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Dave Grohl Unveils Roots of...Vultures

4:22 PM GMT 24/11/2009

IN HIS MOST REVEALING ever interview, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl has confessed how a seed sown in a 2005 MOJO interview grew into the twisted hybrid that is QOTSA/Led Zep/Foos supergroup Them Crooked Vultures.

In MOJO 140, he imagined out loud a band featuring himself, Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. "That wouldn't suck," he surmised.

"I wasn't entirely serious," Grohl tells Paul Brannigan in the latest edition of MOJO. "It was more wishful thinking." And yet, once convened, the trio quickly converged on a "perverted blues" groove that underlies one the crunchiest albums of the decade. "It was not unlike a blind date," Grohl notes, "Because jamming with the wrong person can feel just as awkward as f____ing someone you don't like."

Elsewhere in the interview, Grohl relates how "a little vandal from the middle of nowhere" became one of America's biggest rock stars, surviving hunger and penury in America's hardcore punk rock underground, then the strain and turmoil of mega-fame as the drummer in grunge gods Nirvana. His memories of doomed Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain are particularly poignant.

"What do you think of when you think of Kurt?" he asks Brannigan. "You think of a rock star that killed himself because of this guilt of being a rock star. When I think of Kurt I think of the way he giggled, or how he loved ABBA, or him saying, 'God, man, I wish I could wear sweatpants.'"

Grohl has a reputation for affability that sometimes obscures the grit in his story. But in MOJO's interview, he's honest about the crises he's endured as a frontman, notably the tensions in the Foo Fighters that nearly called time on the band between 2001 and 2002, including a fight in Hollywood's Conway Studios during sessions for fourth album, *One By One, and the meaningful absence of Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins from Grohl's debut show as temporary drummer with QOTSA.

"That really hurt me," Grohl tells MOJO. "Taylor was my best friend. It was like him not turning up to my wedding."

Taylor, Homme, Foo Fighter Nate Mendel, former Scream bandmate Pete Stahl, hardcore patriarch Ian Mackaye and Grohl admirer Tom Petty are among the thoughtful contributors to MOJO's revealing profile, on sale now.

The new issue of MOJO magazine is out now!

PLUS! Check out these exclusive outtakes from MOJO's Los Angeles photo shoot now!

Posted by Ross_Bennett at 4:22 PM GMT 24/11/2009


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  • It's not out now. It's out next week.

    Posted by Mojoman at 5:05 PM GMT 27/11/2009 Report Abuse

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  • It's not out now. It's out next week.

    Posted by Mojoman at 5:05 PM GMT 27/11/2009 Report Abuse

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  • RE: Mojoman
    Unprofessional wanker. Get a proper fucking job you lazy cunt.

    Posted by Krist at 10:18 AM GMT 29/11/2009 Report Abuse

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  • Dave Grohl has got the rock credentials for sure!
    I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers either!
    The dude knows how to bang the drums & plays a mean guitar!
    To top it off--he's nice too! Never a bad word do I ever hear about this great guy!

    Dave Grohl is practically perfect! Woops-one minor detail-he's married! Darn it again! FOO.FOREVER!

    Posted by gail powell at 2:43 AM GMT 30/12/2009 Report Abuse

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