SEATTLE — A few hours before showtime, Krist Novoselic folds his long frame into a plush couch in Belltown Yacht Club’s dark green room. The sweltering, mid-July club date was just another rock show for the Nirvana bassist. Novoselic and an assembled-on-the-fly band were playing an unusual “political convention.”
“I’m not running for president!” Novoselic blurts over a loudly humming fan, a little annoyed at the facetious question or frustrated by the unlikely predicament he’s found himself in. “It’s not a real campaign because we don’t want to be on the ballot.”
Nevertheless, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s name might be up there next to Republican nominee Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris (or whichever Democrat is on the ticket) when Washington ballots are mailed out in October.
Novoselic’s undesired candidacy is the result of a Washington election rule he says unfairly hinders minor political parties like his recently formed Cascade Party of Washington.
The politically active rocker chairs the startup Cascade Party, which aims to provide a centrist alternative in an era of hyper-partisanship. Evoking the mountain range that separates eastern and western Washington, the name symbolizes the idea of meeting in the middle, once a byproduct of functional democracy. “We are a home for people tired of the polarized fringes dominating our politics,” proclaims the Cascade Party’s website.
The group doesn’t really want to wade into this year’s contentious presidential race (or any national contest for that matter). Instead, party organizers are focused on running candidates in statewide elections starting in 2025. But to be recognized as a bona fide party in Washington, political parties are required to field presidential and vice presidential tickets, Novoselic says, a rule the Cascade Party is challenging with the state.
“We’re serious about being a party, but we’re disappointed that for a group that wants to get established locally that we have to be associated with the highest office in the land,” Novoselic says. “That’s quite the chasm to span.”
Official recognition would also allow the fledgling party to raise money.
“This is about getting access to the same fundraising rules Republicans and Democrats have because they’re bona fide parties,” Novoselic says. “So basically, if we don’t qualify, then we’re a political action committee. … We’ll just be another PAC. Whoopee.”
In the meantime, Novoselic and his fledgling party are trying to drum up the 1,000 signatures required to nominate him as a presidential candidate on the November ballot. Facing a tight July 27 qualifying deadline, the Seattle rock great quickly put together Krist Novoselic’s Bona Fide Band for a Washington state mini tour with concerts doubling as political “conventions.”
The band features all-star locals Mark Pickerel from Screaming Trees, go-to guitar ringer Kathy Moore and vocalists Jennifer Johnson and Jillian Raye who play with Novoselic in his other most recent band, 3rd Secret — another supergroup featuring Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) and Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil. (Raye and Novoselic first linked up with their previous Giants in the Trees project.)
“Time is running short,” Novoselic says. “There’s all these barriers that protect Republicans and Democrats, so basically, this is a statement saying ‘Hey, look what’s going on with political association in Washington state.’ We’re having these conventions, we’re collecting signatures and we’re having as much fun as possible in the meantime.”
For anyone attending the shows, er, conventions, don’t expect any hard-sell proselytizing or stump speeches from the 59-year-old bassist-turned-political organizer. The fieriest statements of the night at Belltown Yacht Club came from Moore, who unleashed a barrage of scorching solos into the already steamy room. Only at the end of the Bona Fide Band’s hourlong set, mostly comprised of 3rd Secret and Giants in the Trees tunes, did Novoselic briefly mention the no-pressure petition before closing with an exuberant pass through “Love Buzz,” a song by Dutch psych rockers Shocking Blue that Nirvana covered on its first album, “Bleach.”
The only other Nirvana nod was also a cover, with their moody rendition of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” followed by an homage to Pickerel’s roots, taking on the Trees’ “Where the Twain Shall Meet.”
If the Aberdeen-reared punk’s political foray seems out of the blue, well, it’s not. Novoselic got a taste for grassroots activism in the ‘90s, founding the Joint Artists and Musicians Political Action Committee (JAMPAC) and lobbying for the repeal of Seattle’s infamous Teen Dance Ordinance, which made running all-ages music venues in the city nearly impossible, among other issues. In 2005, he joined the board of the national nonpartisan group FairVote, which promotes ranked choice voting and efforts to curb partisan gerrymandering — measures that could help minor parties chisel more of a place in America’s two-party political system.
The 4-month-old Cascade Party’s bylaws and platform are still a work in progress. Though a draft platform on its website indicates support for free markets (but not unchecked capitalism), environmental sustainability and preservation, urban density, farming, judicial reform and increased government transparency.
The party has launched its own private social media platform through which members can mingle and exchange ideas as they form a community of people with “shared needs and values,” Novoselic says. The idea is to build the Cascade Party and its future policy proposals from the ground up, unlike the top-down structure of the two dominant parties. He likens the approach to his musical upbringing.
“That’s what I was just raised on, starting in the music industry or just being a fan of music and finding like-minded young people who discovered each other and made our own scenes,” he says. “We just did it ourselves.”
Call it DIY politics for a period when divisiveness and vitriol reign; a time when an us-against-them mentality seems as entrenched as ever.
The timing, with a heated presidential election and an already boiling political climate, presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the Cascade Party, which really looks to get off the ground next year. While the presidential race is taking up so much of the public’s focus, the heightened polarization between Democrats and Republicans could leave some disenchanted voters searching for an alternative. By focusing on local issues and municipal elections, Novoselic thinks there’s more room to stake out that middle ground.
“People are lined up, for president, they’re lined up behind one party or the other it seems like,” he says. “But on the local level, there’s a lot of latitude. That’s participating in democracy and that participation is getting involved in your local community and making things happen.”
