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Dave Grohl Says Success Led to Foo Fighters' Hiatus

Foo Fighters' Dave GrohlThe Foo Fighters are on a very well-documented break, with all of the members doing other projects. Nate Mendel is on the road with Sunny Day Real Estate and Dave Grohl joined some guys named Josh Homme and John Paul Jones for a band you might've read about called Them Crooked Vultures. But the hiatus has nothing to do with the guys hating each other -- Grohl tells Spinner that after the band ended their last tour they went right into the studio and recorded 13 tracks, two of which, 'Wheels' and 'Word Forward,' ended up on the new 'Greatest Hits' collection.

So why the break then? "I think, to me, the most important thing was to give the audience a break from the band, not even that we need to stop playing," he says. "I feel like the world doesn't need another Foo Fighters record right now."

If anything, the band's overwhelming success is mostly responsible as they first became aware of wanting the respite following the two sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium, as seen on their live DVD. "After Wembley we had like three days off and we had to go play a festival in Norway. I remember getting there and it looked like a barbecue," Grohl recalls. "I'm like, 'God, this is tiny. How many people are here?' They're like, '25,000.' I'm like 'This is tiny,' which makes you think, 'Okay, I gotta go home for a while and f---ing get out of the crowds.'"

Grohl says of the live DVD, "I get super-emotional when I watch it, honestly," admitting it still blows his mind. "I've always been surprised, like, 'Really, a Wembley show? Okay,' And it sells out in a day or something and you put another one on sale and that one f---ing sells out. Then you're standing there in the middle of all of that and it's hard not to feel nostalgic or think about all the people in the audience that have been there since '95, '96, whatever, and just imagining it going from a f---ing demo tape to that. I think some of it's been luck. I think a lot of it's been the band touring our asses off and becoming a really good f---ing live band so people want to come out and see it."

Still, there's one place where things haven't changed. "You have to consider a place like this, our studio, where when we come in here to do stuff it doesn't seem like much has changed," he says. "We might have nicer equipment, we might have a bigger set list, but honestly, it seems like everything around the band has changed in the last 15 years. Outside of a few things, the way we work is still exactly the same because we never went into making an album feeling like we were the greatest, biggest rock band in the history of music. We've always felt like the underdogs. Going into make a record, I think it's important to feel like you're making your first record or you're the underdog because I never felt like we can just rely on the name of the band. There's no way. We have to actually try."

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JPR

There is absolutely zero truth to what SoulC444 said, Dave and Taylor are great friends. Sul must be some tool/Courtney Love fan.

November 24 2009 at 5:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
D

Just a minor correction -- "ZoSo" was what Page's symbol was often mistakenly called as the symbol, which is reportedly based on an alchemical symbol, looks like an oddly formed "Z" with a tail extending from a hook at the end of it followed by what looks like "oSo" with a line through the "S" terminating in dots within the two "O"s. The three interlocking rings that were Bonham's are a different symbol.

November 24 2009 at 2:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bob Mohilowski

"Foo" has become a world wide pandemic. I'm glad we have brave men fighting it.

November 24 2009 at 1:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
M

Best band EVER! There will never be too many Foo Fighter's albums. They could release a new album every week and I would buy it! Keep on rockin' and I hope to see you in a city near me real soon :)

-World's biggest FF fan!

November 24 2009 at 1:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Al Udeen

Just another horseshit band like Black eyed Pees! Dave Matthews,& the rest that stink up the late shows almost every nite!

November 24 2009 at 1:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jfilia

bloscoe, his name was El Duce, he was in The Matadors, and yes he would have killed him if he thought Courtney was real about it... Problem was, he went on BBC video telling his story and - whack- one week later was run over by a train... the police said he was 'sleeping on the tracks...', yeah, right... Everyone should know by now COURTNEY LOVE KILLED KURT COBAIN, or had him killed... maybe if we are lucky the case will be reopened and the vile, disgusting beast we call Courtney Love will go straight to jail and Hell where she belongs...

November 24 2009 at 12:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Benwa

Snoooooozzze.

November 24 2009 at 12:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bloscoe

I think Lisa is an idiot for such a comment. "Dave Grohl killing Kurt Cobain" is totally uncalled for. We all know it was Courtney Love who had him killed.
Just ask the dude [name slips my mind] who was offered $50,000 by Courtney to clip Kurt...oh yeah, he was mysteriously killed by a train.
Anyhow, Foo Fighters [especially the 1st album/CD] rock!! Also Letterman's favorite band!!

November 24 2009 at 12:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
doubtingsmurf

I have a lot or respect for Grohl for having the good sense to realize that people do indeed occasionally want breaks from even the best bands (all the bleached blond teenybopper "singers" don't realize that). And what musician in his right mind wouldn't kill for a chance to play with a member of Led Zeppelin....

November 24 2009 at 12:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Derek

If what people want is good solid rock and roll...with enrgy and spunk...the foos are it...period...while they will never be ones to re-invent the wheel or break new ground...the consistency in which they perform both live AND on cd is unparallelled...nirvana was a great cd band...but lousy live...peral jam...great cd band...mediocre live...its time to give the credit where it is due..15 years of all american high quality rock and roll...while i was a toddler in the days of the beatles...dave grohl is my generations paul mccartney!!!!

November 24 2009 at 11:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply