The Elder Statesman Of Rock And Roll

Dave Grohl’s grand plans for Foo Fighters’ latest record has been put on hold, but he’s been busy exploring other creative avenues while waiting out the pandemic

- Peter Reynolds

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GLORIOUS year and a half of touring for Foo Fighters, as the band marks its 25th anniversary and a 10th record, with which it explores musical territory it has never ventured into before. Alas, COVID-19 has scuttled these plans – for now, at least. Founder and lead singer Dave Grohl has, however, been keeping himself busy with myriad other projects, and brought his infectious energy to various platforms, such as filmmaking.

What a strange time it is to be celebrating 25 years of Foo Fighters. I mean, COVID-19 literally ruined the party.

Yeah. We started planning 2020 about a year and a half ago. We knew that we were going to start making a record, and that we were going to celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary, which would have us going on tour for a year and a half. We had everything planned, from the artwork to the tour, to the album’s release date. Then everything just kind of stopped in March. In a way it was good for us, because we hadn’t stopped working in 10 years, you know? This was really the first time we’ve settled down and come back home in a long time. So, we took all the pieces apart and put them back together again, and finally decided: the most important thing is that the people get to hear the music. All the other fun plans that we had can wait.

Is it going to be a virtual anniversary dinner then? Will you all be sitting in different bars having a beer while talking on Zoom?