relive the old days. We don't talk much and I haven’t seen him for at least 20 years.”

Melbourne music identity Bruce Milne had a brief stint at the store from 1978 to 1982. As a distributor of independent punk singles – from the Victims to the Leftovers – he’d often be found sniffing around the shop, and later relished the opportunity to become directly involved. On and off the dole in the late-’70s, Milne was earning a social welfare benefit less than $50 a week, so when Glass proposed to match that amount if he’d work out of the back room of the store he jumped at the chance. He helped set up a mail order and distribution system for independent bands. “I’d like to claim some credit for bringing in the new, young bands to Missing Link,” Milne says. “Before long we were working with the Boys Next Door, Go-Betweens, Laughing Clowns, Whirlywirld and so many other great bands. It was incredibly exciting.”

Milne, who left in 1982 to continue running his record label Au Go Go (he later established In-Fidelity Recordings and purchased The Tote), still considers it his “ultimate” dream job. “I got to hang out in a record store all day. I got to deal with all the bands, labels, stores and music nuts around the country. Keith was my mentor and taught me so much. It was a wild, wonderful ride.”

“The days of having an indie stand-alone music store and having to employ others is no longer viable.”

Reflecting on Missing Link’s legacy, Rennard cites the long-term relationships forged with labels such as Milne’s Au Go Go, as well as Aberrant, Citadel, Rough Trade, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, Sub Pop, Mute and Cherry Red. “They’ve all benefited from sales at Missing Link. From indie pop to punk, hardcore, stoner, doom and metal … we have sought to make a difference.”

Then there’s the releases by No Nonsense, Corpse Grinders, I Spit on Your Gravy, Sacred Cowboys and Go-Betweens under the Missing Link label, not to mention tours by Dead Kennedys, The Cramps, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Morbid Angel and D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles). “Historically, we have operated the store since 1981, so its been 30 years and our legacy is our support during that entire period for Australian independent artists as well as overseas artists.”

Rennard says that for record stores to survive in 2011, it’s a case of diversify or die. “The only models that may succeed are those that combine a cafe and a music store to gain income from the higher margins in food or a pure owner operator model. However, both of these models needs to offer what the chains do not. They cannot compete on price but they can compete on diversity, vinyl and especially second-hand and rarities. My friends describe them as being like ‘antique bookstores’. The days of having an indie stand-alone music store and having to employ others is no longer viable.”

To coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana’s landmark ‘Nevermind’, MATT SHEA chats to a bunch of Australasian musicians and industry representatives to find out a little more about the band’s infamous January-February 1992 tour of the region.

At first glance, Nirvana’s January-February 1992 tour to Australia and New Zealand seems but a footnote in the band’s short but rich history. As the group travelled about the region, playing an exhaustive series of upgraded pub and club gigs, history was being made back in the United States. Nevermind, their muscular second album, had hit number one on the Billboard 200 on January 11, knocking Michael Jackson’s Dangerous from the top of the charts, and as Nirvana stepped off the plane in Australia less than two weeks later, demand for the band in their homeland was ferocious.

Their American record label, DGC, were understandably frustrated at the timing, but Magnet Promotions’ Steve “Pav” Pavlovic had locked Nirvana in for local shores long before Nevermind was even mastered. Many bands would have thought of the tour as a mere blip on the radar – something to be dispensed with before they returned to the US as conquerors of the free world – but Nirvana embraced their time in Australia. It was the calm before the storm. And as Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl watched from afar, they knew their lives, once home, would never be the same again.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Nevermind, and M+N used it as an opportunity to talk to a bunch of Australian and New Zealand bands and industry representatives about their experiences on Nirvana’s Australasian tour. It’s not often you get this close to pop-cultural history, and taken together these anecdotes make for a fascinating tale, littered with both funny and poignant moments.

Mandy Barron

Publicist, Magnet Promotions

I’m originally from Port Hedland up north, and I went to Sydney when I was young because I loved music. I got involved with the music scene when I met Stephen Pavlovic. We became friends, and he ended up getting the booking job at the Landsdowne Hotel. That’s when he said to me, “You seem to like all the same bands that I do. Do you want to come and work?” So I did that. I just helped him with the publicity for the bands that were playing and we loved the same music. And because we liked the same bands we’d be bouncing suggestions off each other all the time.

Pav loved Mudhoney and he said to me, “Wouldn’t it be good to tour them?” So that’s really how it started. I think from that point on Pav did Mudhoney and Fugazi and My Bloody Valentine, and then he ended up having a copy of Bleach and we both loved it. Mat Lukin – Mudhoney’s bass player – he lived with Kurt Cobain, and he said to Pav, “Why don’t you bring Nirvana over?” We did listen to Bleach a lot and loved that, but that was obviously before they were massive.

By the time Nevermind was released in September of ’91 everything was already in the pipeline for the tour. Nobody had any idea of course that it would be so huge. It was just before Fugazi, when we moved from the Landsdowne to the full booking operation, and then we moved to a little warehouse and it wasn’t about booking the Landsdowne anymore – more a straight touring agency, which Pav named Magnet Promotions.

I was always at Magnet, but in those days there wasn’t a lot of money, especially for those sorts of bands. It wasn’t really a moneymaking thing. I’d get told what I’d get at the end of it and by today’s standards it wasn’t much. I was selling t-shirts, doing lights for bands, and working behind the bar at the Annandale, which was a great opportunity also to suss out new bands. It wasn’t the biggest moneymaking thing back then, and even after Nirvana, nothing changed for me.

We were just little dudes and the whole Nirvana thing became massive, but Pav was pretty savvy. It used to be us chasing people: “Please can I have a Mudhoney story.” And the next thing people are chasing you, so that was a bit of a difference. The band were here and in America it was going nuts. I don’t think DGC, the American record label, were prepared – nobody was. I think everyone was really unaware of how much things needed to change, you know? I think it could have been big right from the beginning if they’d had all the records made, but they didn’t really have enough supply for the stores to buy and keep up with the reaction.

It was in the months leading up to the tour that we realised this was going to be a big deal. Nevermind had been released, so the hotels needed to be changed, the security needed to be different. It was really hard to know what was the right thing to do. But I think it was probably in December when it started going nuts. The promotion team were on holidays for Christmas at BMG, the label here in Australia. It was really going off around the world and before Christmas I don’t think they realised how big it was going to be.

I ended up seeing Nirvana five times on the tour. That first gig at the Phoenician Club [in Sydney], it felt like the whole roof was going to pop off. It was just massive. They started with ‘Aneurysm’ – which we hadn’t heard down here yet – and it’s got those massive drums and intro, and it honestly felt like the roof was going to come off. It was really great and we were all looking at each other, like, “Oh my god! Can you believe the SOUND?!” You could just see the heat rising in the Phoenician; it was just amazing. It really was the most amazing gig I’ve ever seen, and that’s still the case after I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds. They just had this brilliant sound and the feeling that the three of them generated. Because Dave Grohl was an amazing drummer, Kurt an amazing guitarist and lyricist, and Krist was just one of the best bass players going around. Together they absolutely killed it.

I spent quite a bit of time with the band. Kurt and I connected in a way that I was the publicist and he could trust me. I became someone who drove him around – him and Courtney, once she came out. Kurt was wonderful to me – he was really kind and lovely. I hate to talk badly about Courtney, so I won’t. That was probably one of the biggest things I remember. That stuff was really hard, but as everyone knows, the drug thing: people aren’t really who they are anyway. But I will say that whenever she was particularly weird to me, Kurt would pull her up quickly. He would say, “Don’t talk to her like that. She’s really kind.” That was really nice of him.

Dave Grohl was just a wonderful person, and really funny, and I still have scars on my knees form when he pushed me over during a running race. We’d all been drinking so I wasn’t running the best, and he came up behind me and didn’t realise I was going as fast as I possibly could go, and he pushed me. I just skidded over on Crown Street [in Sydney] and scarred all my knees. That was after we took them all to the Taxi Club. We were a bit trashed.

So it was only when it was released and Nevermind went absolutely psycho and they were here, really, that it was, “Wow!” But the venues were changed in certain states: WA missed out, Adelaide was changed to a bigger venue, but that all happened while they were here. At the same time, you’re dealing with the band who were still the same guys from two months before when nobody gave a shit about them. You’ve got to put that into perspective too. Honestly, they were really in just as much shock as everyone else was at how it was going. They were kind of in hiding a bit down here.

I think they were really worried about going back to the States. It did feel like the last time they would be innocent. I think all the problems that were going on with Kurt were affecting everybody, and everyone was worried about it, and nobody really knew how to handle it. And then everyone was going to have money, which means more people getting involved for the wrong reasons. As much as people want that success, it comes at a price. Okay, you could be Krist and Dave getting royalties every year, but if they could they’d just have the band back and play great music, which is what that was really all about. The sound, the chemistry, everything, it just came together and boom! That’s why the roof should have really blown off that night.

They totally blind-sided the labels. That was a really good thing, because a lot of those people really high up – the business guys – don’t really have any idea. The exciting thing for me was that no longer could we just be force-fed everything, and we are going to have our own opinion, and we do like our own music, and this is the reason why. But they helped shine a light on the musicians of their time. It was wonderful that bands who were cutting edge and were doing it regardless of money suddenly had a light shone on them.

These days I work in libraries in Perth. I had the best time and loved it so much, but again I was working with a lot of money and pressure involved. Just working in publicity and flying people here and there all the time, it really takes it toll. I did love it, though – I feel so honoured to come from somewhere like Port Hedland to be working over in Sydney and doing that kind of thing. And you know what? Half of the people I know here have no idea what I did.

Peter Fenton

Crow

We were in a loose arrangement being looked after by Steve Pavlovic; I knew him from Canberra, so there was this Canberra mafia thing going on in Sydney. He was booking the Landsdowne Hotel and his momentum and vision took him to Mudhoney and Fugazi, the Flying Nun bands ... guys like that. I remember having a conversation with him that he was bringing out this band from America called Nirvana. I’d heard of Nirvana down at the local record store, probably Waterfront Records, but they really were one of many at the time.

Sometime after that ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ broke through. In Australia, triple j presented the tour, but behind the scenes there was a wonderful lady named Jen Brennen, who later managed Crow – she was in marketing at triple j. I remember she had to push quite hard to get ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ played on triple j. That’s why Nirvana presented her with a gold record, to say, “Without you, we wouldn’t have gotten this gold record in Australia.” Amazing. Anyway, from there this avalanche began, which lead up to the tour and Crow playing with Nirvana, along with Nunbait and The Cosmic Psychos.

There was a lot of excitement leading up to the tour, and that culminated in us playing to a heaving throng down at the Coogee Bay Hotel for their last Australian show: classic. All I can remember is that we suffered from pretty lousy onstage sound, even though the reports that came back later were very positive. I walked off the stage and up the steps into the dressing rooms, which were essentially the motel rooms on top of the pub. Leaning at one of the doors was Dave Grohl. He said hi and asked how our set was, and the normal bitching between musicians about sound and that sort of thing ensued. He said, “That’s how it was for us last night. We had exactly the same thing.” Then we were joined by Krist, so we just had a 10 minute chat, and I was conscious that there was this rattling around in the bathroom off to our right – I remember thinking that it must have been their singer.

To us, the rest of the night was defined by a sort of dark energy – I’m not really sure how else to define it. Suddenly it was show time for Nirvana and we went into this caged mezzanine area and watched the show. They were an incredibly tight and powerful unit. One of my clearest recollections was that Kurt’s voice was mountainous. It was everything that you heard on record and more. He had a quality to his voice that was quite primal.

They just seemed to be a band like us, but something had just clicked in the universe and they found themselves in the zeitgeist and in the mainstream. Everything that they didn’t want, happened to them. I guess my perception was that they really enjoyed just being a really, really long way away from that. It was interesting: they found this Dr Rock – that’s how Pav described him – who helped medicate Kurt. The doctor involved is now a psychiatrist, but he prescribed this medication that totally did the trick with Kurt, and from all reports he was the best he’d been for a while – at his happiest and best.

But it was clear that they were the real thing. For us, the world became very small – suddenly we were connected through Pav into America. For example, in 1992, after Nirvana, we were in Chicago recording our first record [My Kind of Pain] with Steve Albini. The dots were pulled together in a way. And Nirvana revealed the underground: they showed that if you were interested in great, original music that there was a whole enormous, beautiful world out there for you to dive into.

Wayne Connolly

The Welcome Mat

We played with Nirvana at the inaugural Big Day Out that January and I do remember there being a lot of excitement surrounding the band. It was obvious to everyone around the scene at the time that Nevermind was a landmark album. Previous to that, though, it seemed that Bleach didn't really capture everyone’s attention like other US indie albums such as Pixies’ Surfer Rosa or Doolittle, Dinosaur Jr.’s first few, or even The Lemonheads’ Lick. In those days people relied on the indie stores like Waterfront, Phantom and Red Eye to keep track of what was happening in underground music around the world, and the Sub Pop stuff always featured heavily.

They were really powerful and exciting live, but it was kind of what you expected having heard the records. The recordings that came out of Seattle at the time by Jack Endino and Butch Vig seemed to have an enormous power that no one else had, apart from Dinosaur. But then seeing bands like Nirvana, Dinosaur and Mudhoney live, it became apparent that a lot of that power was created at the source by the bands.

It's possible that these bands were influenced by some Australian groups. When I first heard bands like Melvins and Nirvana I was struck by their similarity to a local band called feedtime, who used to always play downstairs at the Palace Hotel in Darlinghurst, where I was living in the mid 80s. Feedtime were early proponents of dropped-tuning dirge punk. The start of their gigs always felt like someone had just started up a semi trailer next to you. But it was when Nirvana married that sound to Beatle-ish melodies that things became far more interesting.

Unfortunately, Nevermind did make us change things up in The Welcome Mat! I lament the fact that so many bands, including ourselves, went in that direction, although we had always had a keen interest in Pixies, Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur, Lemonheads and The Replacements. Initially, though, our band had started out playing Beatles covers and we were more into British stuff like The Wedding Present, Edsel Auctioneer and The Stone Roses.

Nirvana’s influence in Australia was pretty immediate, but then bands like You Am I and Tumbleweed had already been playing in that style for a while. I think it all probably really kicked off after Mudhoney’s first Australian tour in 1990.

+

PART 2, NEXT WEEK: More recollections from Nirvana’s only Australian tour featuring Wally from The Meanies and New Zealand’s The 3Ds.

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