Foo Fighters |
 |
|
Tue. November 19.2002 1:17 PM EST |
||
Foo Fighters: Never Say DieGrohl and the guys sound masterful on One By One. by Brian Ives |
||||
|
||||
 |
Foo Fighters (VH1.com) |
|
||
Call it Dave Grohls busmans holiday. In the three years since the release of Foo Fighters third album There is Nothing Left to Lose, the only place Grohl hadnt been seen was on stage with his band. He played guitar for Bowie. He returned
At times, it seemed doubtful that the great grunge successors had a future - the Foos recorded and scrapped an entire record last year. Then they tried again, and now a nation of fans are rediscovering how to rock by turning up the volume on One by One. The music is masterful. This is Grohl and associates yelling, buzzing and exploding in a way they havent since their 1995 debut. The rock life looked like it was taking its toll on Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins when they stumbled into the VH1 studios the day after a New York Halloween gig. But they furrowed their brows and shared their thoughts on the power of All My Life, the genius of orchestra leader Brian May, and, of course, whats still lying around Nirvanas vaults. VH1: Youve had guitarists and drummers come and go. Does it feel like this is the definitive version of the band? Dave Grohl: Sometimes I forget that there was anyone else in the band at any point! Weve been so tight for the last three or four years, ever since [guitarist] Chris Shiflett joined the band. Its the way its supposed to be. Taylor Hawkins: Weve had enough time to play with this group of people to get to a point where we sound good live. It can be interesting to get new players, but at the same time theres something to be said for having a core you can really learn to play together with. Thats whats important to me. VH1: One By One had a long gestation. How long did it take to make from start to finish? Grohl: We did record the bulk of the album once and then threw it away. We took a couple months off, went our separate ways, got back together and re-recorded everything in a matter of a couple of weeks. All in all it was like a year and a half, maybe more. We started the songs while we were still touring for the last record. Taylors got a home studio and Ive got a home studio, so wed bounce back and forth whenever we had time off. Most of the songs were instrumental at first - just jams. VH1: You played on Bowies Heathen and Queens of the Stone Ages Songs For the Deaf. Did your extracurricular activity help recharge your enthusiasm for your band? Grohl: I came back to the Foo Fighters recharged, because making musics fun [no matter who you make it with]. Its nice to play music with other people, but I always come back to our band, because its like home. VH1: Did you really stalk Queen guitarist Brian May to get him to play on One By One? Hawkins: I stalked him when I first met him! Queen are my favorite band of all time. He loves playing guitar, so if hes around and were recording, you can call up Brian May and hell come down and play. The first thing he recorded with us was this hard rock tune called Knucklehead that never made it to the record. Then it was sort of an afterthought for him to play on Tired of You. Grohl: We had talked about putting in a string section on Tired of You. Then we thought, String sections in rock music are kind of played out. So he came in and he made it sound like an orchestra. Hawkins: Thats what he does. If you look at Queens Night at the Opera album, it says Leader of the orchestra - Brian May. He didnt use any synthesizers either. They always note that on every early Queen album: No synthesizers! [Watch Clip] VH1: Was All My Life written on the road or is it a more recent song? Grohl: That song started in Taylors basement & or was it mine? Hawkins: No, it was yours, right after we inducted Queen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [in 2001]. Dave just had a riff. We jammed it out a couple of times, and then he said, Well, let me change it here, here is the other part. We came up with that rhythm interplay thing in the middle and basically put that together in like an hour and then recorded it really quickly. It stayed pretty close to how we came up to it right then, in an hour & two years ago! VH1: Did you write the lyrics after the music was hashed out? Grohl: I didnt know what the hell I was gonna sing over it, because its not the most melodic riff. I thought How am I gonna turn that into a song? Whats the chorus? The arrangements very unconventional. I always procrastinate with the lyrics, so it just happened the night before I sang it. Even after I recorded it the first time, we looked at each other like, Does that work? We thought, Well lets keep it for now and if we need to change it& And it just stuck. VH1: People have come to expect Foo Fighters videos to be funny. Why did you decide to take a straight-faced approach with the All My Life video? Grohl: I dig making videos where we goof around, but the last thing we wanna do is get pigeonholed and become that band for the rest of your life. You dont wanna be Weird Al Yankovic. Performance has never been a prominent part of our videos, and I thought, well, we should probably focus on [that.] Hawkins: Because the performance is so amazing, we wanted to make sure that was part of the video. Grohl: Were so kick-ass. Its important that we represent our amazing chops and absolute rock supremacy. [Watch Clip] VH1: Why did you decide to direct it yourself? Grohl: When I wind up being the video director its because its coming down to the wire, and nobody else has found a treatment that anyone digs. So Ill say, What about this? Someone says, I love that idea! Then Ill try to write up a treatment and work out a storyboard. But I dont really know how to be a director. I just try to explain what I imagine happening. For a performance video its pretty simple; its not like I have to explain anyones motivation to them. Were lucky. We did the Learn to Fly and Big Me videos with a friend of ours, Jesse Peretz. We can sit down together and come up with ideas. Thats really fun. But sometimes you try to get together with a director and theres this barrier, like, Im the director and youre a musician. I mean f*ck, I wouldnt want a director to tell me how to write a song! [Watch Clip] VH1: How does it feel now that the Nirvana song, You Know Youre Right, is out? Grohl: There was so much stank about that song its a good thing its finally out, so everyone can just shut up and listen to it. Its not even the greatest song in the world, its just a song ... VH1: Well you guys are music fans, too. If it was a Queen song that you never heard before, it would be a big deal. Hawkins: The hubbub has been like waiting for a Stanley Kubrick movie to get done. Its like, Eyes Wide Shut better be the best movie Ive ever seen. It took 25 years to make. VH1: Is there any other unreleased Nirvana stuff? Grohl: I joined the band in 1990, so I was really only in for 4 years. Out of the recordings that we did, there wasnt really too much demo-ing or too many outtakes. We didnt really go into the studio with excess material. But theres a lot of stuff from before I was in the band - from 1987 to 1990. Thats the stuff I find the most interesting because those are the bands formative years. When Nirvana started out they were like this crazy noisy punk rock thing. Really dissonant screeching crazy screaming vocal stuff, it was really a trip. To see it go from that to Nevermind, thats the really interesting stuff. Those are the recordings that a lot of people havent heard. Theyll probably come out at some point. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
 |
Mac Miller, Foo Fighters, A$AP Rocky Set To Rock Bamboozle |
|
Dave Grohl Shares His 'Best-Kept Secret' In 'Sound City' |
|
Foo Fighters, Mumford & Sons On Upset Alert In Musical March Madness |
|
The Muppets Back Foo Fighters, Nickelback In Musical March Madness |
 |
 |
 |
|
Receive Free Music News Daily Via Email |
|
Receive Free Artist Updates Via Email for Foo Fighters |
|
All news for Foo Fighters |
|
Breaking Music News |
 |
Add VH1 News to My Yahoo |
|
