Dave Grohl on playing with pearl jam

TheGossmanTheGossman Posts: 1,120
edited January 2008 in The Porch
Don't know if this has ever been posted but Dave talked about playing with PJ back in 95 in Australia, here is what he said

JJ: I forgot that you were out here when Pearl Jam was out here...

Dave: That was just kind of a fluke. We had Foo Fighters just about ready to go on our first tour opening for mike watt and we were to be gone for a little over a month. I had all these frequent flier miles so I thought I might as well have a little vacation before the tour. Pearl Jam was on tour down there and we have a good friend of ours doing the tour accounting for them and another friend of ours is their tour masseuse or witchdoctor or whatever. So we thought we would just fly down, book ourselves into the same hotel and surprise them.

I thought it was so great because we got to go and see some of the Pearl Jam shows and I was so excited just to be a spectator and have all the fun of someone who doesn't have to go up on stage and play. Because I get so incredibly nervous before I play. Whether it's drums or guitar, I get really, really nervous and so I was looking forward to going down and hanging out and seeing friends and having something to drink and watching the show. The first night I got there, we went to the show and they asked me if I would play a song with them...and then it was like vacation was over.

JJJ: You felt like you couldn't say no?

Dave: Well Jack, their drummer, he had been having problems with his wrists. Plus I know Eddie (Vedder) a little bit. They are acquaintances I suppose, and so of course I would feel terrible if I said, "oh no I can't do that". So I did it and it was actually fun. And it had been the first time I had played drums in front of an audience for quite a while and it was a big fucking audience too. So it was twice as scary.

I was amazed at how much of a performance those guys really put on. They would go up there for almost 2 hours and it was pretty incredible. The reaction from the people, that's what amazed me. I had never seen an audience go so completely mad like they did for the shows I saw. There were kids just pouring down the sides of the seats to get onto the floor. It was amazing. It was really crazy.

JJJ: Even comparing them with some of the scenes you must have seen at the height of Nirvana?

Dave: By the time we started playing places the size of Pearl Jam, we never saw...I mean sometimes the audience, if there were chairs on the floor, they would throw the chairs up and they would pass them back and it was completely insane and that was great. But most of the insanity that we saw was way before we ever got to the point of playing places that held 10,000 people. Usually when you play somewhere that holds 500 people, that's when things are even more insane. It's just like a little contained riot. Pearl Jam was like the first arena rock riot I had ever experienced and I imagined it being like the who concert in 1979 in Cleveland, Ohio, when all the people got trampled. It was just crazy. It was nuts.

JJJ: It surprises me that given your experience and how long you have been doing this sort of stuff that you still get that nervous before going on stage too.

Dave: I don't know what it is. It just scares the shit out of me. I just get really, really, really fucking scared and I don't know what to do about it. With Foo Fighters, I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable. But still just getting up knowing that you have that responsibility for the next hour and 15 minutes to entertain these people, that's what's buried back in the rear of my brain. I just know that I have a responsibility. And I don't handle responsibility very well.
9/4/98, 8/4/00, 12/8/02, 12/9/02, 4/15/03, 4/16/03, 4/19/03, 4/25/03, 4/26/03, 4/28/03, 4/29/03, 4/30/03, 7/8/03, 7/9/03, 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/6/04, 9/1/05, 9/2/05, 5/16/06, 5/17/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 5/30/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 8/5/07, 6/11/08, 6/12/08, 6/14/08, 6/16/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • isnt dave cool as fuck!
  • Dave Grohl is a crazy motherfucker. I'd love to see Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters do a co-headlining tour. If this happened, then rock and roll would be saved.
    - Justin

    You think the Slayer tour is out, or what?

    "Finally! I get to save the earth with deadly lasers instead of deadly slide shows." -- Al Gore.
  • pearljamjenpearljamjen Posts: 13,578
    isnt dave cool as fuck!
    YES :D
  • racecarracecar Posts: 13
    Is this a recent interview? If so, any link? Thanks.
    and i stare you back
    oh blue eyes, i've seen it
    if just once i could feel love
    oh stare back at me, yeah..
  • Dave Grohl is a crazy motherfucker. I'd love to see Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters do a co-headlining tour. If this happened, then rock and roll would be saved.


    Amen, brother, Amen to that
    I try not to get too involved in my life. It's much too complicated.
  • phillyfanphillyfan Posts: 831
    isnt dave cool as fuck!
    he is great
    If you hate something dont you do it too
    world fucking champs!!!
  • wolfbearwolfbear Posts: 3,965
    Hadn't read that before. Thanks! :)
    "I'd rather be with an animal." "Those that can be trusted can change their mind." "The in between is mine." "If I don't lose control, explore and not explode, a preternatural other plane with the power to maintain." "Yeh this is living." "Life is what you make it."
  • wasnt it in cincy when the people got trampled @ the Who concert???
  • wasnt it in cincy when the people got trampled @ the Who concert???

    It certainly was.
    - Justin

    You think the Slayer tour is out, or what?

    "Finally! I get to save the earth with deadly lasers instead of deadly slide shows." -- Al Gore.
  • NoonieNoonie Posts: 93
    Well I'm guessing it's a pretty old interview, or that Who reference would be pretty tasteless.
    My rhymes and records they don't get played
    Because my records and rhymes they don't get made
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    And if you roll like me you don't get laid.
  • TheGossman wrote:
    Don't know if this has ever been posted but Dave talked about playing with PJ back in 95 in Australia, here is what he said

    JJ: I forgot that you were out here when Pearl Jam was out here...

    Dave: That was just kind of a fluke. We had Foo Fighters just about ready to go on our first tour opening for mike watt and we were to be gone for a little over a month. I had all these frequent flier miles so I thought I might as well have a little vacation before the tour. Pearl Jam was on tour down there and we have a good friend of ours doing the tour accounting for them and another friend of ours is their tour masseuse or witchdoctor or whatever. So we thought we would just fly down, book ourselves into the same hotel and surprise them.

    I thought it was so great because we got to go and see some of the Pearl Jam shows and I was so excited just to be a spectator and have all the fun of someone who doesn't have to go up on stage and play. Because I get so incredibly nervous before I play. Whether it's drums or guitar, I get really, really nervous and so I was looking forward to going down and hanging out and seeing friends and having something to drink and watching the show. The first night I got there, we went to the show and they asked me if I would play a song with them...and then it was like vacation was over.

    JJJ: You felt like you couldn't say no?

    Dave: Well Jack, their drummer, he had been having problems with his wrists. Plus I know Eddie (Vedder) a little bit. They are acquaintances I suppose, and so of course I would feel terrible if I said, "oh no I can't do that". So I did it and it was actually fun. And it had been the first time I had played drums in front of an audience for quite a while and it was a big fucking audience too. So it was twice as scary.

    I was amazed at how much of a performance those guys really put on. They would go up there for almost 2 hours and it was pretty incredible. The reaction from the people, that's what amazed me. I had never seen an audience go so completely mad like they did for the shows I saw. There were kids just pouring down the sides of the seats to get onto the floor. It was amazing. It was really crazy.

    JJJ: Even comparing them with some of the scenes you must have seen at the height of Nirvana?

    Dave: By the time we started playing places the size of Pearl Jam, we never saw...I mean sometimes the audience, if there were chairs on the floor, they would throw the chairs up and they would pass them back and it was completely insane and that was great. But most of the insanity that we saw was way before we ever got to the point of playing places that held 10,000 people. Usually when you play somewhere that holds 500 people, that's when things are even more insane. It's just like a little contained riot. Pearl Jam was like the first arena rock riot I had ever experienced and I imagined it being like the who concert in 1979 in Cleveland, Ohio, when all the people got trampled. It was just crazy. It was nuts.

    JJJ: It surprises me that given your experience and how long you have been doing this sort of stuff that you still get that nervous before going on stage too.

    Dave: I don't know what it is. It just scares the shit out of me. I just get really, really, really fucking scared and I don't know what to do about it. With Foo Fighters, I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable. But still just getting up knowing that you have that responsibility for the next hour and 15 minutes to entertain these people, that's what's buried back in the rear of my brain. I just know that I have a responsibility. And I don't handle responsibility very well.
    :D:D:D
  • ramborambo Posts: 170
    thats pretty cool, i didnt think dave was really into pearl jam, i remember a couple of interviews were he seemed to be making fun of them back in the day
    st. john's newfoundland, sept 24/2005
    st. john's newfoundland, sept. 25/2005
  • pjfan31pjfan31 Posts: 7,331
    I hope Pearl ja re-pay the favour and fly down to oz on and play with them on the 3rd of may, because urs truly will be rockin out to the fooies. But if they only play for an hr and 15 tht would be dissappointing.
    Sydney 11/02/2003
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  • I believe Dave was side stage for the 10th anniv. show in Vegas as well...
  • rambo wrote:
    thats pretty cool, i didnt think dave was really into pearl jam, i remember a couple of interviews were he seemed to be making fun of them back in the day

    Don't mean to open up a can of worms but all of that was just envy.
    +--+-Official Upcoming Australasian Tour:Member #9-+--+
  • CitizenRickCitizenRick Posts: 1,079
    Don't mean to open up a can of worms but all of that was just envy.

    Yeah...envy that they got stomped in record sales despite being the "new Beatles".
    "Had my eyes peeled both wide open, and I got a glimpse...of my innocense, got back my inner sence, baby got it...still got it"
  • dave grohl is one of the greatest drummers alive, fuckin hell to see him play with pearl jam would have been amazing....is there any footage of this show???
  • wow, so Dave Grohl was actually Pearl Jam's greatest Drummer.

    Bring back Dave G!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • gozzo5058gozzo5058 Posts: 611
    Dave Grohl is a crazy motherfucker. I'd love to see Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters do a co-headlining tour. If this happened, then rock and roll would be saved.

    I agree...but may I hypothetically add Chris Cornell to the bill?
    s

    Montreal/98, Toronto/00'03'05'06x2, Brad Toronto/02, Buffalo/03, Kitchener/05, London/05, Hamilton/05, Late Show Taping/06, Cleveland/06, Pittsburgh/06, Bridge School Benefit Concert/06, Hartford/08, Mansfield 1/08, EV Montreal/08x2, EV Toronto/08x2...
  • pepsigatorspepsigators St. John's, NL Posts: 182
    MrSmith wrote:
    wow, so Dave Grohl was actually Pearl Jam's greatest Drummer.

    Bring back Dave G!!!!!!!!!!!!

    you can't be serious
  • mca47mca47 Posts: 13,244
    I like Dave and think he's a tremendous musician, but he's just an average drummer IMO.
  • TheGossmanTheGossman Posts: 1,120
    I have the show it was from 3/17/95, he played Rockin in the free world, and the night before he joined them on sonic reducer, he fuckin killed Jack Irons, PJ/Foo tour was in the works, Mike said they were about to do a co headline tour of the south last year but I guess it never worked out, would have been fuckin sick!
    9/4/98, 8/4/00, 12/8/02, 12/9/02, 4/15/03, 4/16/03, 4/19/03, 4/25/03, 4/26/03, 4/28/03, 4/29/03, 4/30/03, 7/8/03, 7/9/03, 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/6/04, 9/1/05, 9/2/05, 5/16/06, 5/17/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 5/30/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 8/5/07, 6/11/08, 6/12/08, 6/14/08, 6/16/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08
  • TheGossmanTheGossman Posts: 1,120
    mca47 wrote:
    I like Dave and think he's a tremendous musician, but he's just an average drummer IMO.


    listen to Queens of the Stone songs for the deaf, then tell me he's an average drummer, he is not human I tell you!
    9/4/98, 8/4/00, 12/8/02, 12/9/02, 4/15/03, 4/16/03, 4/19/03, 4/25/03, 4/26/03, 4/28/03, 4/29/03, 4/30/03, 7/8/03, 7/9/03, 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/6/04, 9/1/05, 9/2/05, 5/16/06, 5/17/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 5/30/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 8/5/07, 6/11/08, 6/12/08, 6/14/08, 6/16/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08
  • Pearl jam/ nirvana rivalry aside, Grohl is probably one of the best drummers of ever. He most certainly isn't average.
  • Dave is awsome, you can say he is an average singer, but no way in hell is he an average drummer.

    To see Dave with Pearl Jam is something i can only dream of
    "I'll ride the wave where it takes me"
    09/19/05, 05/09/06, 05/10/06
  • I would love to see PJ and the Fighters Foo tour together. How badass would that be? If they don't do it in the next 10 years, I guess it'll never happen. I can still dream, right? 
  • JT167846JT167846 Posts: 782
    gozzo5058 said:
    Dave Grohl is a crazy motherfucker. I'd love to see Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters do a co-headlining tour. If this happened, then rock and roll would be saved.

    I agree...but may I hypothetically add Chris Cornell to the bill?
    A few years ago I dreamt of a Seattle Big 4 gig with the Foos taking the place of Nirvana. Wouldn't that have been something. 
    Stars are suns to other people.

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  • Spiritual_ChaosSpiritual_Chaos Posts: 28,869
    I don't see Foo and Pearl Jam meshing together on the same bill.
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
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