Back in 2004, Dave Grohl dipped his toes in the world of heavy metal with his side project, Probot; a creative endeavour that only bore one, self-titled album. The record saw Dave Grohl enlist the assistance of the most esteemed names in the genre, including late Motörhead rocker Lemmy Kilmister.
Probot saw Grohl collaborate with a number of heavy metal vocalists from bands spanning the 1980s and 1990s, that were formative influences to his own career. Grohl penned all the music and performed most of the instrumentation of the album. With each track fronted by a different vocalist liek Lemmy, Max Cavalera of Soulfly, King Diamond and Tom Warrior.
Together, Lemmy and Dave penned ‘Shake Your Blood’, a track deeply entrenched in the rip-roaring, headbanger glory of Motörhead. In a recent interview with Classic Rock Magazine, Dave Grohl reminisced on working with Lemmy, recalling a particularly startling visit to the rockers Los Angeles apartment.
“I was shocked at how fucking disgusting it was,” Grohl mused of the apartment. “These aisles of magazines and VHS tapes, stacked three to four feet high, Lemmy sitting on the couch, in his black bikini underwear with a spiderweb on them, after just dyeing his hair black, doing a phone interview, with a video game on pause on the television.”
Check out Dave Grohl and Lemmy collaborate on Probot’s ‘Shake Your Blood’
Grohl went on to detail that following the phone interview, Lemmy offered Grohl his signature tipple — a Jack Daniels.
“It was fucking 11:15 in the morning,” says Grohl. “I said, ‘Sure’. I will never, ever forget every little detail of that day. Especially not the black underwear, with a spiderweb and a black widow spider right where the dick is.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone back in 2004, the pair discussed their collaboration together; an experience that Lemmy heralded as “just like a tour in the Sixties, when things were a lot more fun.
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“I wrote the lyrics in about ten minutes,” Lemmy said of ‘Shake Your Blood.’ “It’s rock & roll, you know. It’s not one of those complicated things.”
On February 5th, Foo Fighters will unveil their forthcoming ninth album, Medicine at Midnight. Grohl told OK! Magazine that album track ‘No Son of Mine’ is an homage to the Motörhead rocker
“[The song started with] this country swing to it, but then we decided for something a bit more aggressive, and it turned into these chunky riffs,” he shared. “I wish Lemmy were alive to hear it, because he would see how much an influence he’s been to me.”
