SCREAM - NO MORE CENSORSHIP
The Punk Rock Album
"The only album I'd made before that was with my previous band, Dain Bramage. Then we went to someone's garage studio and made the record in two days. No More Censorship was the first time I'd been in a 24-track studio, a place called Lion And Fox Studios in Washington, DC. Scream had signed to this reggae label, RAS. We were their only rock band. [Eccentric Jamaican reggae star] Eek-A-Mouse was the big artist on the label. One day he came in with a massive leather pouch filled with amazing marijuana from Jamaica. We rolled ajoint the size of a drumstick and smoked the whole thing. I think he may have been the first famous person I'd ever met. Our idea of making this huge rock record didn't really pan out. The engineer had mainly worked on reggae records, so the end result wasn't what we wanted it to be. I was at the peak of my strength as a drummer. Fuck, dude, I was tireless. That was fast hardcore, so a lot of the shit happening on that album is really tricky."
KEY TRACK: Hit Me
NIRVANA - IN UTERO
The Challenging Album
"We had never met [producer}Steve Albini before. He had this reputation of being a dastardly asshole, but he was nothing but nice. Right off the bat he said, If you beat me at a game of pool, I'll make your album for free. If I beat you, you pay me double. We were paying him $100,000. Anyone who's got the stones to gamble something that large must be an amazing pool player,
so everyone said no. We booked two weeks there [Pachyderm Studio, Minnesota]. It was in February, I believe. That's the coldest I've ever been in my life - it was like an ice planet. We were in total isolation and locked indoors, because if you stepped outside you'd die. That album was really recorded live. There were barely any overdubs, except for vocals. I was finished with the drums in three days. As the session went on, Kurt got a little worse. I think he started using drugs after we had finished recording the music. When I was down there working with them it was great, then it got a little uncomfortable. I like In Utero more than Nevermind because there was nothing in between the band and the tape. When we turned It In to the record company, they called back and said, Is this a joke? This Isn't your next record. We basically said, We are Nirvana. That is our new record."
KEY TRACK: Heart-Shaped Box
FOO FIGHTERS - FOO FIGHTERS
The Solo Album
"After Nirvana was over I was getting offers from all these different people to join their band
as a drummer - Tom Petty, Danzig - but I didn't want to stay behind the drumkit and think about Nirvana for the rest of my life. I thought that this would be some sort of cathartic therapy, to go out and record these songs that I'd written by myself. So I booked six days at Robert Lang studios in Seattle, which to me was an eternity - I'd never been in a studio myself for more than six hours. I went in with [producer] Barrett Jones. We got there at nine in the morning and by noon we were ready to go. We wound up recording four songs a day. I was insecure about my voice. You know how people double their vocals to make them stronger? That album the vocals are quadrupled. I didn't want to be a lead singer, I couldn't fucking sing."
KEY TRACK: This Is A Call
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - SONGS FOR THE DEAF
The Great Album
"Musically, this is the album I'm most proud of. I went in, recorded two or three songs and split. Then Josh [Homme, QOTSA mainman]called me and said, Things aren't working out with our drummer. Do you want to play on our whole record? The Foo Fighters were in our seven-year itch phase. We were trying to make One By One but there didn't seem to be any passion involved. I'd go rehearse with Queens and be in the greatest band in the world. Then I'd go back to our studio, where everyone was ordering sushi and saying, I have an acupuncture session, so I'll finish the track when I get back. I said, 'Do you guys want to be here? Because I don't. Let's take a break'. We stopped making the record and threw it away."
KEY TRACK: No One Knows
KILLING JOKE - KILLING JOKE
The Guest Album
"Killing Joke are a huge influence on the band. They called and asked if I'd play and I said,
'Fuck, yeah'. I met Jaz [Coleman, Kiiling Joke frontman]in New Zealand at the Big Day Out. I was sitting in my hotel room and my phone rang. I picked it up and someone said, 'Young David! It's Jaz from Killing Joke'. He sounded like a fucking monster. We met down in the bar. I was sitting there in the lobby surrounded by businessmen, I look up and this man walks in wearing a priest's uniform. We sat down and got hammered. Jaz's brain might be hardwired different to most people's, but he's not insane. The drums were the last thing to go on the record. They're usually recorded first so you don't know what it's going to sound like until it's done. With this one I was the cherry on the cake."
KEY TRACK: Asteroid