FOO FIGHTERS:Fighting chance to be unplugged

[KiwiCoromandel]

Acoustic sets present huge challenges for the Foo Fighters, Clara Iaccarino writes.....

The Foo Fighters have always featured tender love songs on their studio albums. But when you're ripping through a live set of hard-edged rock'n'roll songs, frontman Dave Grohl says it takes a "bad ass" to slip a ballad in between the screams and growls.

After one too many shoes in the face and "f---ing sets of keys" in his teeth, Grohl deleted the slow songs from the Foos' live shows.

But, as part of their new acoustic focus, the Foos have revisited songs they haven't played live for years, as well as playing tracks from the acoustic half of their double album In Your Honour.

"[At first] I couldn't imagine just sitting down and playing because we're so used to running around stage screaming like madmen," Grohl told S when the Foos were in town to play three acoustic gigs at the Sydney Opera House in early October. "But after the first acoustic show, the intimacy of the gig turned it into more of an experience where I could really talk to the audience and they could talk to me. It turned into an evening with the band rather than an evening with the lasers and speaker stacks."

At the Sydney shows, Grohl told tales of his first meeting with the "weird" Nirvana gents, relaying his impressions of Kurt Cobain and revealing a disarming wit and sense of humour. A brilliant musician, an alluring showman and now a captivating storyteller, Grohl has added another string to his unassuming bow.

As cathartic as he once said it was to run around the stage hollering and thrashing in true rock'n'roll style, Grohl has developed a fondness for the acoustic mode. Yesterday the Foos released Skin And Bones, a sublime live recording of their acoustic tour, and after more than 10 years as a band they are at their peak.

Rather than viewing the acoustic transition as a mellowing, Grohl says they have "broken the chains" of the rock band format. "The idea is to get to the point where anything can be a Foo Fighters song," Grohl said.

"If someone asks you what kind of music you play, you say 'I just play music . . . I don't play any one kind of music, my band plays it all'."

While last year's touring schedule "beat the s---" out of Grohl's voice, body and liver in particular, the acoustic tour has demands of its own. Bassist Nate Mendel said the acoustic gigs were tougher to play. "We've gone out and done rock shows after doing this and we look at each other and say, 'That was a snap'," he smiled.

Grohl added: "Those are like training wheels and this is like a unicycle. I don't want to yank my own crank, but a lot of the [acoustic] s--- is really complicated.

"A lot of the playing depends on your feel, it's something you tend to forget when you have half a bottle of whisky and you're screaming blue murder. At these shows we have our own mini-orchestra and everyone has to really pull their weight."

The Foo "grand vision" is to combine the acoustic mode with their rock set to play a three-hour extravaganza that builds from one acoustic guitar to a full-scale arena thrash. "We travel all over the world and spend all this time in a hotel room and on aeroplanes and then you play for an hour and a half," Mendel said. "I'd rather play for three out of 24 hours."

But it might be some time before the band jets off on an extended tour as Grohl's recent foray into fatherhood means he's less inclined to stray from home for long. Besotted with his six-month-old daughter, Violet Maye, Grohl talks of child development strategies like a seasoned professional. Also a father, Mendel turned him onto a drum machine that pregnant women wear to enhance an unborn child's curiosity and responsiveness and he's a fan. "She's already got her own little piano and she beats the s--- out of it," he said. "She loves it when I sing and she sings back. Nate and I have kids that are f---ing wonderfully [musical]."

Mendel agreed: "They've got personality. Right from the start. They're very independent."

Grohl added, laughing: "My kid's a genius and Nate's kid's a genius."

With a new baby, band commitments and recent recordings, it's rare for Grohl to find the time to work on new material.

But before his Sydney gigs, Grohl was holed up in his hotel room, playing guitar, refining old tunes and composing lyrics.

"I haven't been able to do this for a while," he said. "Sydney is my muse."

source:AP

image:AP:Toned down but still rocking ... the musically brilliant FOO FIGHTERS are at their peak...