Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters

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FOO'S GOLD
Dave Grohl Tells All About the Backyard Party -- and the Foghat Discs -- That Precipitated the Recording of 'There is Nothing Left To Lose'
In the summer of 1998, following two wildly successful albums by his post-Nirvana band, the Foo Fighters, drummer turned singer-songwriter-guitarist-frontman Dave Grohl decided to move back home to Virginia, take a little time off, and do what any self-respecting alt legend would do…build a home studio. He then gathered his trusty rhythm section -- bassist Nate Mendel and drummer Taylor Hawkins -- and producer buddy Adam Kasper (Soundgarden, R.E.M., Pearl Jam) and started in on a relaxed schedule of writing and recording, punctuated by plenty of barbecues, beers, and general relaxation. Four months later, THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE was declared complete, and such songs as "Stacked Actors," "Live-in Skin," "Next Year," and "Learn to Fly" stood as evidence of the down-home atmosphere and backyard vibe that permeated the proceedings. Talking with bn.com's Suzanne McElfresh, Grohl reveals a little about the magic -- and the Foghat and Skynryd records -- that helped create this pop-inflected, rock-riff-infused paean to the Foo Fighters' lasting appeal.

barnesandnoble.com: You described the recording of your new record as being like the recording of the Band's MUSIC FROM BIG PINK. How so?

Dave Grohl:I moved back to Virginia in the summer of '98 and built a studio in my house with the help of Adam Kasper. I'd worked on a Verbena album with Adam that summer, and we'd talked about how great it would be if the four of us -- Nate, Taylor, Adam, and me -- could just live in the house and start recording. So we did. We didn't have much material demoed, so we wrote most of it in the studio. We didn't have a label, didn't have a deadline, and didn't have any studio costs, which gave us the freedom to go as long as we wanted.

bn.com: How long did you spend recording the album?

DG: About four months, but with the first two months spent hashing everything out. If we'd recorded in a commercial studio, it would have cost a fortune, but doing it this way relieved us of that burden. Ultimately, I think it made the album sound a lot more comfortable and made the record a better representation of what the band actually sounds like. It was great, because some songs were recorded early on, and then a month later we'd think, Let's change the chorus around and record it again. We had the option to do things as many times as we wanted to, and that was good.

bn.com: Did your environment affect the music lyrically as well?

DG: Well, "Learn to Fly" was one of the first songs I wrote lyrics for. To me it represents the beginning of this new cycle, of the creative process where you're searching for something to make you feel alive, to make you feel like you exist -- whether it's good or bad, whether it's love or heartbreak or complication or something positive or negative.

bn.com: What records inspired you in the making of this record? I'm told Taylor listened to a lot of Queen and Yes -- that is, when he could get you to take the Lynyrd Skynyrd out of the CD player. Which Skynyrd album?

DG: SECOND HELPING is one of my favorites, though I just got the box set, and I'm pretty pleased with that. But we're all fans of music from the '60s and '70s, and it's hard to deny that. When you spend 15 or 20 years of your life listening to bloodcurdling punk-rock screams and Satanic death-metal, to music that's taking the sonic element to the extreme, you kinda want to return to melody. So we find ourselves putting in the '70s compilation CDs and singing along to Phoebe Snow or Andrew Gold or Eddie Money or Lynyrd Skynyrd. We're just suckers for that kind of sweet melody stuff, absolutely.

bn.com: "Gimme Stiches" reminds me of classic ZZ Top.

DG: Yeah, someone else said that too, but to me it's more like "Slow Ride" by Foghat. We should talk about classic rock, man, and how it's really made its way onto the new record. Which I guess I'm just now starting to realize, as everyone keeps pointing it out to me.

bn.com: Then there's the Vocoder at the beginning of "Generator," which is a very '70s thing.

DG: Oh yes, that's our tribute to Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton. The talk box is kind of a cool little toy, and Peter made it most famous -- although Joe was doing it long before him. You gotta love it, and it's kinda cool to use, although you get spit all over your mouth and it looks like you're sitting in a hospital bed with some tube shoved down your throat. But still, FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE is the bestselling live record of all time, and it's because of the damn talk box! So I figured I'd try it, see if it might give our record a little push.