Interview with Hervana, the Nirvana cover band
Hervana, an all-female Nirvana cover band based in Toronto, is touring Ontario playing Nirvana’s classic “MTV Unplugged in New York.”
I have loved Nirvana since the very first time my dad put some on for me when I was a wee child. I remember countless hours spent listening to, reading about, and watching anything and everything about Nirvana. There is still something special every time I hear Kurt’s voice through my speakers or headphones. So when I heard of an all-female Nirvana cover band coming to town, some questions came to mind. You can read below my interview with Skirt Cobain (her real name is Carly Beath), and check out them out Friday April 15 at House of Targ.
How and why did four women in Toronto form a Nirvana cover band?
The name started it all! A tweet showed up in my feed that said “Toronto needs an all-girl Nirvana cover band called Hervana.” Being a big Nirvana fan, I decided to make it happen and pulled various friends into my ridiculous scheme. It snowballed from there.
Beyond the music, did the band’s respect for women and support for equality influence your decision?
It makes us proud to sing these songs. A lot of all-female cover bands are often reclaiming misogynist works – which is also awesome! – but for us it’s more of a celebration of the fact that Nirvana made amazing music and used their very visible position in music to advocate.
You are touring the unplugged album right now, do you often tour/focus on one album at a time?
This is the first time we’ve done a single album show! We thought it would be fun to do something different this spring. With anniversaries coming up (Nevermind turns 25 this fall, holy smokes) it’s something we may do again.
Can the band agree on ordering your favourite Nirvana studio albums?
Nope! Haha. We love them all for different reasons and we all have different favourites.
What are some of your favourite songs to play live? During this unplugged tour and normally.
I’d say in our regular show, Aneurysm is at the top of the list right now. It’s so much fun to play and even though it was a b-side people get really hyped for it. On the Unplugged album, The Man Who Sold The World is a lot of fun and lets us pay tribute to both David Bowie and Kurt.
If you weren’t a Nirvana cover band what band would you cover full time?
Maybe a Queens of the Stone Age cover band called Kings of the Stone Age. We do a ‘6 Degrees of Nirvana’ set at our annual December bash and QOTSA songs are always fun to play. Alas, I don’t have time – so I’d be really happy if someone else took that idea and ran with it.
What do the members do when they aren’t covering Nirvana? Any other bands or projects our readers should know about?
Erin plays in a really awesome psych-pop/rock band called Blue Cougars – check them out when they come to Ottawa (hopefully some time this year).