Dave Grohl has reminisced on his time with Nirvana, reflecting on how the band’s dynamic differs from that within Foo Fighters.
Grohl recently sat down with The Big Issue in promotion for Foo Fighters forthcoming tenth studio album, Medicine At Midnight. During the interview, Dave Grohl acknowledged that though his musical relationship with Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic “was a match made in heaven” the personal dynamic within Nirvana was more tumultous.
“But personally it was a bit off, to be honest,” Grohl explained. “Of course we loved each other. We were friends. But, you know, there was a dysfunction in Nirvana that a band like Foo Fighters doesn’t have.”
He continued, “You also have to realize, from the time I joined Nirvana to the time it was over was only about four years. It wasn’t a long period of time. Was I [as] close to Kurt [Cobain] as I am to Taylor Hawkins? No.”
Grohl went on to detail that the music was the driving force behind his relationship with Krist and Cobain. “When I see Krist now, I hug him like family. But back then we were young, the world was just so strange,” he mused.
“But that emotional dysfunction in Nirvana was relieved when we put on instruments. If the music hadn’t worked, we wouldn’t have been there together. I truly believe that there’s some people you can only communicate with musically.
“And sometimes that’s an even greater, deeper communication. There are people that I might feel a little awkward talking to but once we strap on instruments, it’s like they’re the love of my life.”
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Check out ‘Waiting On A War’ by Foo Fighters:
Elsewhere in the interview, Grohl admitted that following the death of Kurt Cobain, and the subsequent dissolution of Nirvana, he almost gave up music entirely. “There was a particular trauma after the end of Nirvana that lasted for a while, but, you know, I think that love of music I had when I was a child eclipsed everything, and I realized that music was going to be the thing that would write me out of that depression,” he explained.
“For a while there, I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to play music again. But it came back. And thankfully, just as I had hoped, it healed me. To me, music has always been about life. It was the thing I most loved about life, more than anything else. After Nirvana, I needed it to keep me alive, and it’s the reason why I never stopped.”
Foo Fighters will unveil their highly-anticipated Concrete and Gold follow up on February 5th. Thus far, we’ve been privy to three of the album cuts; ‘Shame Shame’, ‘No Son of Mine’ and ‘Waiting On A War.’
You can find the tracklist and album artwork below, and read our interview with the band about the debut Medicine At Midnight single here.
Medicine at Midnight Tracklist:
- ‘Making A Fire’
- ‘Shame Shame’
- ‘Cloudspotter’
- ‘Waiting On A War’
- ‘Medicine At Midnight’
- ‘No Son Of Mine’
- ‘Holding Poison’
- ‘Chasing Birds’
- ‘Love Dies Young’
