Interview: Dave Grohl on the new Foo Fighters film

Published on Friday 1 April 2011 11:53

With a new album, a documentary film and a headline slot at T in the Park, the focus on the Foo Fighters is intense. It's making Dave Grohl a little uneasy, he tells Craig McLean

• Grohl (second from left) has built a reputation as one of rock's good guys

IN THE bar of a private cinema in central London, Foo Fighters are mingling with media and record company representatives. The audience have just watched a documentary about the band founded by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl in the wake of the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain.

Back And Forth tells the story of the Los Angeles-based five-piece from their birth in 1995, through to their two, 170,000-capacity shows at Wembley Stadium in 2008, right up to the making of their new, seventh album Wasting Light.

The film's director, James Moll, also offers a window into Grohl's personality: indubitably one of the good guys, but also the driven leader who has presided over a Foo Fighters line-up best described as "fluctuating".

"It's funny, he's not a rock'n'roll-type," says the 41-year-old singer, discussing Moll. "He's a great dude," he adds hastily, lest we think he thinks non-rockers are uncool.

Moll, Grohl continues, has made "heavy movies. He made The Last Days, about the Holocaust.

He won an Oscar for that. He's never made a light-hearted rockumentary. So he didn't want to know how we made a record. He wanted to know why we made it.

He didn't want to know how I wrote those choruses. He wants to know what the chorus was about. He couldn't give a shit about the crazy tour stories. He wanted to know about relationships as people.

So the thing is focused so much on our personal relationships that it's a trip in a way I never imagined it would be."

Grohl admits to moments of discomfort at seeing former bandmates being interviewed, and to hearing his current cohorts' reflections on their time in the band. But the rest of Foo Fighters think he shouldn't be concerned.

"Personally, I don't feel that Dave comes across bad in that tale," says guitarist Chris Shiflett.

"But I'm musician, and I look at it from the point of view of what it's like to be in a band, when there's a conflict and maybe somebody isn't pulling their weight. But I know Dave feels sensitive about it."

"Dave's a better band leader now," says guitarist Pat Smear, who also played live with Nirvana and who himself left Foo Fighters at one point after the band's ferocious touring schedule became too much.

"Other than that he's grown up, same as all of us. But he's the same dude."

"It's an interesting thing with Dave," adds Shiflett.

"On the one hand he appears like a regular dude and, like, 'wow, I can't believe this thing happened to me...' But on the other hand he's super-driven, and he's a workaholic. The guy's always moving forward. I don't think of that in terms of ruthlessness.He's just very driven, and you're either caught up in that jet-stream, or you're left by the side."

Back And Forth also shows Grohl's unswervingly loyal side. When drummer Taylor Hawkins overdosed in London in 2001, Grohl sat by his hospital bed until he woke from his coma. He then kept the band on hiatus until Hawkins was fully recovered.

"That was just me being a dumb-ass," reflects the affable Hawkins, "and a f***ing dipshit. I got lucky - I made it out the other end. I got a bump on my head that said, 'dude, wake up, you're being an idiot.'

"I just read Keith Richards' autobiography - he made it through the other side. Some people do, some don't. I did, and I'm stoked that I did."

Still, Grohl concedes that it was "really hard for me to come to terms with a lot of (the documentary].

Hearing Pat talking about quitting the band, Taylor saying how much he resented me for playing drums with Queens Of The Stone Age, me talking about f***ing redoing (the original drummer's] drums on the second album..." He can't help but wince.

The new album, Wasting Light, was recorded in the garage of the home in LA that Grohl shares with his wife and two young daughters. For the first time since they made Nirvana's Nevermind together 20 years ago, Butch Vig is again producing a record with Grohl.

The iconic grunge trio's bass player, Krist Novoselic, also appears on the album, as does Bob Mould of 1980s midwest punk-rock outfit Hsker D, one of Grohl's favourite bands.

At one extreme is the thrashily punk White Limo; at the other, the gloriously melodic These Days. It's a big album that can accommodate both, but Grohl says this is what he always tries to do. In its breadth of songs, "it's not unlike our first record.

"And that's always been a goal for this band - to not get painted into a claustrophobic space where we're only allowed to do one thing. This album could have been our second record, or our sixth, or our fourth. To me it really sums up the intent of our band: (to make] just a f***ing simple, catchy rock record."

This summer, Foo Fighters head out on another huge world tour in support of their first studio album in four years. Given that he's now a devoted family man, will it be harder to say goodbye to home?

"Honestly?" he grins. "We have a bigger plane. So for the summer the family will come with me, when the kids are not in school. We used to hit the road for three months at a time, say goodbye to everyone. But because of our families, now we don't go out for more than 12 days. It's just the way to do it.

"And fortunately we have the luxury of being able to do it that way," he adds, meaning that career album sales somewhere around 25 million (including Nirvana sales) have allowed him a plump financial cushion. I thank my lucky stars for it every day."

Touring in shorter bursts "also helps protect that longevity", he continues, perhaps mindful of the musicians who have passed through the ranks of Foo Fighters. "We very easily could burn this out, and sell it out. But I'll never let that happen. I will never let someone tell this band what to do."

Grinning wildly, super-affable but super-focused Grohl recalls this year's NME Awards, held in London's Brixton Academy in February, at which he was crowned Godlike Genius. Foo Fighters were expected to play a victory lap of four or five songs at the close of the ceremony. Grohl didn't understand why they had to play such a short set. He recounts his conversation with the organisers...

"'So we're in a big hall?' 'Yeah.' 'So why can't we play for two and a half hours?' 'Well, we turn the TV cameras off at 11.' 'I don't need cameras to play a rock show.' 'Well, the tube shuts at midnight.' 'I'M NOT TAKING THE SUBWAY HOME. WHAT THE F***!'" Foo Fighters played for almost two hours.

"Nobody's ever told us what to do," he says now. "We've created this thing for ourselves. We've had a lot of help along the way from some amazing people - I've had the same manager for 21 years, and the same f***ing accountant. And in that family, everybody understands if I say to our manager, 'no'. He knows I'm not being a rock star diva - he knows why I say no. I got to take my wife out to dinner."

Back And Forth is in selected cinemas on Thursday; for full listings, visit intl.foofightersfilm.com. Wasting Light is released on 11 April, and the Foo Fighters play T in the Park on 8 July

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 3 April, 2011