LITTLE ROCK — Music Foo Fighters Opening acts: Motorhead, Biffy Clyro 7 p.m. Wednesday, Verizon Arena, East Broadway and Interstate 30, North Little Rock $49.50, $37.50, $25, at Ticketmaster outlets or ticketmaster.com. There will be no chairs on the Verizon Arena floor; admission to the floor will be by general admission tickets.
(800) 745-3000
Unlike the band’s name, Foo Fighters have proved to be no illusion.
When Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl opted to step from behind his drum kit and take up the guitar and vocals following the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain and the subsequent dissolution of Nirvana, he settled on a name that had been used by World War II pilots to describe UFOs and a variety of peculiar aerial phenomena.
Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, a documentary film that was screened in movie theaters across the nation a month ago, tells the story of the band’s early struggles and recent triumphs. Grohl chose an Academy Award-winning director, James Moll, whose previous films include The Last Days and Running the Sahara. Moll covered the band’s entire career, fromthe cassette demo tapes Grohl recorded while in Nirvana to the band’s eventual status as an arena and stadium headliner with platinum sales of albums and the winner of six Grammy Awards.
“I wanted it to be completely honest, and it is,” Grohl told an Austin, Texas, newspaper in March. “I know what it’s like to have everything pulled out from under me and having to start over.”
Pitchfork Media, an Internet music site, called Grohl and the band “his generation’s answer to Tom Petty - a consistent hit machine pumping out working-class rock.” Ironically, Petty offered Grohl a job playing drums in Petty’s band, The Heartbreakers, after the dissolution of Nirvana, but Grohl decided to pursue his dream of leading his own band.
Grohl had always written songs, it was later revealed, but had always deferred to Cobain. Left to his own devices, Grohl recorded selections from his trove of songs and assembled a band totake the show on the road. It took a while for him to find a compatible lineup; the only remaining original member is bassist Nate Mendel, who had formerly been in the band Sunny Day Real Estate.
Finding the right drummer and help on guitar proved more difficult, with Mendel’s band mate, Sunny Day Real Estate drummer William Goldsmith, starting out as a Foo Fighter, but bailing out while the group was recording its second album, The Colour and the Shape. Taylor Hawkins, who had been a member of Alanis Morissette’s touring band, took over on drums in 1997 and still has the gig. For help on guitar, Grohl started by recruiting Pat Smear, who had toured and played with Nirvana.
Smear soon left, so Grohl brought in a childhood friend, Franz Stahl, who lasted until the band started work on its third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose, in 1999. The third try proved the charm, with the hiring of Chris Shiflett, who remains the guitarist of choice, with Smear returning in 2006.
Foo Fighters’ latest album, Wasting Light, was the first Foo Fighters album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard top 200 albums chart. Guest artists include Bob Mould on “Dear Rosemary” and Grohl’s Nirvana band mate Krist Novoselic on “I Should HaveKnown.” A vinyl-only album, Medium Rare, was released April 16 to support Record Store Day. It features cover versions of songs by Paul Mc-Cartney & Wings, Pink Floyd, Gerry Rafferty, Thin Lizzy, Gary Numan, Mose Allison, Husker Du, The Zombies and The Ramones.
Foo Fighters performed in central Arkansas a decade ago in Barton Coliseum, opening a show for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Wednesday’s opening act Motorhead, veterans in the world of British heavy metal since 1975, have long ties to Grohl.
“Unfortunately we have to go on after them,” Grohl joked in a recent MTV interview. “We actually played with Motorhead at Hyde Park once, and Lemmy [Kilmister] is a good friend, and [so is guitarist] Phil [Campbell], too. They’re just fun to be around, and they’re legends and I’m a huge Motorhead fan, so it’s an honor to have them come out and do gigs.”
Another opening act, Biffy Clyro, is a Scottish trio that recently finished its own headlining tour of the United States and shows with Cage the Elephant. The band’s current single is “Many of Horror” and the band’s fifth album, Only Revolutions, was a nominee for the Mercury Prize in 2010.
Band members are Simon Neil on vocals and guitar, James Johnston on bass and Ben Johnston on drums. Formed in 1995, the band has shared stages with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, The Who and The Rolling Stones. Biffy Clyro filled Wembley Arena on its headlining tour and became the first band ever to play in the British Parliament.
Just to show even more of his multi-dimensional talents, Grohl is also a member of Them Crooked Vultures, a band that includes other musicians with impressive credentials of their own: John Paul Jones, bass and keyboards in Led Zeppelin, and Josh Homme, guitarist in Queens of the Stone Age. Grohl returned to the drums for his gig in the Vultures.
Style, Pages 53 on 05/15/2011