That Was Then, This Is Now

Kerrang! 2003 Yearbook


2003 Has been both a busy year and a great year. This period of the cycle has to be the most fun I've had making music ever; playing with Queens 0f The Stone Age, the Foo Fighters tour, getting the Probot record together, playing on the Killing Joke record, playing on the Cat Power record - I just did as much as I could do in that period of time. It was an amazing year. It's nice to keep the ball rolling, nice to see the shows get bigger, to hear more people singing the songs, to write a set-list of 22 songs that everyone knows every word to. And it really has been that kind of year - playing big arenas here in England and headlining the Big Day Out in Australia, stuff like that. I have a real sense of personal achievement.
  It's also been a good year for music. If I had to single out one band it would be My Morning Jacket, a band from America. They're from the South and they kind of have a vibe that sounds like a Southern Neil Young singing epic rockers. They were probably the best live band I saw all year, and we toured with them so I saw them about 20 times. When I finally got to see them at their own gig they played each song rocking like it's the last of the set - only they do it for two and a half hours! Live they are awesome.
  My personal highlight of the year was getting married [to Jordan]. It was a great day, we got married at my house in Los Angeles. We had a Beatles cover band called The Fab Four play for us - rather than Paul McCartney himself because we didn't have a million dollars to donate to his favourite charity.
  As for what might occur next year, I'm not quite sure. I'm currently writing some Foo Fighters music, so that'll probably happen. Plus I have the Probot thing coming out. Obviously I can't tour that, but I would like to have a raging record release party, where everyone involved on the album comes up and does their song. I'll play the drums and we'll get some other people to play their instruments and we'll just have a major night of drinking and partying. Six months ago I said, "I'm never fucking touring again", but now I'm ready to go again. I'm not the greatest at taking breaks because I love doing this so much. So 2004 should be a pretty good year, too.

        Dave Grohl,
        November 2003