I read that after Nirvana, your therapist told you to get onstage and sing. That's what saved my life - writing. My therapist told me to write
"Yeah, when Kurt died, it's like having the soundtrack to your life erased. Just to listen to any kind of music hurt. You have to understand that when I started playing music, there was never any chance in the world that people would appreciate it or that you'd become a rock star because it wasn't about that. How's your band doing?"
My band (Thistle)? How did you know about that? Well we're waiting to hear from U2's management.
"Are you kidding? Holy shit! What are you doing? Are you singing?"
No, I wrote the lyrics and some of the music. I think it's the only way I'll make money because writing is fucking hard. I made all my deals when I was a teenager so I got fucked.
"Really?"
Yeah. I was high on drugs and I didn't know anything
"That's usually the way it goes. I made serious mistakes when I was 22 - signing contracts for shit. I didn't know what the hell I was doing."
Did you do groupies?
"Oh yeah."
Well, how did you get the girls?
"It was a mutual agreement. They come to the back, they know what they want, they know what the band wants. It just happens it's that easy. It happens every now and then."
I've heard you want to get married and have kids and all. Is that still the plan?
"Yeah, I think about family, about kids, my wife and my family and her family. When I have kids, there's not going to be a Foo Fighters record for a long time. Running around, playing rock music? I don't want to do that for the rest of my life."
You'd be a good dad. We have a kid and nothing matures you and puts things in perspective like that.
"Girl or boy?"
Boy
"How old is he?"
Five
"What's his name?"
Thor. So did you do this last record in your home studio?
"Yeah."
And the one before?
"Yeah. We got a grammy for our last record and I couldn't believe it. I got up there and I said 'I bet we're the only band that's nominated who made a record in their basement'."
How did people react?
"They were like, 'What did we give him that six million dollars for?' See, the most important thing is that you have total control. That's what makes good records: you can say no."
I agree - remember The Who's records?
"Yeah, they weren't perfect either. You listen to Led Zeppelin, to John Bonham, the greatest rock drummer ever..."
they're sloppy as shit, but ti's about the personality.
"Led Zeppelin is doing a reunion tour. John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and I gotta get that drumming gig. I gotta do it if Starkey don't get it, I have John Bonham tattoos ... one on my wrist, one on my shoulder, another on my shoulder. This is the first time I've ever said this in an interview. When I was a kid, I actually had this freaky séance thing where I lit all these candles and I was sitting in front of this three-circled thing, like I sold my soul to Led Zeppelin. It's so retarded."
No it's not.
"Well I was channeling some kind of energy. I was 17 or 18."
It used to be that art, in society's indigenious cultures, art was woven in with their everyday existence. Everything was imbued with art. I don't doubt you contacted him and that he entered into you. Do you ever talk to Kurt?
"No, but I have dreams all the time. I have dreams about once a month."
What was the last dream you had?
"Well, they're usually all the same, but in all of them it's prior to his death. He shows up in my dreams, and I'm like 'Holy shit! You're not dead', and it's like it was some big secret or some big joke and then you can't wait to tell everyone. Then you wake up. Within them there's the same conversations that always happen. In those dreams, he's never dead; he's always alive, so I think it's kind of cool. I think there's a whole lot more to the spirit than people can even comprehend. I think there's more ... it's even too much bravado and egotistical for human beings to think that we're the end, all that their minds are capable of understanding the universe. It's not possible. Fuck you for telling me life can't exist outside planet Earth. How do you know? There's romance and mystery or the thrill of the chase, whatever. I'm not willing to make up my mind yet."