Biography

Dave Grohl

David Eric "Dave" Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and director. He is the founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Foo Fighters since 1994, and was the best known and longest-serving drummer for Nirvana from late 1990 to early 1994, when Nirvana disbanded following the death of Kurt Cobain. Grohl is also the drummer and co-founder of the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, and wrote the music and performed all the instruments for his short-lived side projects Late! and Probot. He has also recorded and frequently tours with rock band Queens of the Stone Age.

Foo Fighters meld melodic elements with heavier ones, and have found worldwide success and won multiple awards, most notably with four of their albums winning Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album. Grohl established himself as a highly appreciated drummer with Nirvana and in 2014 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside bandmates Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic in the group's first year of eligibility. In 2010, Grohl was described by Ken Micallef, co-author of the book Classic Rock Drummers, as one of the most influential rock musicians of the previous 20 years.

David Eric Grohl was born on January 14, 1969, in Warren, Ohio, the son of teacher Virginia Jean (née Hanlon) and newswriter James Harper Grohl (1938–2014).

Scream

At age 17, Grohl auditioned with local DC favorites Scream to fill the vacancy left by the departure of drummer Kent Stax. In order to be considered for the position, Grohl lied about his age, claiming he was older. To Grohl's surprise, the band asked him to join and so he dropped out of high school in his junior year. He has been quoted as saying, "I was 17 and extremely anxious to see the world, so I did it." Over the next four years, Grohl toured extensively with the band, recording a couple of live albums (their show of May 4, 1990 in Alzey, Germany being released by Tobby Holzinger as Your Choice Live Series Vol.10) and two studio albums, No More Censorship and Fumble, on which Grohl penned and sang vocals on the song "Gods Look Down".

While playing in Scream, Grohl became a fan of the Melvins and eventually befriended the band. During a 1990 tour stop on the West Coast, Melvins' Buzz Osborne took a couple of his friends, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, to see the band.

Nirvana

A few months later, Scream unexpectedly disbanded mid-tour following the departure of bassist Skeeter Thompson, who left to join The Four Horsemen. Grohl called Osborne for advice and Osborne informed him that Nirvana was looking for a drummer and gave Grohl the phone numbers of Cobain and Novoselic, who subsequently invited Grohl to Seattle to audition for Nirvana. Grohl soon joined the band full-time.

At the time that Grohl joined Nirvana, the band had already recorded several demos for the follow-up to their debut album Bleach, having spent time recording with producer Butch Vig in Wisconsin. Initially, the plan was to release the album on Sub Pop, but the band received a great deal of interest based on the demos. Grohl spent the initial months with Nirvana traveling to various labels as the band shopped for a deal, eventually signing with DGC Records. In the spring of 1991, the band entered Sound City Studios in Los Angeles to record Nevermind (as seen in Grohl's 2013 documentary Sound City).

Upon its release, Nevermind (1991) exceeded all expectations and became a worldwide commercial success. At the same time, Grohl was compiling and recording his own material, which he released on a cassette called Pocketwatch in 1992 on indie label Simple Machines. Rather than using his own name, Grohl released the cassette under the pseudonym "Late!"

In the later years of Nirvana, Grohl's songwriting contributions increased. In Grohl's initial months in Seattle, Cobain overheard him working on a song called "Color Pictures of a Marigold", and the two subsequently worked on it together. Grohl would later record the song for the Pocketwatch cassette. Grohl stated in a 2014 episode of Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways that Cobain reacted by kissing him upon first hearing a demo of "Alone + Easy Target" that Grohl had recently recorded.

During the sessions for In Utero, Nirvana decided to re-record "Color Pictures of a Marigold" released this version as a B-side on the "Heart-Shaped Box" single, titled simply "Marigold". Grohl also contributed the main guitar riff for "Scentless Apprentice". Cobain admitted in a late 1993 MTV interview that he initially thought the riff was "kind of boneheaded", but was gratified at how the song developed (a process captured in part in a demo on the Nirvana box set With the Lights Out). Cobain noted that he was excited at the possibility of having Novoselic and Grohl contribute more to the band's songwriting.

Prior to their 1994 European tour, the band scheduled session time at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle to work on demos. For most of the three-day session, Cobain was absent, so Novoselic and Grohl worked on demos of their own songs. The duo completed several of Grohl's songs, including future Foo Fighters songs "Exhausted", "Big Me", "February Stars", and "Butterflies". On the third day of the session, Cobain finally arrived, and the band recorded a demo of a song later named "You Know You're Right". It was the band's final studio recording.

The Cobain, Novoselic and Grohl incarnation of Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10, 2014, 20 years after the death of Cobain.

Chris Shiflett

Christopher Aubrey Shiflett (born May 6, 1971) is an American musician. He is most recognizable as the lead guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters. He was previously a member of the punk rock bands No Use for a Name (1986-2012) and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (1995-2019). He joined the Foo Fighters in 1999 following the release of their third album, and performed with all three bands as well as several other side projects simultaneously. He also hosts a podcast titled Walking The Floor and has released two solo albums, the most recent in 2019.

Shiflett was born in Santa Barbara, California. When Shiflett was 11, he started learning how to play the guitar. A promising young soccer player, Shiflett played AYSO under legendary SB coach Noemi Vazquez from 1982–84. Pressed to make a choice on his career, Shiflett joined his first band by the time he reached the age of 14.

Shiflett was the resident lead guitarist for the San Francisco Bay Area punk rock band No Use for a Name. When a friend announced that Guns N' Roses were auditioning for a guitarist, Shiflett asked his friend to instead get him an audition for the Foo Fighters, who after recording There Is Nothing Left to Lose as a trio held open auditions to hire another guitarist. Dave Grohl said part of his motivation to hire Shiflett was that he had a history in the underground punk scene, including opening for Grohl's former band Scream as bassist of the group Rat Pack. After being hired, Shiflett played on the tour for There Is Nothing Left to Lose, and all subsequent studio albums starting with One by One. Shiflett has noted several times that one of his favorite songs that he plays with the Foo Fighters is "All My Life" from their fourth studio album One by One. Shiflett has declared that he was afraid of being fired even before he started to play with the band, as previous guitarist Pat Smear had declared interest to rejoin (Smear eventually got back with the band as a touring rhythm guitarist in 2005, rejoining as a full-fledged fifth member in 2010).

Seeing an opportunity that he knew he could not pass up, he quickly parted ways with his former band to audition. His departure was abrupt, as No Use for a Name were just about to head out on tour in support of their then-recent album More Betterness!. He was replaced by Dave Nassie, who had previously contributed to Suicidal Tendencies' lead singer "Cyco" Mike Muir's solo projects. Shiflett began his music career in another band called Lost Kittenz with current members of Sugarcult. He also currently plays in the punk rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, his own side-project, Jackson United as well as Viva Death with his brother Scott. For numerous projects, Shiflett performed under the name Jake Jackson. He is also a sometime member of cover band Chevy Metal with Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins. They play songs from classic rock bands such as Black Sabbath, Queen, ZZ Top, and Rolling Stones.

Shiflett, after being in cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, has a tattoo on the inside of his bottom lip with the words "Gimme Gimme".

In 2009, Shiflett played in a band called The Real McCoy, which was founded by Andy McCoy, the guitarist of the former Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks. The band split up after only three gigs.

In 2010 Shiflett created a new country-oriented side project, Chris Shiflett & the Dead Peasants, releasing a self-titled album in July. In 2011, Shiflett performed at the 2011 Wisconsin protests in Madison. He also performed at the Anti War rally for the A.N.S.W.E.R coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). Shiflett performed at the opening rally at the one and a half mile march from Hollywood and Vine to Hollywood and Highland March 19, 2011.

In 2013, Shiflett announced he would be releasing a new album from his country project, Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants, called All Hat And No Cattle. The album of honky-tonk covers and original tracks came out on July 30, 2013 via SideOneDummy Records.

April 2017 saw Shiflett release his first solo album West Coast Town, a collection of original honky tonk tracks, accompanied by a short USA tour to promote the release.

A second solo album Hard Lessons was released on June 14th 2019. As with the first album Hard Lessons was produced by Dave Cobb.

Since October 2013, Shiflett has hosted the weekly podcast Walking The Floor with Chris Shiflett. As of September 2019, there have been over 147 episodes of Walking the Floor.

Taylor Hawkins

Oliver Taylor Hawkins is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Foo Fighters. Prior to joining the band in 1997, he was the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette as well as the drummer in a progressive experimental band Sylvia. In 2004, Hawkins formed his own side project, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, in which he plays drums and sings. He was voted "Best Rock Drummer" in 2005 by the United Kingdom drumming magazine Rhythm.

Oliver Taylor Hawkins was born in Fort Worth, Texas on February 17, 1972. His family moved to Laguna Beach, California in 1976, where Hawkins grew up. Hawkins has a brother, Jason, and a sister, Heather. He attended Thurston Jr. High School and later went to Laguna Beach High School. After leaving the Orange County-based band Sylvia (later emerging as ANYONE), he joined up as the drummer for Sass Jordan. He left to act as the drummer for Alanis Morissette.

After touring through the spring of 1996, Foo Fighters entered a Seattle studio with producer Gil Norton to record its second album. Conflict reportedly erupted between Dave Grohl and drummer William Goldsmith, eventually causing Goldsmith to leave the band. The band regrouped in Los Angeles and almost completely re-recorded the album with Grohl on drums. The album, The Colour and the Shape, was released on May 20, 1997. Grohl called up Hawkins to recommend a new drummer, and to Grohl's surprise, Hawkins volunteered himself. He then auditioned for and subsequently joined the band, making his debut in time for the album's release.

In addition to his drumming duties with the Foo Fighters, Hawkins is also an accomplished rock singer, guitarist and pianist. His first lead vocal with the group was a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar". Two versions of the song were released, one as the b-side to "Learn to Fly" and another on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack album. He sang lead vocals on the original "Cold Day in the Sun," from In Your Honor, which was later released as a single, and the cover of Cream's "I Feel Free," which appeared as the b-side of "DOA" and on the EP Five Songs and a Cover. Hawkins also sang lead vocals for the band's cover of Joe Walsh's "Life of Illusion." Most recently, he sang lead vocals for "Sunday Rain," a track on the Foo Fighters' 2017 album Concrete and Gold. Many Foo Fighters live shows feature Hawkins singing lead vocals on at least one cover song.

Nate Mendel

Nathan Gregor Mendel is an American musician for the bands Foo Fighters, The Jealous Sound, Sunny Day Real Estate, and The Fire Theft. In 2015, he announced he is the singer, songwriter, and guitarist for his new project, Lieutenant.

Mendel was born on December 2, 1968, in Richland, a mid-sized city in southeast Washington. His first instrument was the violin. As at the age of 13, Mendel started to get interested in rock music and joining a band, a friend who played guitar suggested him to play bass guitar. Mendel stated that "as I picked up that bass guitar I went on a 20-year detour into punk", helped by his town usually having concerts of DIY punk bands such as Scream. This led to a "pretty limited musical education", as despite taking some lessons with a bassist from a local band, Mendel mostly taught himself to play, and "it was all hardcore punk rock, like Minor Threat, Black Flag and Bad Brains. Instead of studying the bass playing of someone like John Entwistle, which would have given me a foundation of how to play. I just wanted to play a lot of notes really fast."

Mendel began his musical career in the hardcore band Diddly Squat, which only recorded a 7" single but did a national tour during the 1988 summer vacation. After Diddly Squat ended, Mendel moved to Seattle, where he spent four months on the straight edge band Brotherhood. Afterwards he joined the band Christ on a Crutch, which included bandmate Glen Essary and lasted until 1993. In 1992, Mendel and his University of Washington housemate Dan Hoerner decided to form a band, and invited drummer William Goldsmith to form the group that would end up being named Sunny Day Real Estate. Mendel added that SDRE was an attempt to "play more intricate, interesting music". While Mendel toured Europe with Christ on a Crutch, Jeremy Enigk jammed with the remaining members and eventually became a full-time member of SDRE.

Just prior to Sunny Day Real Estate disbanding in 1995, Mendel and Goldsmith were invited by Dave Grohl to join his band, the Foo Fighters, during the week of Halloween in late October 1994. He has remained a bandmember ever since, being one of the only original members in the Foo Fighters current line-up along with Grohl and former Nirvana live guitarist Pat Smear. Although Sunny Day Real Estate reunited for two more albums (How It Feels to Be Something On and The Rising Tide), he stayed with the Foo Fighters, in Sunny Day Real Estate, he was replaced by Jeff Palmer, and Palmer was replaced by Joey Skyward, when Skyward left the band, Jeremy Enigk (lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist) moved to the bass. After Sunny Day Real Estate disbanded once more, he joined with other Sunny Day Real Estate members Jeremy Enigk and William Goldsmith to form The Fire Theft, who released a self-titled album in 2003. In 2001, he played with Juno.

He scored a role in the indie movie Our Burden Is Light, in which he also played a minor role as the main female character's best friend's boyfriend and bassist. In the movie, Mendel plays in a band named Bleeder, consisting of himself, Jessica Ballard, and Taylor Hawkins.

In June 2009, it was confirmed that Sunny Day Real Estate plans to reunite again, with Mendel back in the fold. The band toured in 2009, confirming a new album in the works. However, recording sessions proved to be unproductive and by 2013, the group had broken up once again.

Pat Smear

Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by the stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician and actor. He was a founding member of punk band the Germs, and was the touring guitarist for grunge band Nirvana from 1993 to 1994. After Nirvana ended, its drummer Dave Grohl went on to become the frontman of rock band Foo Fighters; Smear soon joined on guitar, and has since recorded four studio albums and a live album with the band.

Georg Ruthenberg was born and raised in West Los Angeles, California, to a mother of African-American and Native American descent and a German Jewish immigrant father. His parents forced him to take piano lessons at a young age, and a few years later, he began teaching himself to play the guitar. Before becoming a musician, he was a very religious child and at age 13 left home to join a commune. Later, he attended IPS (Innovative Program School), an alternative school within University High School in Los Angeles. It was there that he met vocalist Darby Crash, alongside whom he would play in the Germs in the late 1970s. Smear and Crash were both expelled from IPS due to concerns they were inciting unruly behavior among the students.

Germs

Smear lists his influences as Joan Jett, Brian James, Brian May, and Steve Jones. As a teenager in 1976, Smear and Darby Crash formed the Germs with bassist Lorna Doom and drummer Dottie Danger (the pseudonym of Belinda Carlisle, who went on to front The Go-Go's). Smear was the only band member who had any musical knowledge or proficiency. For most of his time in the Germs, Smear reported that he didn't own a guitar but rather "just borrowed from whoever we were playing with".

Carlisle was soon replaced by Don Bolles and, in 1979, the band released their first album, (GI), produced by Joan Jett. The record is now regarded as a milestone in the history of punk rock, with Smear earning praise for his guitar work: "Smear has an equal claim to being the album's star [alongside Darby], though, and for good reason – not only did he co-write everything, his clipped, catchy monster riffing was as pure punk in the late-'70s sense as anything, wasting no time on anything extraneous."

The Germs, including Smear, appeared in the punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), directed by Penelope Spheeris.

The Germs endured for one more year before finally disbanding in 1980 after Crash committed suicide.

Solo Work

Following the demise of the Germs, Smear played in 1981 with ex-The Screamers keyboardist Paul Roessler and his sister Kira Roessler in a band called Twisted Roots. Although short-lived, the band was the toast of the Hollywood punk scene. Smear would go on to play with Nina Hagen and make two solo albums of his own, Ruthensmear (also recorded with Roessler), and So You Fell in Love with a Musician... Smear also had a brief stint as a member of punk band The Adolescents in 1981.

During this time, he also worked as an actor in bit parts, appearing in the television shows Quincy, M.E. and CHiPs, and in the films Blade Runner, Breakin' and Howard the Duck. While working on Breakin', Smear became friends with Courtney Love. In addition he also appeared as an extra in the music video for Prince and The Revolution's single "Raspberry Beret", he can be seen sitting in front of Lisa Coleman's piano.

45 Grave

Smear was briefly in deathrock band 45 Grave with Don Bolles (the former drummer for the Germs). During this stint, they recorded a 7" titled Black Cross and other tracks that would later appear on 45 Grave’s 1987 compilation album, Autopsy.

Nirvana

In 1993, he received a call from Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain, asking him to join the band as a second guitarist for an upcoming tour. Smear at first thought that it was his friend, Carlos "Cake" Nunez, playing a joke on him; however, Courtney Love had told Smear a few days prior that Cobain was going to call him. Smear accepted immediately and played his first show with Nirvana on Saturday Night Live on September 25, 1993. He toured with Nirvana for about six months, and appears on their live albums MTV Unplugged in New York, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, as well as on material for the compilations Nirvana and With the Lights Out and the concert DVD Live and Loud.

Smear's time with Nirvana brought him his first mass audience exposure. Nirvana came to an end with Cobain's death in April 1994.

Rami Jaffee

Rami Jaffee is an American musician who is the keyboardist for Foo Fighters. He has worked with many artists including The Wallflowers, Pete Yorn, Soul Asylum, Stone Sour, Joseph Arthur and Coheed and Cambria.

Jaffee was born on March 11, 1969, in Los Angeles. When he was 13, he purchased a keyboard and was soon playing with local bands. After graduating from Fairfax High School, he continued to play in various bands, and he took session work in recording studios.

Around 1989, Jakob Dylan and his friend Tobi Miller formed a group called the Apples, playing various clubs in the L.A. area. While waiting in line at Canter's deli after 2:00 am, Jaffee heard the Apples wanted an organist/pianist, and he was told that Dylan and Miller were then in the Kibitz Room bar attached to Canter's. They met; Dylan and Miller played Jaffee some demo tapes in their car stereo, and Jaffee immediately joined the group. A few weeks later, they changed their name to the Wallflowers and signed with Virgin Records. In 1992, they released their first album, The Wallflowers. The Wallflowers toured throughout the U.S. and Canada in 1992 and early 1993. They served as the opening act for Cracker, the Spin Doctors and 10,000 Maniacs, and they started headlining their own shows.

Virgin appeared to lose interest in the Wallflowers because of poor album sales. The band's two familiar label representatives left the label, after which the record company tried to use the Dylan name as a selling point, against the band's directive. In mid-1993, the label released the band from their contract. Other labels were not interested in signing the band, and Jaffee filled his time by playing gigs with El Vez as well as taking more session work. He kept his interest in the Wallflowers, saying later, "I believe in these songs, and I'm here for the duration because no one is writing songs like these anymore, songs that have room for a Hammond organ and me."

The Wallflowers signed to Interscope Records in 1994. While working with T Bone Burnett, who was producing the band's next album, Jaffee was frequently called in as a session musician for producers Paul Fox, Matt Hyde and Rick Neigher. Because of this, in 1996 he was credited on albums by Rickie Lee Jones, the Hookers, Leah Andreone and Chalk FarM. At the same time, the Wallflowers released their second album, Bringing Down the Horse, which went quadruple Platinum. The band toured in support of the album, but in 1997, Jaffee and his wife had a daughter, and he left the tour to be with his family for two months. That same year, he performed session work with Everclear, Grant Lee Buffalo, Richie Sambora, Macy Gray, Jeremy Toback, Joe Henry, Melissa Etheridge, Ramsay Midwood and Garth Brooks.

The Wallflowers received a Grammy nomination in 1998 for "Heroes" which appeared in the film Godzilla. In late 2000, the band released Breach. The band headlined their own tour for a year but also opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Who and John Mellencamp. Following this, the Wallflowers released Red Letter Days, touring again during 2002–2003. With a new drummer, the band released Rebel, Sweetheart, their fifth album, on May 24, 2005. The Wallflowers toured to promote the album, but Jaffee disagreed with the band, and he abandoned the tour with three dates remaining.

In 2005, Jaffee began collaborating with Foo Fighters. He was made an official member in 2017.

Jaffee led the house band on The Fran Drescher Show and, as of 2010, co-owned a recording studio called Fonogenic Studios in the San Fernando Valley.

In 2012 and 2013, Jaffee was a member of the Sound City Players, a supergroup formed by Dave Grohl that, in addition to appearing in Grohl's 2013 documentary, Sound City, played a limited number of tour dates in 2013. The Sound City Players consisted of a rotating number of artists including Grohl, Jaffee, Stevie Nicks, Alain Johannes, Paul McCartney, Rick Springfield, Josh Homme, Trent Reznor, Krist Novoselic and more.

In 2012, Jaffee returned to the Wallflowers, who were coming off a long hiatus. They released the album Glad All Over in 2012 and toured in support of it that year and also in 2013. Jaffee then left the band again.