NORTH SHORE HEWS ENTERTAINMENT & STYLE GUIDE Photo Guzman KRIST Novoselic (ieft) and his Sweet 75 bandmate Yva Las Vegas. Novoselic, better known as Nirvana's bassist, is coming to Vancouver May 20 for the Canadian premiere of his film L7: The Beauty Process. The 43-minute 8 mm film stars the band L7 and explores ihe battle between art and commerce in the rock and roll arena. @ 17: The Beauty Process, May 20-23 at Blinding Light Cinema, 36 Powell Strect, Vancouver. Shawtime 8:30 p.m. Phone 878-3396. Admission S5 (plus S3 membership). Director Krist Novoselic will be in attendance for the May 20 premiere. Bob Mackin News Reporter ART versus commerce. The epic, age-old battle has been fought on many fronts. The concept so fascinated Krist Novoselic that it became the theme of his new film, L7: The Beauty Process. Novoselic, best known as Nirvana’s bassist, is co-leader of the Seatde band Sweet 75. When his new group hit the road with Los Angeles’ L7 in October 1997, Novoselic brought an 8 mm camera and film. “We were visiting on the first night of the tour together and after a while we were talking about our bands’ respective situa- * Krist Noveselic premieres new film May 20 at Blinding Light tions with the music industry.” Novosclic told the News. “We were sharing alot of our frustrations about popular music, bands and the whole system. Dwent off to bed that night and 1 was thinking about our conversation and | thought ‘Oh, that’s what T want to make the film about.” : Though the 43-minute colour film relies mainly on 17 per- formance footage, the band does engage in some acting. There are three satirical vignettes exposing the music industry's foibles: a focus group, lunch meeting with a record company artists and repertoire executive and a graduation ceremony/contract signing with the devil. “The focus group is about marketing, the A&R guy is abour how you're promised the world and you have a little bit of bad luck and they drop vou, they abandon you, they leave you hold- ing the cheque,” Novoselic explained. “Phe commencement is uly Pr CESS about being frustrated and how to fet those frustrations go . “The band ts going through the film and they're kicki theyre pissed off and being angry. The devil is laving evervthing out and saving here's the truth, here’s the reality of everything. Then they say a little prayer where they realize that’s what's going on, Graduation and commencement is a rite of passage, it commemorates a beginning, leaving all that frustration and bit- terness behind, because you realize what the reality is.” Nowoselic said he’s lucky nor to have many complaints about the music industry after his years with Nirvana. He has heard horror stories from other musicians who followed in Nirvana’s footsteps. Some of their bands fell victim to the record industry’s massive carly 90s expansion and equally large contraction of the late 90s. “twas an art-driven phenomenon,” he said about Nirvana. “One of the basic tenets of the Nirvana phenomenon was that the mainstream came to Nirvana. Nirvana did not go to the See Mixing Page 6 NEWMUSICWEST:. 2 2 my