Nemone Hello Dave Grohl.
Dave Grohl Hello.
N And Hello to, ah, Tayl...
Taylor Hawkins Taylor Hawkins.
Dave laughs
N I'm slightly feeling probably how you feel, a bit little rough around the edges.
DG Did you go out last night?
N No I stayed in, I had a really early night.
DG You did?
N Yeah.
DG We kinda did too, it wasn’t that bad.
N Did you? What time did you get to bed?
TH My life is a series of early nights now.
DG I wound up with room service on my lap at about 12.30 I think.
N That’s not what I....Oh you reckon?
DG That’s probably, maybe it was 2, I don’t know.
N Oh yeah, maybe more like 2, this is the boys from the Foo Fighters on Radio 1. I have to say, first of all, that when Jo Whiley found out that you guys were coming in she fought to change her holiday so that she could be here.
DG Well, y’know some of us have to go to Greece.
N Didn’t try hard enough, so now you’re stuck with me.
TH Right now she’s in Ibiza dancing her ass off.
DG That’s right. Tanned, glistening, thong and all.
N That’s exactly right.
DG Beautiful.
N First question then, we talked about it already, the Kerrang! Awards was last night.
DG It was fun.
N Did you enjoy yourselves?
DG It was short man.
TH It was short.
DG I mean, it seemed like we were there for about an hour and 15 minutes. It really went by so quickly.
N I love the way they do that.
DG I think it might be my favourite awards ceremony.
TH Yeah it’s better that way.
N I think, Bish Bosh, in out, and then everyone has a party.
DG It’s great.
N I think more awards ceremonies should be like that definitely, and you got inducted into the Kerrang hall of Fame, how did that feel?
TH old.
DG A bit premature. It seems funny because you look at the list of the people that they’ve given that award to, and it’s like, Iggy Pop, AC/DC, Sabbath, and its just like; 'I can’t believe we’re in here'.
TH Jean Pitney...
N Sinatra.
DG Mel Brooks.
N Amazing...
TH Beethoven.
N It’s an amazing hall of fame.
TH Two guys that didn’t have names that just hit rocks.
DG Simon and Garfunkle.
N They’re in there too. Ok, how about the hectic weekend you’ve just had? We’re kind of hearing how its taken its toll on Dave, Taylor how about for you? How was Leeds and Reading?
TH It was Amazing, really actually Reading was amazing - Leeds was amzing too, but after Reading, I mean reading was just like....
DG Reading was a big moment for the band....
TH Yeah, yeah it was really awesome.
DG because we’d kinda headlined festivals before, but like, we did Germany, and then, stuff like that, but then. Just Reading is just....
N There’s a feeling.
DG It’s the most famous festival of them all.
TH It’s like Madison Square Garden or The Forum, It’s like one of those big things.
N Huge.
TH One of those like rock and roll dreams or whatever when you’re a kid...
N And you did it again this year.
DG It was great man.
N And is, I mean two years ago at Reading, you weren’t very well, and ah, last year obviously V2001, we know what happened there. And this year Reading seems to have taken it’s toll on your voice, is there something saying to you guys, maybe you should stay away.
DG Well. I got overly excited, and just started screaming my nuts off y’know? And then Leeds was kinda the same way..and then we did a show on Monday at the Astoria..I sang like Rod Stewart, so I love to switch faces.
N It’s a good look, yeah.
TH It’s kinda like the punk rock Faces.
N Excellent. And the new single 'All My Life', we’ve just been chatting about it, obviously we played it this morning on the show, returned to the rockier end of what you guys do, was it a conscious decision to go that way?
DG Well, it always been there. It’s weird because our last record was kind of, it was so subdued for us y’know, we went back to Virginia, and built a studio in the house, and wrote a bunch of songs on acoustic guitars, and some of them were rock but they never really went full steam, hey were all kind of, y’know, it was like a lesson in restraint.
TH They were written slightly different.
DG Yeah this time, when we demoed stuff for this record it was really just the four of us in a room with the amps on ten, and all the songs kinda started out as instrumentals and then they had to sort of become songs, so...
N And how does that work? I mean, how do they become songs?
DG It’s weird. It’s a sort of backwards way of doing it.
TH Basically for the band, well, for Dave included because he doesn’t know what he’s going to sing, he usually has an idea what the vocals are where they’re going to be, and the melodies and whatnot, but um, you’re kind of ah, painting in the dark.
N Feeling your way..
DG I love it.
TH ..But that can sort of make thing interesting too. A little bit. In some ways it did, and in some days, in some ways, some days.
N (laughs)
TH In some ways and some days it made things, ah, a little bit difficult but in the end, the overall ending turned out really great, and I love the song.
N It’s, ah I love the tune that we’ve been playing.
DG Thank you.
N What’s it like for you knowing that Dave also plays your instrument? Is there any pressure for you?
TH No, I mean y’know, I get that question every day of my life!
N Ok I’m sorry to ask you it again.
TH No, it’s alright, um, no I mean, he’s like the best rock drummer in the world, so, basically, for him to allow me to play drums on his record...
DG Shut the hell up. That's so stupid.
TH Ok, on our record, on our record.
N On his record? (laughing)
TH Y’know It’s, it’s not, it’s a good thing, and I’m really proud of the drums on this record.
DG Yeah, yeah it’s one of the best things about the record, the drums, because, the way we recorded the record, we recorded it once and spent like four months on it, and then threw everything away, and went back and re-recorded everything in about two weeks.
N Oh my god.
DG So we made the whole record in two/two and a half weeks.
N Sure.
DG And we were working with this good friend of ours, this guy Nick Raskinlineks(sp?). He’s not like a big producer, he’s a good friend who’s a great producer but he hasn’t done any big records yet, he’s a fan of the band and he’s a musician. So most producers when you go in to record drums, they just try to, just pare it down, they just try to get you to do the least much as possible, and with Taylor, it was like ‘No, no, no do that more’.
N Yeah.
DG It was like ‘do that faster’ And so..
TH It was like a Rush record.
DG In a sense.
N Exactly that’s how it come about. Now I have to ask you, in fact I’m going to get shot if I don’t ask you about Queens of the Stone Age, are you finished with them and back with the Foos? Or are you going to do other stuff with them?
DG Well, I mean you never know, they’re the kinda people who invite friends to play for their records all the time, and they have another drummer, and they’re touring America right now, but, um, I can’t do both at the same time. Y’know, and it was like really really fun, and I had a blast, but it’s time to do this, I mean this, Foo Fighters is like my baby, y’know and that’s like my family so...
N Nice to be back in the family.
DG Absolutely, it’s like being home.
N I know it seems like that, you guys seem like you kinda just slipped straight back into it..
DG Don’t be fooled!
N Yeah, yeah, behind the scene arguing. Also I have to ask this question, what’s the score over the ownership of the Nirvana legacy?
DG Um...I can’t really talk about that stuff.
TH But I can so...
DG (laughs) No.
N Taylor?
DG Since it’s a legal thing now I have a proper excuse to not have to talk about it.
N Yeah you can be nice about it and say...
DG I can’t.
N No comment.
DG It’s a legal matter.
N O.k We’ll leave it in the hands of the lawyers then Boys. Now it's The Testimony, this is where you can really harass each other, and tell the truth I believe. I’ve handed you the single, can you say, 'I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Nemone'?
DG I promise to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
TH ...so help me Nemoooonne (impersonating Nemone).
N Ok so that’s the testimony over and done with. Who’s the best person you’ve ever worked with, Taylor?
TH Dave Grohl.
N (Laughs) You can’t get out of it like that! You are allowed to pass on one. Dave Grohl, who’s the best person you’ve ever worked with?
DG Um... The best person I’ve ever worked with? Well what do you mean by the best?
N Your favourite.
DG Just my favourite person I’ve ever worked with?
N Yeah.
DG Well, the most fun person I’ve ever worked with is Taylor.
N Oh this is too nice let’s get to the nitty gritty.
DG It’s kinda true.
TH It’s true!
N Yeah, you look like you have a giggle.
DG (In a cockney accent) 'Yeah we 'ave a giggle'.
TH I would put a little sidebar, Brian May, is definitely a better guitar player than Dave.
N See, told you it was gonna get nasty.
TH As an overall musician I would say Dave Grohl.
DG And Kurt was the best song writer I’ve ever worked with, so that was kinda...
N So you'd put Kurt in as well?
TH Lots of sidebars.
N Ok.
TH Footnotes if you like.
N Footnotes. Yeah, I like that.
TH Footloose.
N You can have that. Ok, you’re offered a life changing amount of money to endorse a new range of odour eaters called ‘Foot Fighters’, do you do it?
DG No.
TH No.
N The look on your face is fantastic! Yeah, not a hope. Ok, what’s the most obsessive thing a fan has ever done?
TH I don’t think we can talk about that on the Radio.
N Another one! I’m wondering just where is this going?
DG Um...We had this one fan that was like a 60 year old woman that followed us around on every show of our first tour, that was pretty weird...Liz.
N An OAP stalker. Ok, who’s your favourite musician in the world? I guess we’ve kind of covered that haven’t we?
TH Yeah, I would say for me...
DG I would have to say Jimmy Page.
N If there’s one thing you could change about the opposite sex what would it be?
DG Uhh....
TH Umm....
N Oh, look, eyes to the heavens, both of them!
TH The inability to speak..
DG (laughing) I knew that was coming....
N Oh, cheeky.
DG I would probably install some kind of esp in all of them, so that they would know exactly what I wanted and needed at all times. (laughs)
N A legion of slaves to attend you every need at all times!.
DG There you go.
TH So, basically, it’s the same thing.
N Yeah, exactly the same thing 'shut up'.
TH Yeah, 'You know that I want you to shut the hell up, right?'.
N I’m saying nothing..i’m not gonna say..O.k interview over. What about if you could change something about your own apperance what would it be?.
TH Porbably my big ol' horse teeth.
DG My nostrils probably.
N Your nostrils?
DG Yeah I’ve had this complex about my nostrils ever since I was a kid because I remember when I was about 11 or 12, this friend of my sisters came over to the house and he said, ‘oh my god your nostrils are huge! I can see your brain!’.
N And it stayed with you. I’m not laughing at you I’m laughing with you. Have you ever had a fistfight?
TH Someone had a proper fistfight with my face a couple of months ago, I wasn’t ready for it, I actually walked into a dark room and someone suddenly hit me in the face without me even knowing it...
N Oh my god!
TH Yeah...and then a couple in high school.
N You got down to it. Any tussles within the band? Has it ever come down to that?
DG No.
TH That would be the end.
TH That would be bad.
DG If it comes to that it’s kinda a lost cause.
TH We’re not from Australia.
N Oh, The Datsuns fight last night?
TH Oh, they're from New Zealand. Same thing.
N They’re not here to defend themselves. We’ll be telling The Datsuns all about that.
TH Oi, Kiwi!.
N Any showbiz tantrums? Oh look! The crew in the background are nodding away!
DG They’re going, 'ah-ha, yeah'.
TH We probably have both but we were always really embarrassed about doing it afterwards.
DG Remember the time that you freaked out when the van couldn’t find the hotel in DC? And you screamed; ‘FREDDIE MERCURY WOULD NEVER DRIVE AROUND FOR AN HOUR LOOKING FOR A HOTEL!’.
TH I had to be kidding! I had to be fuckin' kiddin...Oh, sorry!
DG You what?
N Ok, sorry about that we’re just expressing ourselves.
TH Sorry.
DG Oh, I remember you throwing a suitcase at a restaurant once.
TH Yeah, that was in my drinking days though, I had to actually get up and play a show. I wasn’t happy. I’ve seen you throw a tizzy here and there.
DG Like what? Gimme a good one.
TH Oh goshie.
N We’re delving back into Dave Grohl’s past.
TH Oh, I remember, um, I don’t if it was a tantrum though, but I know there has been, I just know it. I remember one time when we, you were just dog tired and it was over here I believe, and you just didn’t want to play a show.
N Dave’s choosing not to remember that one.
TH I wouldn’t call it a tantrum, it was more like, ‘I CAN’T HANDLE THIS ANYMORE, I WANNA GO HOME. I’M OVER THIS!’.
N And I have to ask you, what pants do the Foo Fighters wear?
TH What pants do we wear? We don’t all wear the same pants.
DG Yeah that would be disgusting.
N Yes, I can imagine.
TH Although I have stolen pants from Dave I believe.
DG That’s true, I think I’ve stolen pants from him.
TH Yeah we swop clothes.
N Ok, what's the most you’ve ever spent on an item of clothing? We've got Madonna spending 12 grand on a handbag...
DGThat's a lot smaller than I would ever pay.
TH That's a small house.
DG I don’t know, I spent a grand on a sweater once and I lost it.
TH Can I borrow it? And sell it?
N Well thank you very much.
TH That was really quick.
N Time flies on this show.
DG It does.
TH We had fun