Dave Grohl On Life After Nirvana, And Hiding The New Foo Fighters Album All Over Southern California

0:01 [music]

0:10 Welcome back.

0:11 SAFE [cheering]

0:15 [applause]

0:14 MY NEXT GUEST IS A 19-time Grammy Award winning Rock

0:18 and Roll Hall of Famer from Foo Fighters and Nirvana.

0:21 Please welcome back to the Late Show, Dave Grohl.

0:27 [music] [music] [music] [cheering] Nice to see you again.

0:46 Hey, man.

0:46 you been?

0:47 I'm good.

0:49 Uh Foo Fighters have been uh together for 31 years.

0:53 That's true.

0:54 Okay.

0:57 [cheering] Was there a specific moment when you knew you

1:00 were ready to start a new band after Nirvana?

1:04 Well, yes, there actually was.

1:06 There was uh when Nirvana ended, I wasn't sure what to do.

1:11 I didn't know if I wanted to continue playing music.

1:14 I I had It made me sad to think of of uh playing in another band.

1:20 Um losing Nirvana, losing Kurt was was

1:23 a really uh really dark emotional experience.

1:27 And so, I thought, you know, I just need to get my head together,

1:30 and I rented a car and drove around the Ring of Kerry in Ireland.

1:36 Oh, that's beautiful.

1:36 And I was out It's so gorgeous, one of the most beautiful places in the world.

1:40 And I was driving on this country road, and there were like sheep,

1:43 and it was a great day, and then the green rolling hills.

1:47 And all I wanted to do was disappear.

1:50 And as I was um driving down this this country road, I see a hitchhiker.

1:57 And he had a Kurt Cobain t-shirt on.

2:01 And to me, I thought, okay,

2:04 this is the universe telling me you have to continue.

2:09 Like, you have to move on, you have to go forward.

2:11 Music has always been the love of my life.

2:13 It's helped me through some of my most difficult moments.

2:17 And um when I saw the kid with this with the Kurt Cobain t-shirt,

2:22 I thought, okay, I need to I need to keep going.

2:26 I I have so much reverence and respect for the past,

2:30 but I need to have a future.

2:31 And that's kind of where it began.

2:33 Back to Well, [cheering] 31 years later, [applause]

2:39 you guys in the Foo Fighters have been through a lot together.

2:41 There's highs and lows.

2:42 And what is the what's the best benefit of like

2:45 being with the same group of people for so long?

2:48 It's weird after over the years,

2:51 um the music kind of just becomes uh this amazing

2:56 sort of bonus to the relationships that we have together.

3:01 So, we've known each other I mean,

3:02 I've been in this band more than half my life.

3:05 And so, when we get together, we vacation together,

3:08 our kids hang out with each other.

3:10 We We're like we're really our kind of this big extended family.

3:14 So, I get to hang out with the fellows like every day.

3:17 And they're the they're the coolest people in the world.

3:20 And then, at the end of the day, it's like, oh,

3:22 now we get to go jam for 3 hours in front of 20,000 people.

3:25 This is the greatest gig in the world.

3:26 It does You do make it sound good.

3:28 It's really good.

3:30 Last year, [applause]

3:33 last year Nirvana reunited for two performances,

3:35 Fire Aid Fire Aid benefit in LA and SNL 50.

3:40 You guys don't do that very often.

3:42 No.

3:43 What is it like when when y'all get

3:44 to together to you breathe life back into those songs?

3:49 Well, again, you You I think sometimes when people think of bands,

3:52 they just think of instruments and songs and stuff,

3:55 but it really is it's this connection

3:57 of of people and life experience and relationships,

4:01 you know, with other human beings and then you

4:03 put on guitars and play music and and that translates

4:06 your your love and respect and the relationship you

4:09 have with the other person really comes through the music.

4:11 So with Nirvana, it's like, "Oh my god,

4:13 we went through some crazy stuff." And uh And so when we get together to play,

4:19 it's a really it's a wild experience because

4:22 when it's me and Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear,

4:26 when we sit down and like start into "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in a small room,

4:31 it's like, "Dude, it's it's nobody else makes that noise.

4:35 It sounds like "Smells Like Teen Spirit"." And you're just like, [cheering]

4:39 And we don't do it often.

4:41 And so when it does come around, it's like a comet.

4:43 It's like this comet is coming back around

4:45 and you see it streak by and it's like, [cheering] It's great.

4:52 Your daughter Violet, Violet Grohl right there,

4:55 has her first album coming out at the end of the month.

4:58 [cheering] Now, okay, you being the old man of the mountain here,

5:02 what advice do you have for her as a young artist starting off in the career?

5:07 I got a couple of kids in music.

5:08 What advice would you should I pass on to them?

5:11 I would say that first and foremost, that the reward has to be the music itself.

5:19 So, you know, you work hard and you want to like be successful and you want

5:23 to be the best that you can be and but at the end of the day,

5:26 the most important thing is your love of music

5:29 and that you love the music that you're making.

5:31 That's the reward.

5:32 And when you get to go perform in front of people, that is that's the reward.

5:36 Everything else is like is bells and whistles and it's

5:39 and it's really great when it starts getting really great,

5:42 but at the end of the day,

5:43 it's like you want to wake up and feel like that 10-year-old

5:47 kid that was trying to learn Edgar Winter's Frankenstein on the corner,

5:50 you know, on on the bed and and then you and then you

5:53 you figure out the song and you play it once without making a mistake,

5:56 you're like, and then that's like that's that's the reward right there.

6:01 So, you know, and also, you know, as I've told Violet,

6:04 I I want her to really to um to appreciate the these early experiences,

6:13 you know, like don't wish any of this away and don't get too ahead of yourself.

6:17 Just like be in the moment right now

6:20 as as hard as it can be sometimes and, you know,

6:22 you're sleeping I mean, when I think about the first time we came here,

6:27 first time we came to this theater was 1995.

6:31 And it was our first television appearance on the Letterman show.

6:35 And I think about then and it was like, I mean,

6:38 back then we we were touring in a van and we

6:40 had a trailer hitched up to the back of it.

6:43 And I would try to I have fond memories of those days that have

6:47 served as a beautiful practical and emotional

6:51 foundation for everything that came after.

6:54 And so, I hope with Violet that she's I she first of all,

6:57 she's an incredibly talented artist and she has a beautiful voice,

7:01 but I really want her to appreciate this now part because

7:05 this now part does become the foundation of everything that comes next.

7:10 And so, just be in the moment and appreciate the music.

7:15 [applause]

7:15 Well, talking about appreciating the music, Foo Fighters have a new album,

7:20 Your Favorite Toy, the band's 12th studio album.

7:23 How'd you land on the name of this album, Your Favorite Toy?

7:26 You know, it's funny, there's a song um that's called Your Favorite Toy,

7:29 but when I first wrote it, it was called For Good.

7:34 And but there's a line that says, uh get back here,

7:38 that boy, someone threw away your favorite toy for good.

7:42 And I'm like, "Wow, okay, for good.

7:43 That's such a great name." That has a pun in it.

7:46 And like a week later, I see the Wicked movie comes out.

7:48 I'M LIKE, "MAN, WHAT THE DAMN!" YEAH.

7:53 Took it.

7:54 Yeah, you could have surfed that wave though.

7:55 You could have gotten right in on that.

7:57 I know, but I I feel like people would have just would have

8:00 bought this thinking it was that or bought that thinking it was this.

8:02 It would just be kind of a mess.

8:04 true.

8:04 Exactly.

8:06 Is that Is it true you tried to give some fans a like a a sneak peek of this?

8:10 Like you tried to luck somebody into some Foo Fighters music?

8:14 I'm still I'm still old school where um I love doing uh doing things myself.

8:21 And I love the DIY ethic of being in a band.

8:24 And uh I had a day off.

8:27 And I thought, "Oh, you know what I'll do?

8:29 I'll burn 20 CDs of our album before it's come out.

8:34 And me and my daughter Harper will

8:36 get construction paper and we'll make album covers.

8:40 And and I'll I'll stick it in the in the CD.

8:43 And then I'll go run around and hide

8:45 them in places all over the San Fernando Valley.

8:47 Did it say Foo Fighters on it?

8:49 Oh, yeah.

8:49 And so, I like I I I put one at an IKEA.

8:55 I put one um at a Barnes& Noble.

8:59 But the craziest part is that I would walk in and I've

9:01 got them hidden cuz I didn't want anybody to see.

9:03 And so, I'm already sketchy enough.

9:04 And I see like the security guard person is like kind of eyeing me.

9:08 And I'm watch And it looks like I'm shoplifting.

9:10 Right.

9:11 When I When I'm doing the opposite.

9:13 You stop, drop, and

9:14 I walk in and I'm looking around and I'm in Barnes& Noble and I'm like,

9:17 "Okay, do I want to put it behind No, that book.

9:19 That book sucks.

9:20 What about this book?" Like And I like drop it and then run out of there.

9:24 And I almost got busted in a Ralph's.

9:27 Yeah.

9:28 I went back to the charcoal aisle.

9:30 Stuck it under a bag of Kingsford.

9:33 And as I was walking out the the security guard was looking at me like,

9:36 "Which you like Uh but I I got away with it.

9:39 Safe.

9:40 Do you know if anyone found any of these?

9:42 Yeah, they all got found.

9:44 Wow.

9:44 Yeah, cuz then we start of course we posted like little clues.

9:48 It turned into like a scavenger hunt.

9:51 And who doesn't love one of those?

9:53 Everybody does.

9:54 Okay, you guys are on tour.

9:56 We are.

9:58 [applause] Foo Fighters on tour this summer.

9:59 It's been 40 years since little you went out on tour cuz you were a teenager.

10:04 Yeah.

10:04 The first time little you went on tour for the first time,

10:07 is is it more enjoyable now that you're not couch surfing?

10:13 Big time.

10:14 No, I mean it's as I said it earlier,

10:16 you know, it's those early years and those early experiences.

10:19 But room service.

10:19 Like when I was here with my mom, Oh yeah,

10:22 that was wonderful being here with your mom, yeah.

10:24 mother wrote a book years ago and um she and I sat on the the couch

10:28 and and did an interview here at the at at at the studio and um and you know,

10:35 my mother was such an incredible person.

10:39 She was a public school teacher for 35 years.

10:42 She was [cheering] And she was she was such a brilliant,

10:49 kind, compassionate, empathetic, altruistic, incredi- funny,

10:54 charming, sweet, just the coolest the coolest person I've ever met in my life.

11:00 She was a teacher at my high school.

11:03 And I wasn't good at high school.

11:06 I wasn't good at elementary school either, actually.

11:08 We brought my report cards when we were here.

11:10 Anyway, but she was so cool that um she realized I was just terrible at school.

11:18 She also realized I wasn't like a complete um I'm not going to say the word,

11:25 but she she understood like, okay,

11:28 there's something you'll be able to figure life out.

11:30 She thought she had faith in me that I could do that.

11:32 So I left to go on tour and I was 17

11:35 years old and it was basically me asking my mother Hey,

11:39 I have an opportunity to tour the world.

11:42 I want to leave school and she said you

11:45 should go do that because you suck at school.

11:49 Here we are 40 years later.

11:52 Well, congratulations on finding the thing you don't suck at.

11:55 THANKS, MAN.

11:57 [laughter] STICK AROUND for a performance by the Foo Fighters.

12:01 It's Dave Grohl, everybody.

12:02 Thank you, Dave.

12:04 We'll be right back.

12:12 [music] [music] [music] [cheering]