The “challenging” album Dave Grohl made for free
Given his rise as a world-class drummer, Dave Grohl has a pretty unique approach to music.
In Nirvana, that was his respective lane, even though he’d probably tell you otherwise. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just the role he played at the time until it came to starting his own venture. At which point, he literally became the master of his own universe.
Foo Fighters started as a collective of all of Grohl’s interests, built around his foundational know-how as a drummer and songwriter. It was just him in the beginning, which, despite being the ideal set-up post-grunge explosion, eventually made it somewhat challenging when it came to sharing the pot, particularly with inviting new drummers on board.
As was the case with The Colour and the Shape. Grohl had such an itch when it came to William Goldsmith’s drumming on the record that he went and re-recorded it. It’s hard to let go of something when you have a specific vision, but Grohl’s inability to let people work resulted in Goldsmith leaving in a huff, as you’d expect of anyone whose art had been taken over by a control freak.
But that’s almost always what it came down to, even in the face of diminishing returns. Grohl had a specific vision, especially where the drums were concerned, meaning that most of the time songs were also built from there first. Perhaps that’s why he found it strange when it came to working on Killing Joke, when his beloved drum parts actually came last. But it didn’t stop him from doing what he does best and completely taking over wherever he can.
Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman initially wanted parts from his favourite drummers: System of a Down’s John Dolmayan, Tool’s Danny Carey, and, of course, Grohl. But, according to Coleman, “When Dave heard the songs, he said, ‘I want the whole thing.’” Dolmayan still did some parts, but the entire end product ended up being Grohl. Suppose there’s some residual dignity in the fact that Grohl refused to be paid for his contributions, but that probably came more from it being a passion project for him than something that was wholly done as a sign of goodwill.
Regardless, doing the drum parts late in the project made him feel a little out of sorts. As he recalled, “It’s the first record I’ve ever done where the drums come last. Usually, drums are first.” Even still, he found the shake-up positive. “It’s nice, though, because once you put the drums down and all the percussion is done and everything, it’s done,” he continued.
Adding, “You have a finished song. And also, all the programming and stuff that Andy is doing, the rhythms that they came up with are great. It’s not conventional ‘rock drumming’, it’s not like conventional rock rhythms. It’s challenging. Everything is a challenge.”
As we know, Grohl does love a challenge. And all jokes aside, his laser focus when it comes to drum parts on any project always pays off. We can joke about his unrelenting urge to take over when he thinks something is better done by himself, but he’s always right about it in the end. Even better, he somehow makes the best music when he’s being challenged in the same way.
