Photo by Matthias Vriens

YOUR HOME SHOULD BE YOUR TEMPLE

Which is why, when Dave Grohl greets you at the front door to his Southern California hilltop mansion on this September afternoon, his initial gesture is not the party-on devil horns one might expect from a rock star who's been famous for 15 years, but an index finger pressed to his lips. "Sorry, dude," he whispers. "Nap time."

Rest assured, the person who calls the shots in Grohlville these days is Violet Maye, age 16 months. Grohl tiptoes through the kitchen and offers his wife, Jordyn, a hug. The loudest noise in the entire house is the hum of the AC.

There are no nannies nor servants about, no gold records nor vintage Strats. Not even a crumpled cigarette box on the marble countertop. The only visible sign that the man of the house isn't, say, a software magnate is tucked on a bookshelf: a photo of Grohl and Jordyn with Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa. Both Springsteen and Grohl wear the dumb, lucky grins of men who know the women on their arms are far more beautiful than they deserve.

Watch a video interview with the Foo Fighters on the set of our cover shoot in the hills above L.A.

Watch a retrospective of highlights from Foo Fighters' illustrious, creative career in music videos.

It wasn't always this way. A decade ago, Grohl lived in a bachelor pad off Sunset. That life got old fast. "I finally understood how people move here and disappear and die," he notes dryly. He does owe the strip something, though: It was at the Sunset Marquis Whiskey Bar that he met Jordyn, then an MTV producer. When the pair got engaged and started looking for a home, the chief criterion was tranquility. They settled on this secluded 2.5-acre spread in Encino, which has all the rock-star amenities -- Harley in the driveway, pool, tennis court, hot tub -- but none of the rock-star vibe.

This is not to suggest that the famously frenetic Grohl has mellowed, exactly. With the Foos having just released their sixth studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace -- a collection of 12 arena-ready screamers and acoustic curveballs that should only further cement the band's status as one of mainstream rock's last remaining sure things -- Grohl has been prepping for a major tour and doing the sort of breakneck promo work required to keep Foo, Inc. thriving at a moment when even sure things are mired in uncertainty.

But all of this takes place, for the most part, at the office -- 606, his studio/rehearsal space down below in the San Fernando Valley. (He can see the building from his driveway.) It's there you'll find the gold records and cigarette packs, along with an ever-expanding coterie of bandmates, roadies, techies, and managers.

"The key to longevity is balance," explains the 38-year-old drummer turned frontman. "And I love the band like a family. But I've realized that the most important thing is my life outside the band." He casts a glance around his quiet home and smiles. "Without this, everything else would fall apart."

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT PLATINUM

The band's last studio record, 2005's In Your Honor, featured one rock and one acoustic disc. Echoes essentially distills the two approaches and is front-loaded with anthems designed to please the base, such as propulsive lead single "The Pretender." But further in, the songs reflect Grohl's growing sophistication as a songwriter. "Stranger Things Have Happened" is a minor-key lament whose most prominent rhythmic signature is the fuzzy tock of a metronome. That's to say nothing of the acoustic instrumental "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners" Grohl recorded with guitar goddess Kaki King.

"For the longest time I was afraid to do anything but make loud distortion-melodic rock'n'roll," Grohl says. "But after a while, those parameters dissolve and you lose those insecurities, and you think, 'Man, I only have a short time here, and I wanna do as much as I can.' "

If that means an end to the Foos' streak of five consecutive million-selling albums, so be it. But don't bet against them.