Whether in interviews, onstage, or even Carpool Karaoke, Dave Grohl’s usually an energetic guy, and as with most rock stars, we’re often left wondering if he doesn’t indulge in something to give himself a little extra kick. As it turns out, he does: coffee.
Anyone who was following along with his time in Them Crooked Vultures might remember the infamous ‘Fresh Pots’ footage that showed Grohl’s ridiculous energy levels in the studio, and now he’s opened up more about the addiction that actually managed to put himself in the hospital, almost missing a super important gig in the process.
“I actually had to go to a hospital once for drinking coffee,” Dave Grohl tells Beats 1 in a new interview (via Ultimate Guitar). “I was making [2009’s] Them Crooked Vultures record, and doing a Foo Fighters record, and just had a new kid.
“I was sleeping four hours a night, I was drinking three pots of coffee a day,” he continues, “and I started having fucking chest pains. I just turned 40, and I was like, ‘Of course I’m gonna die, I’m 40!’
“It’s crazy because we had to go play on 4th of July at the White House, and this was a couple of days before. And I’m like ‘Fuck, I don’t want to go to the doctor, he’s gonna tell me not to play the White House!'”
Despite his understandable fears that he was on the brink of death, Dave took the completely reasonable step of avoiding the doctors and playing the gig anyway.
“I figured if I have the heart attack, it’s a great place to have it! I’ll be fine!” he explains. “So we do it, and I come home and call my doctor. ‘I’m having chest pains.’ And he’s like ‘Are you having them right now?’ ‘Yeah, kinda.’ He goes, ‘Get in here!’
“So I go to the doctor’s office and like, full six million dollar man, on the treadmill, and fucking x-rays, and fucking stuff everywhere. Then he’s like, ‘Just go do an MRI.’ And I’m convinced I’m dying.”
Thankfully – spoiler alert – Dave wasn’t actually on the brink of death, but did end up with a pretty unusual prescription.
“I go and I’m like in the MRI, and get the whole thing. I come out and sitting there, and there’s the readout thing, the doctor comes in,” Dave says. “He takes one look at my heart thing and he goes, ‘How old are you?’
“I said, ‘I’m 40.’ He goes, ‘Why are you here?’ I said, ‘Because I’m having fucking chest pains and I think I’m gonna die!’
“He says, ‘Your heart looks fine. Are you under a lot of stress?’ I’m like ‘A little bit.’ And he goes ‘Do you sleep much?’ ‘I sleep like four hours a night.’
“He then goes, ‘Do you drink coffee?’ [Laughs] I was like ‘Yeah, a little bit.’ I told him I’m a musician.”
“He says, ‘Lay back on the coffee, play drums three or four days a week, and have a glass of red wine before bed.’ That was his prescription! And I did! And look at me now! It worked like a fucking charm!”
We’re not sure if he was already indulging in a glass or two before bed regardless, but thankfully it all worked out for Dave Grohl in the end – his days of endless fresh pots are over. And maybe that shift from coffee to booze was what prompted the Foo Fighters to open their own pub earlier this year?
Watch Dave Grohl’s infamous ‘Fresh Pots’ rant below:
