Biography (told by: Dave
Grohl)
Toward the end of the second World War, U.S. Air
Force flyers patrolling the German skies would
encounter a number of strange aerial phenomena
in the area betueen Hagenau in Alsace-Lorraine and
Neustadt an der Weinstrasse in the Rhine Valley.
Similar to modern reports of UFOs or so-called
"flying saucers," these objects would come to be
referred to as "Foo Fighters" ("Foo" being slang for
the French feu, fire) or, by those who believed
the highly maneuverable balls of light to be a newly
developed German weapon, "Kraut Balls."
Dave Grohl: "Had a guitar around the house all
my life but never got around to really learning how to
play it until I was about 10 years old. I was told
to take lessons because everyone was sick of hearing
'Smoke On The Water.' Took lessons for about one
year and stopped because it wasn't teaching me how
to play music.
About the same time I was trying to figure out
Beatles songs by myself. I was always really good at
figuring out songs by ear. I always thought that
it was in my blood, seeing as my mother was in singing
groups as a teen and my father was an accomplished
flautist. At 11, I started recording songs on a Fairfax
County Public School issue cassette player with
my best friend, Larry Hinkle.
My first electric guitar was a Silvertone (the
cool kind from the '60s with the amp built into the case) that
I got for Christmas at age 12. By spring it was
dropped and broken. It was replaced by a Memphis Les
Paul copy. Black. Soon discovered distortion and
joined a neighborhood cover band. Played Who,
Stones, etc.. Actually performed at a nursing home
and played "Time Is On My Side." People danced.
On the summer of my 13th year. my family took its
annual trip to Evanston, Il. to visit my cousins. Upon
arrival, I was greeted at the front door by my
cousin Tracey. But this wasn't the Tracey I had grown to
love, this was punk Tracey. Complete with bondage
pants, spiked hair, chains, the whole nine yards. It
was the most fucking awesome thing I had ever seen.
That few weeks in Evanston changed my life
forever. I was totally amazed at the extensive
underground of fanzines and labels and bands. Her record
collection (worth a mint today, I'm sure) was incredible!
Hundreds of singles from all over the world. I no
longer thought that punk rockers existed only on
CHIPS and Quincy. It was especially moving seeing my
first show (Naked Raygun/R.O.T.A. at the Cubby
Bear, summer 1982), having never been to a rock
concert before in my life. To me, this was what
a rock concert was really like until I saw my first "real"
concert at age 19. Needless to say, it was quite
a disappointment (the big concert, silly)."
William Goldsmith: "When asked in fifth grade if
anyone wanted to play drums in the school band,
William raised his hand. I didn't quite have the
patience to focus on the sheet music they gave us, so I
threw it away and decided to write my own parts
in my head. I received many detentions for adding too
many rolls.
When I was in seventh grade, my brother sat down
with me and taught me that I was a real person and
that I could think for myself, then proceeded to
introduce me to many bands: Led Zeppelin, the Who,
Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Cream, Jethro Tull,
etc.. When I got into eighth grade I got a drum kit and
somehow already knew how to play it. I took it
to the school band and said 'I'm not going to just play the
snare anymore. I'm going to play the silly little
songs with a drum kit by ear.' But really all I wanted to do
was be Keith Moon, with the kick drum foot of John
Bonham."
One incident reported on November 23, 1944 had
Foo Fighters tailing an American plane over the
Rhine for some 18 miles. Four days later, two pilots
logged an encounter with a large, glowing, orange
mass moving at approximately 250 mph. They followed
it briefly before sudden, inexplicable radar
malfunctions forced their return to base.
Nate Mendel: "I bought my first bass not because
I knew how to play one or had any intention of
becoming a musician, but because I really wanted
to be in a band and a friend had told me that the bass
was the easiest instrument to play. I never played
in a band with that guy."
Dave Grohl: "In the summer of 1984 I met some guys
at a Void show in D.C. who were in a band that
needed a guitar player. I gladly offered my services
and was given an audition. The band was called Freak
Baby. I was accepted and my career as a punk rocker
began. We played a few shows at a local high
school and recorded a demo that fall with local
studio wiz Barrett Jones. This was my first recording in a
real deal 4 track studio. We convinced the local
punk rock record store Smash to sell our cassettes and
managed to gain a following of four or five local
skinheads. Go figure. After kicking out our bass player a
few months later, I had the chance to put down
the guitar and rescue the drums from our struggling
drummer, Dave. Turns out he was actually a rather
fine bass player to begin with, making the decision
even more logical (or palatable). ENTER MISSION
IMPOSSIBLE.
Mission Impossible was a super-fast hardcore delight--a
chance to try out all the tricks I hat learned from
my growing record collection, on a real drumset
even! I hadn't the slightest idea how to set the fucking
thing up, but I sure loved beating the shit out
of it. We actually wrote songs that had little breaks in them
so we could jump just like the pictures we'd seen
in Maximumrocknroll and Flipside. It was 1985 and I
was living my hardcore dream."
William Goldsmith: "My friend Peter Augustino started
introducing me to more underground punk rock
music. We started our first band, the Screaming
Hormones. We could not play. When I got into high
school, I met a guy named John Atkins who decided
to collaborate with the Screaming Hormones. There
was about 10 people in the band; we basically took
everyone in the school who was even remotely
interested in classic rock or punk rock and put
them in the band. It was perhaps the worst band that ever
existed. Then John Atkins and I broke off from
the Screaming Hormones and decided to spend the next
four years of our lives together learning how to
write and shape songs. That was the most influential part
of my career."
Naturally, pilots who made official reports regarding
the Foo Fighters were subject to skepticism if not
outright ridicule. An imposed silence ensued, only
to be broken a month later by two flyers from the
415th Squadron who reported a December 22 pursuit
by two Foo Fighters. Two nights later the same
pilots were "attacked" by a glowing red object
while flying over the Rhine.
Dave Grohl: "Mission Impossible played its last
show in the summer of 1985. Over the course of that
year, I'd had many great experiences: opening for
the legendary Troublefunk at a high school prom, Ian
Mackaye publicly declaring that he liked my band,
finally being able to send demo tapes to all the pen pals
I'd acquired over years of fanzine collecting,
even releasing a split single with local heroes Lunchmeat
(now Girls Against Boys).
Enter Reuben Radding, an extraordinary bassist
in band called A.O.C. that had just broken up as well. His
knowledge of hardcore was negligible, his taste
being more in the Mission of Burma/Television vein. We
set up our stuff in my living room and smoked a
whole bunch of pot, wrote four songs, and Dain
Bramage was born. With Reuben on guitar and vocals,
Dave (ex-Mission Impossible) on bass, and me
still at the drum set, we started writing song
after song at an alarming pace. We started playing shows
around town, whenever we could get them, usually
to the hardcore kids' dismay. This band was where I
really started to utilize my growing interest in
songwriting: arrangement, dynamics, different tunings, etc..
We were extremely experimental, usually experimenting
with classic rock clichˇs in a noisy, punk rock
kind of way. Like every other band I'd been in,
we eventually recorded a few demos with Barrett. After
being discovered by C.O.C. drummer Reed Mullin,
we were courted by L.A. independent label
Fartblossom, much to our surprise. Flattered beyond
belief, we went into a 24 track studio near Annapolis
and recorded Dain Bramage's only LP, I Scream Not
Coming Down. It was a fine demonstration of our
blend of rock, art punk, and hardcore. I still
like it."
Disturbed by the frequent and vivid nature of these
reports, authorities attempted to dismiss them as St.
Elmo's Fire, a naturally occurring by-product of
mutual electrostatic induction caused by the very
planes being "tailed" and "attacked." Theoretically,
the immaterial nature of St. Elmo's Fire would
account for its radar invisibility, while the charges
present in these energy bodies could explain
interference in the planes' radar functions.
William Goldsmith: "I then joined a band with Jeremy
Enigk called Reason For Hate. I got into some
trouble just after graduating from high school.
My friend Greg Williamson was looking for a replacement
drummer for a band he was in called Positive Greed.
It seemed like a good idea at the time because they
were going to take me on tour, and I needed to
get out of town."
Dave Grohl: "A year or so later, I saw a flyer
that read 'Scream looking for drummer, call Franz.' Now,
Scream was legendary in D.C.. They had been a band
since 1979 or '80 and I had seen them many a
time. Their first two records were among my all-time
favorites, so this little flyer was more than just that.
Originally, I'd just wanted to call Franz, jam
with them once or twice, then be able to tell my friends 'I got
to play with Scream!!'. So I called Franz a few
times and finally got an answer. I explained that I was a
huge fan, told him which bands I'd played in, and
that I'd love to give it a shot. When he asked how old I
was, I lied and said I was 20 (I think I was 17).
He never called back. I guess a few months went by and
I called him again. This time I convinced him to
give me an hour or two of his time and scheduled my
audition. Seeing as how Scream records were among
those I used to play drums to on my bed when I
was first learning, I knew all their songs by heart.
I even had an advance copy of their latest demo. So
when Franz looked at me and asked, 'What do you
want to play? Some Sabbath? Or some Zep?' I said,
'Nah. let's play...' and rattled off the names
of all their songs. The next two hours were heaven for me, to
be able to play Scream songs with the real deal.
After a few more practices, it was apparent they
were serious about me joining. This was something that
never entered my mind, the possibility of actually
joining Scream. I had to really weigh the options: 1.
Leave my two greatest friends in the dust and travel
the world with one of my favorite bands ever. Or 2.
Stick with Dain Bramage and hope it all works out.
I called Franz and told him no. I explained my
situation and apologized. I think he understood and invited
me to their next show a few weeks later. It was
one of the greatest Scream shows I'd ever seen. I
changed my mind."
Nate Mendel: "I first started playing with my friend
Jason Cobb. He was an excellent guitar player, from
the "sit in your room, smoke pot and learn Led
Zeppelin songs note for note all day" school of guitar. Our
first band was an argument. Sitting around one
day with our friends Glen Essary and Glen Attebury,
Jason decided to demonstrate the inane simplicity
of punk rock by composing a typical punk rock song on
the spot. He lost the argument and that song became
Product of Rape's first song."
Yet reports of Foo Fighters persisted, climaxing
in May 1945 with the sighting of five orange balls
traveling in a triangular formation near the eastern
edge of the Pfazerwald. With the conclusion of the
war, however, decreased air activity in this region
logically led to fewer sightings of Foo Fighters.
Eventually, they would be forgotten until their
reemergence in 1950, heralding the modern age of UFO
sightings.
Dave Grohl: "It was spring of '87 and here I was
in one of D.C.'s most respected bands. Scream was no
longer making records for Dischord, but another
D.C. label had signed us. Ras Records was a reggae label
about to try (unsuccessfully) to expand into the
rock market. So we were thrown into a fancy 24 track
studio with a reggae producer to make No More Censorship,
Scream's fourth LP.
We set out on what would be our first American
tour in the fall of 1987. I was 18 years old, doing exactly
what I wanted to do. With a $7 a day per diem,
I traveled to places I'd never dreamed of visiting. And all
because of music. The feeling of driving across
the country in a van with five other guys, stopping in
every city to play, sleeping on peoples' floors,
watching the sun come up over the desert as I drove, it was
all too much. This was definitely where I belonged.
My first trip to Europe was amazing. In February
of 1988, we flew into Amsterdam and spent the next
two months playing in the Netherlands, France,
Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, England and Spain. Most
shows were in squats (buildings taken over by punks
at war with the system, fighting the police for their
right to a place to live) and youth centers, very
few in bars or nightclubs. It was awesome. Most shows
were actually pretty crowded since Scream was one
of the few American hardcore bands to visit Europe
before.
We did another short U.S. tour, returned to Europe
in the fall for three months, recorded a live record
(Live At Van Hall In Amsterdam), and continued
writing new songs. This was also the year I attended
my first big stadium concert, Monsters of Rock
featuring Metallica, Van Halen, Dokken, Scorpions, etc.,
etc.. Needless to say, I found the whole thing
extremely comical and couldn't for the life of me
understand the appeal of something so contrived
and phony. Good thing I would never have to do that."
Foo Fighters. Self-titled Debut Album.
Nate Mendel: "Diddly Squat was my first actual
band. We played hardcore and put out one 7" record. I
bought a van and we did a few tours, breaking up
after the last one in 1988. Diddly Squat drummer Eric
Akre and I then conspired with friends in a Washington
D.C. band called Christ on a Crutch (which
included Product of Rape singer Glen Essary) to
reform that band in Seattle. In the six month interim
between Diddly Squat and Christ on a Crutch, I
moved to Seattle and played in a straight edge band
called Brotherhood. This band had pretty great
songs but was weighted down with burden of being a
straight edge band. It was really fun, though.
Christ on a Crutch got together and played for a few years,
doing tours and putting out a bunch of singles
and an LP. We played at an anarchy festival once. This
band died in 1993."
Dave Grohl: "In between Scream tours, I was hanging
out with Barrett more and more, helping him out
with his solo project in the studio. Since he had
his own 8 track in the basement, we would jam on his
songs and record them pretty quickly. I sometimes
played bass or guitar on some songs. That summer I
realized that if I were to write a song, record
the drums first, then come back over it with a few guitars,
bass, and vocals, I could make it sound like a
band. So I came up with a few riffs on the spot and
recorded three songs in under 15 minutes. Mind
you, these were no epic masterpieces, just a test to see if
I could do this sort of thing on my own. It was
the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
I then started writing more and more stuff, some
used in Scream's final tape (later released as Fumble),
some hidden away for later use. We did our final
tour of Europe in the spring of 1990. It was a real
ballbuster, 23 shows in 24 days, so draining that
one member quit 3/4 of the way through, only to be
promptly replaced so that we could finish the tour.
We recorded another live record (Live In Germany)
and headed home.
Upon returning, an eviction notice was discovered,
unopened, in (Scream vocalist) Pete Stahl and
(bassist) Skeeter's mailbox. It was for the next
day. The only logical thing to do: Get back on the road. So
we booked what would be our last tour, rather hastily,
and hit the road in the summer of '90. Plagued
with cancellations and low attendance, it was apparent
that something had to give. That something would
be our bassist Skeeter. Upon waking up in Franz's
sister's house in L.A. halfway through the tour and
discovering that Skeeter was gone, we realized
some heavy decisions had to be made. Suckers for
punishment that we were, we decided to stay in
L.A. and search for a new bassist."
Band Personnel (alphabetically):
William Goldsmith (drums)
Dave Grohl (guitar, vocals)
Nate Mendel (bass)
Pat Smear (guitar)
Dave Grohl: "After I explained our predicament
to him, Buzz Osborne from the Melvins told me that this
band called Nirvana was looking for a drummer.
He said they'd seen Scream in S.F. and really liked my
drumming. After waiting a few days, I gathered
up enough courage to call this guy Chris. I introduced
myself and he remembered seeing me play. I explained
my situation and he told me that they had already
recruited Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters and that
they were practicing with him for an upcoming UK
tour. I wished him luck and told him that if they
were ever in L.A. (which was looking more and more
like my permanent home) to give me a call.
Chris called back that night and asked if there
was any way I could fly up to Seattle.
Another heartbreaking decision: Was I to leave
my best friends in the world, the ones who had taught me
everything I knew about touring, playing, writing,
living, etc. to move to Seattle and join a band full of
people I had never even met? It was the toughest
decision I ever had to make. Honestly, 100%. I got the
hell out of L.A. and there was no looking back.
With only my drum set in a huge box and a bag of
clothes, I was greeted at the Seattle airport by the
biggest guy I had ever seen and the scrawniest
guy I had ever seen. After a brief run through of the songs
on Bleach a few days later, it was clear that this
was my new position."
* Greg Dulli plays guitar on "X-Static" and is
therefore the only other musician to play with Dave on
this recording.
Dave Grohl: "On my trips back to Va., I started
recording more and more at Barrett's studio. I had
probably finished six or seven songs and was writing
a lot of stuff in my spare time in Olympia. After
recording Nevermind, I went home for a few days
and recorded at a different local D.C. studio. This
tape was heard by a friend named Jenny Toomey who
had a label called Simple Machines. She had heard
other recordings and asked if I was interested
in doing a cassette release. I was a little hesitant, always
having been very shy about people listening to
me sing, but I eventually said yes. This was to become my
alter ego, "Late." The cassette was entitled Pocketwatch
and was (and still is) duplicated from a second
generation copy that I had given Jenny months before
and included early versions of "Winnebago" and
"Marigold" (later Nirvana B-side).
The explosion of my real band kept me pretty busy
for a while, but I always managed to bring along a
guitar so that I could write songs to record upon
returning home. By this time, Barrett had moved to
Seattle and become my roommate. The 8 track studio
was in the basement, at our disposal anytime we
came up with an idea.
This is where I really started to focus on my songs.
After touring America and Europe for Nevermind,
we had some time to relax. It was my time to get
to work downstairs. "Alone & Easy Target," "Floaty"
and maybe 10-15 others were recorded there. Then
it was back on the road with the N-band."
Production Credit:
Barrett Jones & Foo Fighters
William Goldsmith: "Played in the Igloo Sect then
formed a band called Chewbacca Kaboom with Dan
Hoerner and Nate Mendel. Chewbacca Kaboom was the
fourth band I was in at one time. I eventually
quit the other bands, continuing to play with Chewbacca
Kaboom, which became Sunny Day Real Estate
after several other corny names."
Nate Mendel: "Around 1992, Dan Hoerner, William
Goldsmith and I formed band called a lot of things
and then finally Sunny Day Real Estate. While I
was in Europe on Christ On A Crutch's final tour,
Jeremy Enigk joined the band. We had an easier
time getting shows with him in the band."
Dave Grohl: "The summer of 1992 was a blast. With
little action on the Nirvana front, I could pay more
attention to my music. The studio was moved to
a different location, as were we, and recording became a
full time deal. Between sporadic Nirvana trips
and visits to D.C., most of my time was spent writing and
experimenting with harmonies and arrangements.
Songs like "Good Grief" and "Exhausted" were written
around this time.
"Weenie Beenie" and "Podunk" were thrown together
in early 1993, as were lots of other songs I sure
hope no one ever hears. "For All The Cows" was
done around the same time, and my growing love of
recording cover songs led me to record "Ozone"
from Ace Frehley's solo record and the Angry Samoans'
"Gas Chamber."
Around the summer of 1993, I had been talking to
a fellow in Detroit about possibly releasing some of my
stuff on his small label. I wanted to remain anonymous,
but ultimately have something to send to friends
and stuff. Nirvana's upcoming tour put that stuff
on the back burner, but I was genuinely looking forward
to pursuing it once the band had some time off."
William Goldsmith: "While Nate was in Europe touring
with another band, Dan and I formed a band
called Thief Steal Me a Peach with Jeremy Enigk
playing guitar and singing and Dan playing bass. Nate's
return failed to dislodge Jeremy from the band,
but it did return Dan to the guitar. This group was also
called Sunny Day Real Estate."
Label:
Roswell/Capitol (note the order)
Dave Grohl: "After Kurt's death, I was about as
confused as I've ever been. To continue almost seemed
in vain. I was always going to be 'that guy from
Kurt Cobain's band' and I knew that. I wasn't even sure
if I had the desire to make music anymore. I received
a postcard from fellow Seattle band 7 Year Bitch,
who had also lost a member. It said, 'We know what
you're going through. The desire to play music is
gone for now, but it will return. Don't worry."
That fucking letter saved my life, because as much as I
missed Kurt, and as much as I felt so lost, I knew
that there was only one thing that I was truly cut out to
do and that was music. I know that sounds so incredibly
corny, but I honestly felt that. I decided to do
what I had always wanted to do since the first
time I'd recorded a song all by myself. I was going to book
a week in a 24 track studio, choose the best stuff
I'd ever written out of the 30-40 songs that had piled
up, and really concentrate on them in a real studio.
So I booked time at the studio down the street
and got my shit together.
The first four hours was spent getting sounds.
This was a cinch for Barrett, whom I'd asked to produce
since he was the one person in the world I felt
comfortable singing in front of. By five o'clock we were
ready to record. Over the past six years, Barrett
and I had perfected our own method of recording. Start
with drums, listen to playback while humming tune
in head to make sure arrangement is correct, put
down two or three guitar tracks--Mind you, all
amplifiers and everything are ready to go before recording
begins--Do bass track and move on to next songs,
saving vocals for last.
This time, though, it became sort of a game. I
wanted to see how little time it could take me to track 15
songs, complete with overdubs and everything. I
did the basic tracks in two and a half days, meaning I
was literally running from instrument to instrument,
using mostly first takes on everything. All vocals and
rough mixes were finished on schedule: one week.
Then the question of what to do with it.
I made my first mistake: my trip to the duplication
lab downtown for 100 copies. My next mistake was
my blind generosity. That fucking tape spread like
the Ebola virus, leaving me with an answering machine
tape full of record company jive."
I jammed around with a few people before meeting
Nate Mendel. His girlfriend was a good friend of my
wife, and they joined us for a Thanksgiving party
at my house. It was the night we discovered my house
was haunted, but that's a different story altogether.
Not long after meeting Nate, I gave a tape to Pat
Smear. I knew that the band would need two guitars,
but didn't think that Pat would want to commit
to anything (or that he would even like the music). To my
surprise, not only did he like the tape, he expressed
interest in joining up. I just wanted to find the perfect
drummer."
Pat Smear: "After you've been in the coolest band
ever, what do you do? I sat on the couch with the
remote control in my hand for a year. I didn't
know if I ever wanted to be in a band again. I was just
working on solo stuff. Dave and I had kept in touch
and I had heard about his tape, but I didn't know
what to expect. When I heard the tape, I flipped.
Dave gave it to me at a club and I went home. After I
listened to it, I went back to the club. But I
didn't want to ask to join the band. I waited for him to ask
me."
William Goldsmith: "Sunny Day Real Estate began
to fail in mid-1994 with the conversion of Jeremy to
Christianity, a condition unfamiliar with artistic
tolerance."
Nate Mendel: "Jeremy quit in 1994 and the band
broke up. This is about the time that Dave started
handing out his tape and thinking about putting
together a band. And then we had to write these
embarrassing little things."
Dave Grohl: "Enter William Goldsmith. Will was
in Nate's band, Sunny Day Real Estate. The band had
become extremely popular in Seattle and had an
album out on Sub Pop. Though I had never seen or
heard them, I knew a little about them. I saw them
play their last few shows in Seattle and was blown
away by Nate and Will. So you can imagine my first
reaction when I heard the band was calling it quits. I
gave the two of them tapes through my wife's friend
and prayed they'd enjoy them."
William Goldsmith: "I was hanging out, depressed,
in D.C. after Sunny Day Real Estate's final tour
when Dave came up to me and said, 'Hey, how's it
going?'"
Pat Smear: "Dave had been talking about Sunny Day
Real Estate, though I had never heard them. Then
one night I just walked into a club and heard over
the PA: 'Let's hear it for Sunny Day Real Estate!'
They'd just finished their set. I met William and
Nate and they said, 'See you in a couple of days at
rehearsal."'
Dave Grohl: "I didn't want this to be some ridiculous
solo project. I sure as fuck didn't consider Pat,
Nate and William my backing band. I realized this
was a bizarre foundation for a band, but that's exactly
what my goal was: To have another band. We got
together and it was soon apparent that this was to be
that next band. I wanted everyone to have the freedom
to do whatever they wanted to do within the
songs, each member as important as the next."
Thank you.