All of which seems to have left Grohl, 42, feeling a tad, well, old.
You just think, Oh no.
What am I, fing Gandalf?
Credit: Landmark/PR Photos
In truth, few people would confuse the Foos overlord for theLord of the Ringswizard.
Entertainment Weekly: You recordedWasting Lightin your garage.
Where did you put your dartboard, garden furniture, and Swedish porn collection?
That its this cavernous fing hangar space.
But really theres old luggage, a couple of bikes.
Its big enough to put one minivan in.
Im so not macho.
My man cave is so not a man cave.
On the song Arlandia you sing Fame, fame go away/Come again some other day.
Did no one have the cojones to tell you its actually supposed to be rain?
All the years playing live have fed with my hearing.
So I just thought it was fame.
Kurt [Cobain] used to talk about that.
He used to have a go at simplify songs so that they sounded like nursery rhymes.
He put so much importance on melody.
He really downplayed his lyrical skills.
He always said, Melody first and lyrics second.
In his case, I thought they were both equal, you know.
But theres something about nursery rhyme patterns that are just undeniable.
You recruited your Nirvana band mate Krist Novoselic to play bass on the track I Should Have Known.
And you also gotNevermindproducer Butch Vig to oversee the CD.
Deciding to work with Butch on this record was a big step for me, personally.
Because Ive had to walk this really fine line between the Foo Fighters and Nirvana for 17 years.
I owe everything to Nirvana.
But I cant let that overshadow the future.
For the first few years, I didnt even want to talk about Nirvana.
After a while it became easier to talk about.
But there were certain things that were off limits.
Like I couldnt have made the first Foo Fighters album with Butch.
And I dont think I could have made the second one with him.
It got to the point where I felt like, maybe its finally time.
Then I started thinking, This is my fing band.
Why would I let anyone else influence what I want to do musically?
F that, lets work with Butch.
And then you start to free yourself from all of those restrictions that have been placed upon you.
Krist is really no stranger to the Foo Fighters.
Hes recorded with us in the studio before, hes played with us live.
Theres a lot more weight to it.
Which I totally understand.
But to me, having Krist come down and play on the record was more of a personal opportunity.
Because that was never supposed to happen again.
The day we finished the record, we had this club gig to do.
It was in this little bar down the street, a surprise show.
I invited Krist to come down and play a song.
And thatll be the first time weve been together onstage since Nirvana ended.
So we go to the studio that day to practice.
Me and Pat look at each other and go, Okay, what do you want to do?
He says, Lets do Smells Like Teen Spirit.'
I hadnt played that song in 18 years.
I havent even played the drum beat to that song in 18 years.
And we played it.
And theres only one person in the studio, who was Scott, the studio manager.
We ended the song and look at each other like, That was strange.
We walked out and Scott looked at us and said, Yeah, it sounded pretty good.
You guys should keep that.
WatchingBack and ForthI was surprised by how many ups and downs the Foos have been through.
Weve been pretty quiet about the personal, private side of the band.
We always believed a little mystery is important to rocknroll.
But we had gotten to the point where… Did you see the Tom Petty documentary?
Im a huge Tom Petty fan.
Its four hours long!
So I thought, you know, maybe its time that we tell people the story.
If we wait any longer, were going to wind up with a four-hour-long documentary.
1994 was a really weird year.
The last Nirvana tour was kind of difficult.
The mood was off and it was kind of depressing.
I dont know if anybody wanted to be there.
Then I got a call from somebody at Tom Pettys management that hewanted me to doSNL.
My first reaction was, What the f?
He couldnt find a real drummer?
Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.
Because Ive always loved Tom Petty.
Even when I was a stubborn, cynical, punk-rock asshole, I still lived Tom Petty.
Because I felt like he was a stubborn, cynical, punk-rock asshole too.
So, it was interesting.
I easily could have become someones drummer.
But I didnt want to be anyones drummer.
How badisyour body odor problem?
Actually, I didnt start sweating until I had children.
That was one of the first things I realized when my daughter Violet was bornI started getting wicked BO.
You know theres a difference between basketball BO and stress BO?
This was definitely stress BO.
Like, new dad BO.
I had never been in charge of anything.
Id always worked for someone.
I worked for a furniture warehouse.
I always had a boss yelling at me.
So Id never been in charge of an organization.
And, f, I was young.
I was 25 or 26 years old.
When you put together a band, theres always this all for one and one for all ethic.
You get together like a gang of school hoodlums, you know.
And that works for a while, until it becomes something more than just a gang of kids.
And thats when it gets tricky.
Most of the growing pains that we went through, every fing band in the worlds gone through.
We just had to go through ours in public.
Had I not been in Nirvana, nobody would have cared about our first drummer.
Nobody would have cared about Pat quitting and coming back.
But I wouldnt change a thing.
But it was tough, man.
Youve said the documentary was hard to watch.
Is that because of the footage in which you have dyed blond hair?
Thats probably the one thing Idoregret.
One of my favorite punk rock drummers, his name was Chuck Biscuits.
He played for Black Flag and the Circle Jerks.
So half of it was dark and half of it was white.
I thought it was coolest fing thing Id ever seen in my life.
So I dyed my hair.
I looked like a total messy drag queen.
Youre in the new Muppets movie.
What do you do in that?
I dont think Im allowed to talk about it.
Okay then, whos the hottest Muppet?
I think everybody had Miss Piggy fantasies.
I always had a thing for Grover, to be honest.
Grover and his alter ego, Super Grover.
This a threesome fantasy?
No, I actually prefer Super Grover.
I had a Super Grover doll growing up.
Super Grover was very clumsy, he wasnt very good-looking.
But in his own way hed always save the day.
Ive never wanted to f a Muppet, if thats what youre asking.
If you were trapped in an elevator with him, what would the conversation be like?
You shouldnt feel pressured to do anything.
You know, I could sit down and have a beer with anybody.
Theres so few people that Ive ever been upset with for longer than a little while.
When you go for your tour insurance medical, is it the full rubber gloves workup?
Ive never had tour insurance, I dont think.
Who am I, Britney Spears?
I got my ears checked once.Once.Ill never do that again.
They were like, Youre deaf.
Going back to your single days, whats the difference between drummer groupies and lead singer groupies?
I think lead singer groupies just want to be famous, whereas drummer groupies just want to get laid.
Does he have any idea at all about how babies are actually made?
[Laughs] Heisa drummer, after all.
You once gotBobcat Goldthwaitto do an interview pretending to be you.
Do you now wish youd done that for this interview?
I havent seen Bob in so long.
Bobs a good interview, I have to say.
Yeah, That really kicked off my career in the press.
Thats when people wanted to start talking to me.
Yeah, Ill do an interview with that guy!
