Dave Grohl is on the cover of the June 2018 issue of British GQ, where the Foo Fighters frontman and enthusiastic Jaegermeister drinker holds forth on emo rapper Lil Pump‘s punk-rock status (“music doesn’t—and shouldn’t—sound like it did when I was 14”), the time he ran away from his dad’s house to pursue a life of rock ‘n’ roll (“I rang my sister and was like, ‘Please come pick me up!'”), and his still-vivid memories of Nirvana (“When Kurt died, every time the radio came on, it broke my heart”).
Though Grohl was interviewed in the U.K. and on tour in Argentina, talk inevitably turned to the poisonous U.S. political climate. “Taylor [Hawkins, Foo Fighters’ drummer] and I talked about this the other day,” Grohl told GQ‘s Jonathan Heaf. “He said, ‘You need to be president and run for office.’ Fuck that. And that’s my quote, right there. I’m not doing an Oprah. I’m not going to go, ‘Well, you never know.”
Naturally, that line of inquiry leads to Grohl’s feelings as an American traveling the world in the age of Donald Trump:
“The American Dream was still tangible, still desirable. Today, the American Dream is broken. I’ve probably travelled internationally more than our current president and the one thing I understand that he doesn’t is that the world isn’t as big as you think it is. It is all in your neighbourhood. India, Asia, Iceland aren’t other solar systems. I am ashamed of our president. I feel apologetic for it when I travel.
Listen, who cares what I think about guns or religion, but the thing about Trump that stings the most is this: he just seems like a massive jerk. Right? I know a lot of wonderful people who don’t share my politics and you can bet tomorrow night in the stadium not everyone will share the same opinion or hold the same views. But when I sing ‘My Hero’ they will all sing it with me. In the three hours that I am on stage, none of that matters.”
Though he’s partial to a pre-show beer and Jaeger shots, Grohl claims he’s never touched cocaine, heroin, or amphetamines. He does love beef: He recently bought himself a top-of-the-line BBQ grill and shares an anecdote from Nirvana’s 1993 South American tour, when he, Cobain, and Krist Novoselic went to “the most expensive steak joint we could find just to spend the record company’s money.” (Cobain, a vegetarian, apparently blanched at the sight of his bandmates selecting steaks from photos of the actual cows.)
GQ’s story also includes an appearance from Courtney Love, who reflects on the turmoil of Nirvana’s final months and her subsequent legal dispute with Grohl: “Dave and Krist knew the inner workings of Kurt and never pointed fingers at me, which I am grateful for. … I regret the acrimony [between myself and Dave] deeply. I feel like I missed out on some great years with him.”
In the present day, Grohl is reportedly working on a new project, a 25-minute instrumental piece. “Whatever you do, don’t call it a solo record,” he remarks, later adding: “If I want to write a 25-minute instrumental, write all the music, play all the instruments, film it and then, guess what, maybe never even release it? I’ll do it. Just because I can. That’s why.”
On the whole, Dave Grohl’s life seems pretty good. Read some more excerpts from the new story here and find the full piece in the June 2018 issue of British GQ.
