Foo Fighters interview: ‘I’d get beaten by police and rednecks’

Backstage at rock festivals, Dave Grohl doesn’t spend much time in his dressing room. “I’m always that guy banging on all the other artists’ door saying, ‘Let’s do a shot of whiskey!’ then inviting them to hang out at the side of the stage. I love to feel connected to the musical community. Playing live is a huge part of what the Foo Fighters are about.”

So releasing the band’s 10th album – Medicine at Midnight – into the “f***ing void” of a pandemic feels weird to him. And he found it “heartbreaking” that Foo Fighters’ participation in Joe Biden’s inaugural concert via pre-recorded remote link prevented him from high-fiving Bruce Springsteen and Katy Perry in the wings. While his emotional delivery of “Times like These” was broadcast, Grohl said his phone “was filling up with texts from friends calling me an asshole for not telling them I was in town. I had to tell them: ‘I’m not in town. I can’t be in town!’”