Aaron Burckhard (born November 14, 1963) is an American musician who was the first drummer recruited for

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...

and

Krist Novoselic Krist Anthony Novoselic (; ; born May 16, 1965) is an American musician, politician and activist. Novoselic co-founded and played bass on every album for the rock music, rock band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Novoselic and Kurt Cobain formed the ban ...

's rock group that soon came to be known as

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

. Burckhard performed as a part of this band until October 1987. Burckhard was no longer a part of Nirvana by the time it recorded its first demo at Reciprocal Recordings in Seattle on January 23, 1988 (

Dale Crover Dale Crover (born October 23, 1967) is an American rock musician. Crover is best known as the drummer for Melvins and has also been the drummer for Men of Porn, Shrinebuilder, Crystal Fairy and, for a brief time, Nirvana. He is also guitar ...

Melvins Melvins (sometimes the Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Primarily a trio, they have also performed as a quartet, with eith ...

served as his replacement).

With Nirvana

Burckhard's drumming can be heard on the first disc of Nirvana's ''

With the Lights Out '' With the Lights Out'' is a box set by the American rock band Nirvana, released on November 23, 2004. It contains three CDs and one DVD of previously rare or unreleased material, including B-sides, demos, and rehearsal and live recordings. T ...

''. He played at the band's first live show, which was a 1987 house party in

Raymond, Washington Raymond is a city in Pacific County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,882 at the 2010 census. The 2020 census showed the population of 3,081, an increase of 6.4%. The town's economy has traditionally been based on logging and f ...

. He also played drums for a radio broadcast on KAOS on May 6, 1987. Burckhard's dismissal purportedly came as a result of his volatile nature which propelled him into frequent physical confrontations with people. An additional complaint against Burckhard was that he did not take his membership with the band as seriously as

wanted him to. Burckhard frequently skipped practice, which infuriated Cobain. The last straw occurred when Burckhard got Cobain's car impounded after getting arrested for DUI.

Post-Nirvana

Beginning in 1991, Burckhard played with the band Attica, .Burlingame, Jeff (2006) ''Kurt Cobain: Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind'', Enslow Publishers, , p. 46 In 2011, Burckhard, Clint Mullins, and Mat Watson formed the band Screaming Sons of... In 2013, he joined a new band called Under Sin.

References

1963 births Living people Drummers from Oakland, California Grunge musicians Nirvana (band) members 20th-century American drummers American male drummers {{US-drummer-stub