Foo Fighters
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| Foo Fighters | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Seattle, WA |
| Years active | 1994 - present |
| Genre | Alternative rock |
| Label(s) | Roswell (1994-1998) RCA (1998-present) |
| Members | Dave Grohl Nate Mendel Pat Smear Chris Shiflett Rami Jaffee |
| Past members | William Goldsmith Franz Stahl Taylor Hawkins Josh Freese |
| Website | www.foofighters.com |
Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed by Dave Grohl in 1994, following the breaking up of Nirvana.
Overview
As far back as the late 80s, Grohl had created his own occasional recordings. After joining Nirvana, and acquiring better equipment, Grohl stepped up both the quality and frequency of his recordings, and soon had enough for a solid demo tape. He was considering shopping the tape around to labels when Kurt Cobain's suicide brought an early end to his then-current band.
After scoring a deal with RCA, the recording, which featured Grohl on all instruments, was released in 1995 under the hastily-chosen name "Foo Fighters", a reference to World War II-era reports of UFO sightings. Grohl just as hastily assembled a touring lineup and hit the road.
The project evolved into a full-fledged band, and despite a few early lineup changes, the outfit truly came together with the addition of drummer Taylor Hawkins in 1998.
Weezer connections
The Foo Fighters and Weezer first met sometime before 1995. As recounted by the band in a 1995 interview with VOX magazine, Dave Grohl gave Weezer a copy of Foo Fighers' earliest material and let them know he liked their music.[1]. They toured together twice, first in 2005 for the Foozer Tour, and again in 2018 for the Concrete and Gold Tour. The bands have played over 30 shows together.
Grohl's outfit has covered "Say It Ain't So" at soundchecks, and Weezer has covered "Big Me" a number of times. Pat Wilson's group The Special Goodness opened for Foo Fighters in 2003, as detailed here by Karl Koch. The Foo Fighters went on an 16-show tour with That Dog in 1996.
In September 2022, Wilson performed as part of a tribute concert for Taylor Hawkins, who died on March 25 of that year.[2] Hawkins was a close associate of Weezer. Josh Freese, a former touring member of Weezer, was announced as Hawkins' replacement on May 21, 2023.[3] He was later fired by the band in May of 2025. [4]
See also
References
- ↑ VOX article - May 1995#THE TOURBUS TAPE
- ↑ Los Angeles Times. [1] "Dave Chappelle sings Radiohead, plus everything else that happened at the Taylor Hawkins tribute" by Mikael Wood. Published Sept. 27, 2022.
- ↑ Pitchfork [2] "Foo Fighters Reveal New Drummer Josh Freese, Taylor Hawkins’ Successor" by Evan Minsker. Published May 21, 2023.
- ↑ Pitchfork [3] "Foo Fighters and Drummer Josh Freese Part Ways" by Matthew Strauss. Published May 16, 2025