Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl previously said following the passing of Nirvana icon Kurt Cobain: “After Kurt died, I really couldn’t even turn on the radio, and I put the instruments away, even hearing music hurt.”
In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Grohl elaborated on how he was able to move forward following Cobain’s tragic death, ultimately taking refuse in the recording studio. “I think that we all wound up in places that felt… I don’t want to say comfortable, but safe. And so when I went into the studio and recorded that stuff by myself, I felt safe there.”
Grohl continued: “I can’t speak for Krist (Novocelic, Nirvana bassist), but I think at that time it was like we were just trying to get our feet back on the ground. For me, that’s something that I thought, ‘Okay, well, music is the thing that’s going to rescue me.'”
Grohl wound up recruiting Nirvana touring guitarist and former Germs legend Pat Smear for Foo Fighters. “The funniest thing is like, I didn’t think Pat would be our guitar player,” Grohl said. “I just sent him a tape. I sent him one of the early cassettes. He was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s so poppy.’ And I’m like, ‘Is it? Okay, is that a good thing?’ And to Pat, that is a great thing. I had already started jamming with Nate (Mendel, bassist) and William (Goldsmith, drummer) and I was like, ‘Hey if you want to play guitar… I didn’t expect that he would, you know. And then he decided that he would jam with us. And it was great.”
Grohl also revealed that he’s hesitant to revisit Nirvana’s legacy except of very special occasions. “It’s such a weird thing to feel afraid to play songs. And for a long time it’s like I was even afraid just to sit down at a drum set and play the opening riff to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ It just seemed sort of forbidden. And so the few times that Krist and Pat and I have gotten together to do it, it’s a trip… the noise that the three of us make together, you don’t really get that noise anywhere else.”
He continued: “The way that Krist strums his bass lines, the bass that he uses, the equipment he uses, his sense of feel and time, it’s like all of those things combined with Pat like with that crazy Germs/Pat Smear guitar thing. And then some loud-ass drums, when it happens, you’re just like, oh f*ck, I remember this. Sh*t, I haven’t heard this in 35 years. It’s a really beautiful sound and a beautiful feeling.”
