Kristen Marie Parco was born on May 26, 1967, to Janet Pfaff and her first husband, Mike Parco, in
Buffalo, New York. Her birth father comes from a family of several highly successful musicians. Her parents divorced when she was a child, and her mother remarried to Norman Pfaff, who adopted Kristen and gave her his surname. She had a younger brother, Jason, a musician. She studied classical piano and cello. After graduating from Catholic school
Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart in 1985, Pfaff spent a short time in Europe and briefly attended
Boston College before ultimately finishing at the
University of Minnesota, majoring in women's studies. There, she also worked as a counselor for rape victims. She was a part of Restore of the Sexual Violence Program, which offered a crisis line, counseling services and training in self-defense programs. Pfaff also took part in the annual 24 Hour Rape Free Zone in 1990, and was quoted as saying the goal was "to draw attention to violence brought against women on campus and in the world". During this time, she participated in the college radio station, Radio K, and she can be heard doing this in a short clip available on SoundCloud. While living in
Minneapolis, Minnesota following her graduation, Pfaff taught herself to play
bass guitar. Pfaff, guitarist/vocalist Joachim Breuer (formerly of Minneapolis band "The Bastards") and drummer Matt Entsminger formed the band
Janitor Joe in 1991.
Janitor Joe The band's first single, "Hmong", was released in 1992. Later that year, they released the "Bullethead" single on picture disc, which was followed in 1993 with the "Boyfriend" 7-inch and Janitor Joe's debut album
Big Metal Birds. One Janitor Joe track, "Under The Knife", can also be found on an OXO records 4-track EP, released in 1993. Janitor Joe were becoming a staple of the Minneapolis sound, influenced by the
Pacific Northwest's early
grunge sound and by the sharper, faster
DC post-hardcore scene, as well as the stop-start distortion of the
Butthole Surfers,
Big Black and others on the
Touch and Go label. Pfaff's playing style was central to Janitor Joe's relentless assault both live and on record, and she and Breuer both contributed songs to
Big Metal Birds: "Both operate within easy reach of the line separating punishment and reward - Pfaff's contributions (the surly "Boys in Blue") tend to be slightly more spacious, while Breuer's ("One Eye," for instance) stipulate that drummer Matt Entsminger maintain perpetual motion", wrote David Sprague of
Trouser Press. The growing Minneapolis scene was beginning to attract music press attention in 1993. Amphetamine Reptile released a tour single, "Stinker", and Janitor Joe began to tour nationally. It was on one such tour in California that year that Pfaff was scouted by
Eric Erlandson and
Courtney Love of Hole, who were at the time looking for a new bassist. Love invited Pfaff to play with Hole; Pfaff declined and returned to Minneapolis, but Erlandson and Love continued to pursue her. In 1993, Pfaff moved to
Seattle,
Washington, to work with the other members of Hole on
Live Through This, the major-label follow-up to
Pretty on the Inside. The band's new line-up – Love, Erlandson, Pfaff and
Patty Schemel on drums – entered the studio in early 1993 to begin rehearsals. "That's when we took off," Eric Erlandson said of Pfaff joining. "All of a sudden, we became a real band." ==Later years ==