Brix Smith has claimed her brief Hole bandmate Courtney Love’s house felt “extremely charged” months after the death of Kurt Cobain.
The former The Fall rocker spent just one day in the ‘Celebrity Skin’ group after she auditioned following the passing of bassist Kristen Pfaff, and she has hailed it as the “most action-packed, memory-stuffed 24 hours” of her life.
The 58-year-old musician alleged that there was “a lot of drama” going down at the frontwoman’s home after the death of her Nirvana frontman spouse – who died aged 27 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April 1994 – including Brix having to put out a fire in the 57-year-old widow’s room.
Speaking to NME, Brix recalled: “That was one of the most action-packed, memory-stuffed 24 hours of my life.
“It was only six months after Kurt [Cobain] had died, so Courtney Love’s house still felt extremely charged and there was a lot of drama.”
She added: “Courtney’s bedroom went alight [while she was sleeping] and I had to put out the flames! (Laughs) I love Courtney and it was a super-intense whirlwind.”
The songwriter – who now fronts Brix & the Extricated with her brothers Steve and Paul Hanley – ended up reuniting with post-punk outfit The Fall, which included her late ex-husband Mark E. Smith, but she quit for good in 1996.
And she has admitted she thought she could “save” the ‘Kicker Conspiracy’ band with her return after originally quitting in 1989, following her divorce from her bandmate – who was 60 when he died in 2018.
Asked whether she had to choose one band or the other, Brix said: “I’m unsure the choice was ever mine. Courtney announced in Melody Maker that I was in Hole, but I think all along she knew she was probably going to have Melissa [Auf der Maur] as bassist. But it was fun.
“In the back of my mind, I’d already chosen to return to The Fall because that was where everything began, and Mark begged me to come back and kick a** because it was all going wrong. I thought I was going to save the band, but it didn’t work out that way – I went back into a whole different world.”