Dave Grohl's Speakers
Dave Grohl's Speakers
So the latest tweet from Mr. Dave Grohl is "Crash crash crash." with a video of a speaker playing the drum track to one of the new Foo Fighter songs where the cymbals crash three times in succession.  Check out the video here.  Okay, now that you've done that, listen to this:  I started mixing drum tracks last night that we recorded months ago for the new Brother Howe album and noticed a suspiciously similar "crash crash crash" in our song.  Coincidence?  Check it out:
 Okay, so maybe you can't hear the crashes quite as clearly in the video as I can hear it in person.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  But that doesn't take away from the fact that big mega-rock star Dave Grohl should have better things to do than steal our genius.  If you could copyright cymbal crashes I'd be all over this but there's no sense in fighting The Man.  Or Dave Grohl.

I hate Dave Grohl.
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Here's a little video about the making of Nirvana's album Nevermind.  There's a couple of cool things about it.  First of all, they discuss choosing Butch Vig to be their producer.  Butch Vig is also producing the new Foo Fighters album which I mentioned in my last post.  According to fooarchive.com they have started a few weeks of rehearsing in preperation for recording with Butch in September.  So in the video you get to see this guy in action and hear what he has to say about Nevermind.  The second really cool thing is that at the very end of the video, Butch shows the various tracks for In Bloom and you get to hear Dave's harmonies right along with Kurt Cobain's vocals.  Cool to hear Dave's pre-Foo vocals and what his voice sounded like then.  Apparently he used to be really self-conscious about his singing ability, so it was interesting for me to hear something from early on and see  what his voice sounded like.  Maybe he hadn't developed his trademark scream yet.  Maybe he was a little off-key in spots.  Maybe his voice was high and whiny.  Nope.  None of those things.  Turns out his voice sounded great all along.


I hate Dave Grohl.
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I know there are some "jam" jokes I should make here, but I won't.  Partly because it'd be too obvious and mostly  because I can't think of anything. 

Dave Grohl and Alain Johannes were invited onstage at the end of Pearl Jam's set at Werchter 2010 (Belgium) recently to help out with the MC5 song Kick Out The Jams.  Alain got to play guitar.  Dave got to bang a tambourine (Hey, mister tambourine man!  Play a song for me!).  Okay, just got to say a few things.  First of all, this is my favorite MC5 song (by far).  Second, I actually used to cover this song in a former band of mine, but that was a long time ago.  Third, Pearl Jam are one of my top five favorite bands.  In fact, I had a dream once where I almost got to play with them.  At the local civic center (kinda wierd).  Mike McCready gave me one of his Orange amps.  Or was it Stone Gossard?  I don't remember, it was a dream and it also was a long time ago.  The point I'm trying to make here is that I literally have dreamed of playing with Pearl Jam.  Dave Grohl on the other hand actually gets to play with them.  Probably whenever he wants.

I hate Dave Grohl.
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Okay, so this isn't my headline or article (I wish it was).  Check it out though, for a thought provoking piece by Steve Almond, author of the new book "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life".  I have this book on hold at the library and right now it's status is "IN TRANSIT" so I should be getting it soon.  Here's the link:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/06/03/dave-grohl-is-more-talented-than-kurt-cobain-discuss/

Other places Dave was in the news this week:

Paul McCartney Rocks the White House: A review of the concert at the White House.  My favorite part: "The standout performer, however, was Dave Grohl, who broke from the Beatles-heavy repertoire with a Wings hit that he's covered before, “Band on the Run.” I mean least favorite part.

See a little video of the end of the event below where a bunch of celebrities sing with the President.  And Paul McCartney.

Dave is also featured as one of RollingStone magazines Drummers in the Solo Spotlight photo feature.  RollingStone has recently "updated" their website by making it really, really slow, so that's a nice little benefit they've added.
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I ran across the video for the Foo Fighter's Monkey Wrench recently and thought it would be fun to share as I hadn't seen it in awhile and probably neither have you.  I dedicate this post to Candor, who the first time he heard the song on the radio, got so excited trying to turn his car stereo up that he got into an accident.  Thankfully no one was hurt and if he or I ever get to meet Dave Grohl, we can tell him the story.

In this video we meet who I like to call Beatnik Dave fronting the Bizarro Foo Fighters.  Some fun facts about the video:

1. This is the first of many Foo Figher videos that Dave Grohl directed himself.
2. The concept of the video reportedly came straight out of one of Dave Grohl's dreams (I learned this from reading The Dave Grohl Story).
3. Listen for the Muzak version of Big Me, another Foo song, in the elevator at the beginning of the video.
4. This is the first video with Taylor Hawkins on drums.  Dave actually re-recorded the drums over original drummer William Goldsmiths drum parts.  Goldsmith ended up quitting the band.

Enjoy it Dave Haters!
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Ian Astbury from the Cult doesn't seem to be too fond of Dave's singing style.  I thought this was kind of funny and initially was offended on behalf of my good friend Dave.  Upon further reflection, I kind of know what he's saying.  Dave Grohl is an entertainer.  In fact, he is great at it.  Part of being a good entertainer is getting the crowd involved and making a connection with them.  Ian Astbury says he's influenced by Jim Morrison (obviously - he's a dead ringer if you look at the pictures in the video) and Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols.  These are guys who had charisma and therefore were entertaining to watch, but they didn't necessarily try to create a connection or build a relationship with the audience, at least not in the "come rock with me and let's have a great time" way that Dave does.   In fact more often than not they could be more confrontational than anything.   Ian views this as having humility and integrity.  And I can see what he means.  Kurt Cobain had this way about him and Eddie Vedder is like this too, and I admire that about them.  It goes with their personalities.

However, I don't think that Dave having enthusiasm and a good time and wanting the audience to do the same means he's lacking integrity or not being humble.  In fact, I find it hard to find someone in his position who takes themselves less seriously than he does.  And I find that it goes completely with his personality, which for him IS integrity, right? 

Ian’s rant actually reminds me of some feelings I had when I went to see Green Day on their American Idiot tour.  The album of the same name is a rock opera and a politically charged work; both critically and popularly acclaimed.  Because of the angry nature of the album and the “courage” they had of taking on some tough political issues that very few other popular artists would at the time, I went to the concert expecting something.  Something historical even.  I expected there to be a depth or gravity to it.  I expected the seriousness and anger to come out, similar to when I saw them in Detroit when they first became popular.  There was even an almost dangerous element to the things they said and did back then, but without the maturity; typical snarling punk stuff.  But when I got to this concert, it was a very different band.  It was like they had been to a “how to perform like an arena rock band” seminar, complete with getting the audience to wave our hands like we just didn’t care.  What the?!  I remember the thirteen year old girl in the row ahead of me texting “JUST SAW THE MOST AMAZING CONCERT OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!” to her friends when the show was over.  Yeah…it was a good show I guess, but I was disappointed.  The show didn’t match the music or the persona I had come to expect from the band.  It lacked integrity.

And so while I can understand what Ian Astbury is saying on the one hand, the way he went about saying it was just dumb.

I hate Ian Astbury.  For reals.
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Here are the videos (all FOUR of them!):
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Sometimes I can’t even believe it.  I just read the New York Daily News review of Slash’s new album, in which Slash plays guitar and has a bunch of guest stars singing and playing with him.  The reviewer talks about how some of it works really well (especially Lemmy and Chris Cornell – yea!), and some of it doesn’t.  Being the Dave Grohl hater that I am, I know he contributed by playing drums on one track.  In fact, he turned Slash down when asked to sing, but said he’d love to play drums.  As I'm reading the review, I’m waiting for the bombshell about what really DIDN’T work and that was the Dave Grohl collaboration because I can tell it's building to something, but what get’s saved for the final paragraph of the review is this:

Ironically, the track that works best offers no guest vocalist at all.

"Watch This” reunites Slash with GNR alum Duff, and adds Dave Grohl on drums, to create a teeth-melting instrumental. The result proves that Slash could have gone the Jeff Beck route, letting his brilliant guitar work assume the fullness of a human voice for an entire CD.

One day let's hope he works up the nerve to do so.

I guess it’s a good thing Dave refused to sing!  That guy has got amazing instincts.  I keep waiting for the time when Dave Grohl does something that falls flat; the day when he does something that not only isn’t good/great, but maybe even sucks a little bit.  Until then, my hate continues to grow…

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2010/04/07/2010-04-07_slashs_brilliant_guitar_work_takes_a_backseat_to_showy_collaborations_on_his_fir.html#ixzz0kT6x5Jdu
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Here is a “video” of the Foo Fighter’s covering “Band On The Run” by Paul McCartney and the Wings. It is awesome.  But it brings something up that my friend Mike brings up a lot and that is that the Foo Fighters need to release an album of B-sides, rarities, covers, etc.  They have a lot of songs floating out there that have either been on movie soundtracks or compilation albums, etc..  It’s time that the Foo Fighters release their own “Lost Dogs” (Pearl Jam’s double album of B-sides and rarities).

It would have been nice if they had done that instead of the Greatest Hits package they released last year.  But now that Dave and the gang are recording another Foo Fighters album, it is doubtful we will see this in the near future.

I hate Dave Grohl.
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I just watched the movie Anvil! The Story of Anvil.  It's basically the story of a heavy metal band named Anvil, who back in the 80's were supposed to be the next big thing along with the Scorpions, Bonjovi, Whitesnake, etc.  However, they never really made it and here it is 30 years later, and the guys are in their 50's still trying.  It's an interesting, kind of sad movie.  So anyway, I went on their website to see how their story is going since the movie has been made. I had heard they've gotten a lot of good exposure and are probably having the most success of their career.  So what does this have to do with this website?  You wouldn't think anything, right?  I didn't either.  But I went to their website and the top thing was a video of them performing at an awards show recently.  Guess who introduces them?  That's right my friends, none other than Mr. Dave Grohl.  That dude is everywhere!  To check out Dave's introduction and watch Anvil sing what must be their signature song, Metal On Metal, here's the video:
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