Dave Grohl Side Projects That Hit Better Than Nirvana or Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters are back on the road doing live shows, but some of Grohl’s best work has been off the road during the pandemic.
That’s right, I said it. Better than Nirvana? Hear me out.
First of all, let me be clear. I am a HUGE Nirvana fan. I’m GenX. I’m originally from the Pacific Northwest and I was there when they exploded. I lived it. I wore flannel. I was devastated when Kurt Cobain died.
I also love the Foo Fighters — I’ve seen them perform live many times. I was at both CalJam Festivals (2017 & 2018) and even witnessed the surprise mini Nirvana reunion at the end of CalJam ’18 with Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Pat Smear, and Joan Jett on vocals. I feel so lucky to have been there at that moment, and went out of my mind when it happened.
That being said, I’m an even bigger fan of what Grohl has done outside of these two bands during the past 18 months. He’s been extremely prolific, and it’s inspiring to see an artist be so versatile, creative, and collaborative in a myriad of new ways— while being so damn personable in the process (and a BBQ rock god on top of it). I can’t think of any other artist like him.
(Side note: the CalJam festivals were also the brainchild of Grohl because….why not do an entire festival for an album release?)
Here are some of my favorite DG side projects from the past year, in no particular order.
1. “Nausea” with Violet Grohl
It doesn’t get cooler than this. A cover of “Nausea” by legendary punk band X, sung by his 14-year-old daughter. Add in Krist Novoselic, Dave Lombardo (of Slayer) on drums, and Greg Kurstin on keyboards. Are you fucking kidding me?
2. Dave Grohl vs. 10-year-old British Child Prodigy Nandi Bushell
Every time I watch this I get goosebumps. Nandi Bushell is a rock n’ roll child prodigy drummer based in England, who posts covers of rock songs on Instagram from such bands as Metallica, Arctic Monkeys, Slipnot, Led Zeppelin, etc. sometimes capturing the attention of the artists with a response to her post. When she posted her video of the Foo’s “Everlong” drum challenge, she caught the attention of Grohl in a rad way.
Instead of just posting “good job” or whatever, Grohl kicks it up a notch and responds to her with a video challenging her to play “Dead End Friends” by Them Crooked Vultures (another killer side project with Joshua Homme and John Paul Jones, in case you’re not aware…). She responds with this electrifying performance which prompts Dave to write a song for her. Who does that? There are so many things I love about this, but most of all it helped me rediscover “Dead End Friends”, which fucking rocks.
3. ‘What Drives Us’ Documentary
I’m a sucker for a good music documentary or interview. This isn’t Grohl’s first documentary (check out the Sound City documentary from 2013), and he’s been in a million interesting interviews and other documentaries over the years. What makes this cool, fun, and interesting to watch it’s a real intimate look into the beginning stages of these bands through the lens of their first touring van. Hearing Ringo Star talking about the “no farting” rule in the van, and what would make someone like Steven Tyler or The Edge be willing to live in a van with their friends to pursue their rock n’ roll dream, is pretty fascinating.
Most importantly, it gave me hope during the pandemic that we would once see live music again.
In all fairness, this project was filmed before the pandemic, but it was released in 2020 so it makes the list.
4. Eight Days of Hanukkah Performances With Greg Kurstin
Instead of a Christmas song, Grohl opted to collaborate with producer Greg Kurstin in December 2020 to create a series of performances to commemorate the Eight Days of Hanukkah. If you don’t know him by now, Greg Kurstin is a legendary producer and founding member of the band The Bird and The Bee, and producer of Foo Fighters’ albums Concrete and Gold and Medicine at Midnight.
What makes this collaboration fucking brilliant is the eclectic selection of Jewish artists from Drake to the Beastie Boys in stripped-down performances.
Let me tell you, after nine months of the pandemic and NO live music, this was such a joy to watch and be surprised by every night. Every one of the performances is great, but these two rocked the hardest.
Who would have thought we would hear Grohl singing this song from Canadian punk rocker Peaches?????
There are a few other projects not on the list that are worth checking out: From Cradle to Stage unscripted series on Paramount+, Dave’s True Stories, and Dave Grohl, The Storyteller to be released October 5, 2021.
What makes me believe these choices hit better than Nirvana and Foo Fighters? Perhaps it’s the amount of *heart* and intimate behind-the-scenes look and feel. Maybe it was the absence of live music combined with the impact of the lockdown and pandemic. All I know is that each of these was like bursts of light that kept me going during some dark times during quarantine.
What do you think? Do you agree with me? What kept you going during quarantine?
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