From Sour To `Sweet' -- After Nirvana's Demise, Krist Novoselic Makes A New Start

----------------------------------------------------------------- Nightclub preview

Sweet 75, Gus, Gretta Harley & the Skin Horse and Turfola, 9 tonight, Moe's; $7, 324-2406. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Krist Novoselic is as unassuming as he is tall. Lincoln-long, neatly trimmed and often dressed in black, he cuts a spokesman's figure, which politically he sometimes is. But as far as he's personally concerned, he's a rock musician only, even if after 10 years as a professional he's only now in his second-ever band.

The significance is that Novoselic's first-ever band was Nirvana. Bassist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl were teamed with the brilliant but troubled songwriter, guitarist, singer and unwilling icon, Kurt Cobain, Novoselic's boyhood friend as well as bandmate. Started in 1987, Nirvana eventually went from Aberdeen to Seattle to almost sudden international stardom. Nirvana became huge, and perhaps for Cobain, overwhelming. On April 5, 1994 he killed himself. Nirvana was over.

Grohl, also a guitarist and a solid songwriter, was already working on a collection of self-recorded songs when Cobain died. Grohl quietly got a record deal and put together a band called the Foo Fighters, which sold a million copies of its debut album.

Novoselic had also been toying with outside projects, but it was at a surprise birthday party for him, just a month after his friend's sad demise, that he met the Venezuelan-born singer who calls herself Yva Las Vegas.

Novoselic recalled the memory by phone from his home in Southwest Washington, where conversation is more likely to be interrupted by his family cat dragging in a mole ("Simon, get that out of here!") than it is the folderol of show business.

"Yeah, I liked her," he says quietly. "We started recording some of her songs. Then I had some riffs and she came up with some lyrics and it just went from there."

The name Sweet 75 came from a poem.

"It was `Letter to A Lady Editor' by Theodore Roethke," says Las Vegas. "She had paid him $75 for a poem and, rather than sending a thank you note, he wrote her this poem mentioning `that sweet 75.' We liked the sound of it."

Novoselic and Las Vegas needed a drummer and got Bill Rieflin, a deft journeyman player best known for his work with Ministry and, prior to that, what he sardonically refers to as "Seattle's seminal punk band, the Blackouts."

"It was an interesting opportunity," says Rieflin, "especially after Ministry. Ministry required precise skills and strengths. It's very intense. Coming into basically a three-piece garage band was a way different experience. When we first started, they were hiring me, so I wanted to give them what they wanted. But working with Krist and Yva is very pleasurable. They're sweet people, they indulge me, they let me do what I want. So I get to do that balancing act of how best to serve the music while still trying to get away with murder."

A year after forming, Sweet 75 has a strong set of original material, and has made about 20 public appearances.

"We're just starting to kick in," says Novoselic. "We went on tour last November with Sky Cries Mary and did a bunch of college concerts, just got in vans and went. It was like I had to start all over again, but we could just get wild. It wasn't as organized as a big tour. A big tour is such a big machine. You're a cog, you have to be there, you have to be on schedule. I find this much more relaxed and down-to-earth, so it's just a lot more fun.

"When Nirvana first went out, this little band from Aberdeen, it was a real adventure. We played everywhere . . . the vans alone, I'm surprised we didn't just die. And bad environments. The nice thing about Sweet 75 is we've all been around a while, we've been through it and now we're all in our 30s and were responsible adults and it's OK, you know? That's just the way it turned out."

For Novoselic and Rieflin, touring was a way of life. Las Vegas, who migrated to San Pedro, Calif., 16 years ago at age 15, played on a smaller scale.

"I had a high-school rock band, but I really started in 1983 playing the streets. Venice in California, then the Market here. I did it for 10 years but I finally stopped because it wasn't worth it. It got to be where it was more expensive to pay for parking than the money I was making. I figured `I have a car now so I'm not gonna play down there anymore.' Now I guess we'll be going out."

In or out, Novoselic maintains the music is what matters most. Everything else is secondary.

"I'm keeping politics separate. I want to devote my energy to playing. We're going down to Los Angeles in July to start the record and I'm really excited about what we're doing. I think of it as kind of neo grunge but it's weird because it also has this ethnicity that Yva brings, and Bill lets you do a lot of interplay. It's getting more sophisticated, but it's still pretty straight-ahead rock."

As for his second-ever band's celebrity status, Novoselic dismisses it.

"Been there, done that. It's the music."