LIFE WAS NO NIRVANA – CONFIDENTIAL:
THIS BOOK Schemels like teen spirit.
After finding rock stardom with Hole and partying with Nirvana, drummer Patty Schemel became a prostitute to finance her runaway drug addiction.
In her upcoming memoir “Hit So Hard,” the 50-yearold rocker (photo inset) writes that while she was living on the streets, a seasoned vet named Mavis gave her some sage advice — never charge by the act and never say the word “b---job” out loud, as that was the surest way to get arrested.
Schemel — who knew she was a lesbian as a teen and had previously had no interest in men — admits that when it came to prostitution, there was nothing off limits “because I was completely dissociated from the acts themselves.”
The hard-rock drummer met Kurt Cobain in 1986, and it was the Nirvana front man who recommended Schemel to his wife, Courtney Love, who was looking for a drummer for her band, Hole. After the audition, Schemel says that the first question Love asked her was, “What kind of drugs do you do?” Schemel got the gig and became a roommate to Love and Cobain.
She theorizes that one of the reasons Cobain didn’t want to be a huge celebrity is because he had no interest in kicking his drug habit and didn’t want to be asked about it by the media.
Despite his addiction, Schemel says the late rocker was a besotted father to baby Frances Bean
Cobain and would spend hours playing with her.
In 1994, when Schemel heard that Cobain had shot himself to death, she says she rushed over to Love’s home and found her upstairs and intoxicated “with an old friend” whom the singer had in the past called an “enemy,” though who that person was remains unclear.
Schemel was finally fired from Hole for her chronic addiction. She briefly played with actress Juliette Lewis’ band, but was fired from that gig as well.
Finally, after an estimated 22 detoxes and 14 rehab visits, Schemel got clean. She’s now happily married to a woman named Christina and they are raising a young daughter named Bea. She’s still playing music.
“Hit So Hard” hits bookstores Oct. 31.