2005: My Year - Dave Grohl

Kerrang!


Dave Grohl How will you. remember 2005?
"This year was really big for me and the band. just because we actually pulled off this double album stunt, which we had told everyone we were gonna do. So we lived up to our greatest promise, and I'm really proud of that. Those are some of the greatest songs we've ever written."

Foo Fighters seem to keep getting better.
"I think we've learned a lot, about song writing, arranging, composition. I've opened up a lot more, lyrically. Production-wise. we've built our own studio and learned through experimentation how to tune this enormous room. I think we made an album that sounds great. And I think that the acoustic record is probably the best sounding Foo Fighters record we've ever made. I'm really very proud of that."

There were some unusual collaborations too.
"I got to work with Norah Jones this year. She's an accomplished musician, I dare say more so than most of the shredder guitar players that listen to 'real metal' all day long. That girl has a musical mind that makes (seminal '80s guitarist) Yngwie Malmsteen look like a Kindergartener. You give her a month and a half with a Stratocaster, and she would be ripping some serious shit, she is badass. Musically, I swear to God, her mind works in ways I couldn't even get close to understanding."

Apparently In Your Honour was the fastest selling Foos album ever.
"I'm just amazed that it's bigger than it's ever been, that we're better than we've ever been. We go out and play shows now and it's just like an hour and 40 minutes of face-punishing music, song after song. We've gotten so much tighter as a live band. Taylor (Hawkins) is the greatest drummer in the world, and Nate's (Mendell) been so on it every night, and (Chris) Shiflett is a ripping lead guitarist; they give me the opportunity to run about with an out-of-tune guitar for an hour and half pumping the crowd up. It's a whole different ballgame now."

What's been the' highlight?
"Just surviving another year with the band. When you see a couple who've been together 25 years, you think, 'How the fuck did you manage to stay together so fuckin' long?'. I look at our band the same way. How the fuck did we manage 10 years? Does that mean we'll be together 10 more? Because at some point, an old couple makes it to their 25th anniversary, they can't break up now, no way. If you made it past 10 years, you might as well celebrate your 50th anniversary, as far as I'm concerned."

You seem pretty chuffed with your life right now.
"Ten years ago, I'd never have imagined this happening, a double album, arena rock tours - and I don't even know if I wanted it then. But the way it's gradually built up to this point, it seems natural, and it seems comfortable, and it seems correct. I'd be a liar if I said the band was too big, I'd be a liar if I said I hated the success - I fucking love it, and I look forward to doing it every time we pull up at the gig."

What are your plans for Christmas and New Year's Eve?
"I don't know about New Year's, but Christmas we always do a big dinner here at the house. We are very holiday-orientated, and we host many holiday dinners at the house. It's not gonna be a Motley Crue Christmas, it'll be a Bing Crosby Christmas, with me in the cardigan and rocking chair."

Do you cook anything at Christmas?
"Oh, fuck no! Unless you wanna barbecue a turkey... What you really wanna do is deep fry your turkey. I don't know if that's hit your shores yet, it makes an oven-baked turkey taste like a hot shoe. It's a very tasty turkey."