Foo Fighters: Back and Forth Page #4

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It's funny, 'cause back there's Taylor

just f***in' like... Just f***in' killing it.

Like, "Oh my God!"

We all loved Taylor, but he was in a band,

the biggest band around at the time.

We were kind of in a pinch.

We had just recorded this record,

and we had to go out and start doing sh*t.

So Dave calls him up, like,

"Hey, man, do you know any good drummers?"

I was like, "Yeah. I'll be your f***in' drummer!

Let me try out. "

I remember saying to Taylor, "You realize

we're not as big as Alanis Morissette?"

I'm like, "I know, but I wanna be in a band.

"I wanna be part of something like that. "

So he said,

"Well, if you try out, and if we jam and...

You have to be in the band. "

Dave called me like, "Remember Taylor?"

I'm like, "Oh yeah. "

He's like, "Yeah, I think he'd be the drummer. "

And I reacted poorly to that.

I was hanging out with Dave and

me and him were bouncing off the walls,

and Nate was going, "Oh no,

not another one of these f***in' guys.

"I can't take two spazzes in one band. "

I didn't think our personalities were compatible.

He's just this, like,

outgoing Southern California surfer dude.

Say somethin' funny.

I don't know anything funny.

I just came from a different world.

I was like, "That guy...

"He is not a guy I'm gonna be in a band with.

No way. "

It's like, "He's really good. "

"OK."

- I hear you got a new drummer?

- Got a new drummer.

- From the Alanis Morissette band?

- That's right.

His name's Taylor Hawkins, and...

Is that his last name?

I think it is.

- He's really new!

- We just met him.

So now Taylors in the band,

and he comes in his first day of rehearsals,

and Pat quits the band.

Right then and there.

Pat says, "Can I talk to you guys

for a second?" We said, "Yeah, sure. "

We walk outside and he goes,

"I gotta leave the band. "

I'm like, "What the f***? Why?"

I was just so sick of it.

I was just so sick of the whole thing.

I didn't wanna go out on another...

you know, bazillion-show tour and...

I just don't wanna do this anymore.

When you join a band the first week,

and one of the members decides...

ever since you've been there, he's gonna quit,

you're like, "Obviously, it's me. "

I was shocked. I was shocked.

I begged him to stay in the band.

And he said,

"No, man. I'm just not into it anymore. "

It was right when we were

about to go out and start our tour,

like, "Here's these new songs. "

Pat quits, and so he's kinda got us in a bad...

in a bad spot.

I asked him to stay

until we could get someone to replace him.

So we made a deal

that I would tour for six weeks,

till the new guy was ready.

But it stretched out to, I think,

six months maybe.

So Pat has quit the band,

but he's still playing with us.

That gives us some time

to integrate Franz Stahl,

who became

the second guitar player in the band.

I'd known Dave for years.

We grew up in the same city.

He was in my first band,

this punk rock band called Scream.

When I left Scream to join Nirvana,

the one relationship that felt the most strained

was my relationship with Franz.

I think that he resented me for leaving.

It took a while, and then we reconciled

and we became friends again.

That moment where Pat said,

"I don't wanna be in the band anymore,"

I immediately thought,

"I'm gonna call Franz. "

I was on tour in Japan

and I get the phone call from Dave

and... he wants to know

if I'd like to join the Foo Fighters.

There wasn't any sort of musical audition.

I just thought,

"Franz, you wanna be in the Foo Fighters?"

He said, "Yes. "

And then the next day

I was on the roof of Radio City Music Hall.

Please give a warm welcome to Foo Fighters!

We were playing at the MTV Awards,

on top of the marquee,

as kind of a warm-up act.

And so I played the first song,

and then I quit.

And then Franz came up and he joined.

It happened just so fast.

And I was still jet-lagged from Japan.

Hello! The last song we played

was my last song with the band.

I would like to introduce you to Franz Stahl,

who will be taking over.

Thank you! Rock on, guys!

Foo Fighters!

It was all very new to me,

because I was used to slumming it.

Sleeping on people's floors,

just getting by, you know?

And this was a whole new level.

When I joined the Foo Fighters, it was like,

you know, you made it.

You hit it, and you were getting

recognized for it. It was awesome.

Once Franz joined the band, we did

what we always did, we went on the road.

We played as many places

and as many shows as we could,

and it was starting to grow.

Like, you could see there were 2,000 people,

We were no longer playing

the afternoon slot at the festival,

we were playing the evening slot.

And there was a song on the radio,

Everlong,

and all of a sudden

there were videos on MTV,

and it was happening to us,

that thing that happens to new bands

when they start to get popular.

We got Franz.

I indoctrinated myself.

That's right. Franz joined the band on-air...

That was a great big surprise.

It was awesome.

It's the best year we've had as a band,

and Franz is, you know...

he's the dude.

I loved the first two records.

And there wasn't a song

that I didn't enjoy, you know?

And I certainly was looking forward to writing,

and... you know, leaving my mark.

Franz is a great guy.

And a sweet guy.

And I was actually...

got really close with him.

It seemed like it would be perfect.

We were rehearsing and writing

at the time,

and coming up with song ideas...

and Taylor and Nate and I

seemed to have this thing

where we were on the same page,

and we were jamming

and coming up with something together.

And Franz just didn't seem to

find his place in all of that.

In Scream, I wrote all the music,

the majority of it.

My brother would write the lyrics.

So I was always,

I was very hands-on, you know?

But it was Dave's band.

And he writes all the music.

I was kinda leery

of pushing my ideas, you know,

so I wasn't trying to be

as vocal about it.

For some reason,

the four of us together wasn't right.

It never congealed into feeling like a band.

It's just chemistry.

We had a talk with Dave about it

and he didn't wanna hear it,

but he knew what the situation was.

My relationship with Franz was

much different than everybody else's.

I'd known the guy since I was 18.

And we had cut our teeth together.

It was tough, man.

I mean, honestly, like...

It was just, you know,

a great old friend of mine that,

unfortunately,

I was asking to leave the band.

That's not to say he's

not a f***ing great musician,

because, of course, everybody knows he is,

but when we worked together as four people...

it just didn't gel, you know?

We got on some kind of conference call

and told him we were

gonna get a different guitar player.

There was a lot of sadness and drama.

It was ugly.

Basically, I got a phone call.

I got a f***ing phone call.

And it just all ends right there.

I don't even know how to react,

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