Smells Like Scream Spirit

Scream L-R: Franz Stahl, Dave Grohl, Peter Stahl & Skeeter Thompson
Photo: Naomi Petersen

In mid-September 1990, a different hardcore band from Washington DC played The Burro Room in Chico. Featuring Peter Stahl on vocals, his brother Franz on guitar, a bong-rattling bassist/vocalist named Skeeter Thompson, and a manimal on drums named Dave Grohl, Scream didn’t just kick out the jams, they sucker punched them in the throat. They were clearly influenced by Bad Brains, especially the Stahl boys, who owe an obvious debt to H.R. (Peter) and Dr. Know (Franz). Dave Grohl was like Earl Hudson by way of John Bonham. MASSIVE drum sound. Even if you’re not a huge punk/hardcore fan, Scream’s output from 1988-90 is well worth checking out: No More Censorship (1988), Fumble (released in 1993, but recorded in 1989), and the Your Choice Live Series (1990). Check em out on Dischord, Bandcamp, or Discogs.

Anyway, after the show, several of us partied with the band at Matt Brown’s apartment and all I remember is Skeeter hitting the bong like it owed him money. To this day, I’ve never seen a dude put marijuana in a chokehold like that. The Scream story then takes an interesting turn. As fate would have it, the band played SOMA in San Francisco the night after Chico and in the audience were none other than Kurt Cobain and Chris Novoselic from Nirvana. They witnessed firsthand the wrecking crew that was Grohl. So, when Skeeter flew the coop on Scream a day or two later in Los Angeles, Grohl called his buddy, Buzz Osborne from The Melvins, and asked him, “Dude, do you know any bands needing a drummer?” As a matter of fact, he did. A few days later Grohl was in Seattle auditioning with the Nirvanas and on October 11, 1990, he played his first show with the band (at the North Shore Surf Club, Olympia, WA).