Pat Smear

Pat Smear (* August 5, 1959 in Los Angeles, was Georg Ruthenberg ) is an American musician. He co-founded the California punk legends The Germs, which dissolved after the death of their frontman in 1980. Very well known, he is also through his time with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters.

Life

The son of a German - Jewish immigrant and an African-American, he grew up in his native Los Angeles. At thirteen, Smear ran away from home and went to live in a Christian community. During his high school years he changed his name to Pat Smear, which is probably inspired by " pap smear ", an American synonym for the Pap test to screen for cervical cancer.

In 1976, smear with his friend Jan Paul Beahm ( Darby Crash ) the punk band The Germs, in which Pat was a guitarist. Published in 1979 their first album, The Germs GI, which is considered a milestone in the history of punk rock. However, the band broke up the following year, as the singer Darby Crash died from an overdose of heroin. Briefly played smear then at the Adolescents.

Then smear tried his luck as a solo artist and released two albums, Ruthensmear (1988) and So You Fell in Love with a Musician (1992). He also worked with, among others, with Nina Hagen.

In 1993 he received from the Red Hot Chili Peppers the offer, John Frusciante to replace as guitarist, but he refused. That same year, however, he took Kurt Cobain's call to join as a second guitarist for Nirvana. The first joint show denied smear when "Saturday Night Live" appearance on September 25th of that year. A total of six months, he accompanied the band on their tour and also worked with the unplugged concert of the band.

After Cobain's death in 1995 he became a member of Dave Grohl's new band, the Foo Fighters, but he left again in 1997. He then took on the first album with his band Harlow. Since then he has worked mainly as a record producer. Since 2005, Smear is back with his band The Germs on tour. 2006 saw a film titled whatwe Do Is Secret, which tells the story of the band. In May 2006, Smear returned to the surprise of fans to the Foo Fighters, which he supported as an additional guitarist in the Foocoustic Tour '06.

Like the Foo Fighters early February 2011, announced on its website, Pat Smear is again a permanent member of the band. The Foo Fighters released on 8 April 2011, the album Wasting Light, on the Pat Smear also be heard as an additional guitarist.

As in 2013, the former Nirvana bandmate Dave Grohl started a project on the Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, also participated smear it. Together with other musicians they took, among others, on the song Cut Me Some Slack, for which they were honored at the Grammy Awards in 2014 for best rock song.