All this week on Noisey, we’ll be falling arse-backwards into the state of UK music in a special series of articles about scenes outside the capital: from club closures to brain drains to free parties to local legends. Follow all the content on our Fuck London hub here.
Earlier today, we published an article about the legacy that is TJ's - an unassuming music venue in Newport, South Wales, that played such an integral role in the UK punk scene during the 80s and 90s that John Peel dubbed it "legendary" before he even went there. And you can read that love letter right here.
Everyone has their stories about TJ's, but one of the most notorious and widespread rumours is that Kurt Cobain proposed to Courtney Love there, under the garish palm tree near the club's entrance, after Hole headlined a gig.
Matthew Weir is a Bristol-based photographer whose relationship with TJ's was a one-night stand in December 1991, when he was 17 - the night Hole played. With his hometown omitted from the tour schedule, he headed to Newport and managed to snap some incredible pictures of Kurt, Courtney and Hole, most of which have never been published. Check them out in our gallery above and read Matthew's story below:
"I spent most of the two support sets trying to find a good camera spot, eventually finding a ledge to the left of the stage. After that I bumped into a couple of the people I'd met earlier and we went outside for pint. A girl with the group told me the guy from Nirvana was inside, she'd seen him stood near where I had been with my camera. It seemed to make sense given the Courtney link so we wandered back in and she did her best to nonchalantly lead me in front of him, although, when we both turned around to look at him we were obviously busted. That said, there he was, stood on the bench to get a good view of the band, out with the rest of the crowd. He was by no means the celebrity he would go on to become in the next six months, by which time I would imagine that kind of behavior would've proved impossible for him.
I asked him if I could take a couple of photos, to which he assumed I meant of me and him together. I told him 'No, just you', and he looked puzzled but went along with it. He seemed quiet, shy, all the things you generally read about him, or at least one side of him. Lastly I asked him for his autograph, bizarrely for my mum, I thought he'd like that more. To this day my mum still has it pressed between the pages of a book. A yellow post it with 'Isobel Kurt' in childlike scrawl. Towards the end of Hole's set, he made his excuses and wandered backstage.
When Hole finished their set I spoke to Courtney briefly, who seemed far less personable. I took a few photos from a distance then, after asking her for a close up she obliged by pushing her face right into my camera. To this day I love this photo, it's really stark and really honest."
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