Broken leg be damned! The Foo Fighters leader opens up about the group’s celebratory tour, why his onstage accident in June has led to some of their favorite shows ever, and the future of the band. (Hint: They’ll stick around.)
When you broke your leg in Sweden
last month, you still finished the show.
How bad was the pain?
When it happened I didn’t feel
a thing. I tried to get up and walk and my
ankle collapsed under my weight. The band
didn’t know what was happening, so they
kept playing. It didn’t hurt until I wound up
on my couch in my hotel room, with a
beer in my hand. They gave me some really
strong painkillers—I never take pills, but
within half an hour I was like, “Get me the
f---ing Oxys right now, man!”
You celebrated the band’s 20th with
a huge show in Washington, D.C., on
July 4. How was it?
I’m from there and I grew up going to see
the fireworks down on the Mall as a kid.
The 20th anniversary of our first album
was the Fourth of July so I thought, “This is
the perfect opportunity for us to play a
stadium in America,” which we had never
done. We thought this was a great way to
celebrate American music with all of these
American heroes—Joan Jett, Buddy Guy,
LL Cool J, Trombone Shorty, Heart—and
then to celebrate our 20th anniversary as
well. It was a dream come true. Afterwards
[promoter Seth Hurwitz and I] looked at
each other and said, “We’ve gotta do this
every f---ing year.”
So, Foos on the Mall in 2016?
Well, a broken leg’s not going to stop me,
so... [Laughs] Every year Willie Nelson has
his Fourth of July picnic in Texas, and it’s
become an institution. It’s somewhere
you can go and have a beer, have a joint,
watch good music. We gave people
somewhere to see fireworks and hear
music and share it together.
How will you top the insanity of that
show with the rest of your summer tour?
The spontaneity of this situation we’re in
right now brings out a smile in everyone.
The idea of the throne is f---ing ridiculous,
especially for a band that has never relied
on any kind of production. We usually just
put the amps on the stage, turn on the
lights, and play. Now we’ve got this throne
that shoots lights and smoke out of it and
looks like a UFO with guitar necks stuck in it.
When it first rolls out on stage, people light
up. I’m restricted to this chair and there’s a
seat belt on that thing so I don’t fall off,
that’s how hard I’m rocking out!
You told the D.C. crowd you were “high
as a f---ing kite” when you designed it.
After surgery I thought, “We’re going to do
that Fourth of July show and I can’t just sit
on a stool like Paul Simon.” I picked up the
hotel stationery and made this primitive
drawing that had arrows and descriptions,
had the Foo Fighters logo, and it said
“lasers and s---.” I wanted it to pick up and
fly, but [my lighting guy] said, “Look, man,
you already have one broken leg. Let’s
not fly it around yet.”
With such a landmark year for the band,
do you want to keep going?
The band is more than a musical group. It’s
a family and it’s become a way of life with
us. We love each other. When Foo Fighters
show up to the airport and
there’s four SUVs waiting to
drive us away, we all get in one
SUV, still, to this day. It’s how
we roll. As long as we can do
whatever we want, we’ll do it
until we die. I love my job.
We’re not breaking up anytime
soon — that would be like your
grandparents getting a divorce.
Too weird. And these shows are
some of our favorite shows
we’ve ever done.
Any plans to bring your HBO
music-documentary
show Sonic Highways back
for a second season?
We’ve been talking about doing
it again. I’m sure we will. One of
the great things about the
show’s concept is that it doesn’t
always have to be Foo Fighters
and it doesn’t always have to be
in America.
Which Foo Fighters song is
most meaningful to you?
Oh, God—that’s a lot of f---ing
songs. We have our staples, the
ones that make the place go
bananas. For me, there was a
song off [2011’s Wasting Light]
called “These Days” that’s one
of the most meaningful songs
I’ve ever written. Every night I
sing it I still get choked up.