Dave Grohl has opened up on how his daughter provided backing vocals on the latest Foo Fighters record, as well as his high hopes for her future musical ambition.
Violet, 14, provided backing vocals on the Foos’ tenth album ‘Medicine At Midnight’ after hanging out with the band at a “funky old house” in California where they recorded their latest album.
“At around two or three o’clock [every day] I would take a break and go pick her up from school,” Grohl told the BBC. “Sometimes she’d want to come back to the house and she’d sit on the couch and do her homework.
“One day, [producer] Greg Kurstin said: ‘Hey Violet, would you like to do a back-up vocal?’ And she got behind the microphone, she did a few takes and on the chorus of ‘Making A Fire’, that’s Violet’s high vocal in there.
“It seemed very natural [but] it didn’t seem official until my accountant called a few months ago and asked where she should deposit Violet’s cheque.
“And I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ She said, ‘Well, she sang on the album so she has to be paid for playing on the record.’ And I said, ‘You can take that money and give it to me, and I’ll put it in an account for Violet that she can open when she’s 18 years old!’”
Hailing his daughter’s talents, the Foo Fighters frontman described Violet as “the best vocalist in the Grohl family”.
“Violet is an incredibly talented musician,” he said. “She can pick up an instrument and learn it within a week. She has perfect pitch and sings from her gut.”
He added: “To be her drummer is one of my life dreams.”
It comes after Grohl previously said he wants to play on a new album that Violet is considering making.
“I did ask her the other day, ‘If you were to make a record, how do you imagine it would sound?’” Grohl recently told the Sunday Times Culture magazine.
“And she said, ‘You know, I think somewhere within that shoegaze thing. Oh, and Dad, I need to get this new guitar pedal. It’s called Loveless, and I want my guitar to sound like My Bloody Valentine.’
“I was, like, ‘Yes. Yesss!’,” Grohl added, admitting that his “next reaction was, ‘Can I be on your record, please?’”
Violet has appeared on stage with Grohl and Foo Fighters at a number of past gigs, including a 2020 Nirvana reunion, 2019’s Leeds Festival and the band’s recent #SaveOurStages gig at The Roxy in Los Angeles.
Grohl added that he believes that Violet has “all the tools she needs” to be successful in the industry, despite her family connections. “She’s 14 and already in a deep Bowie phase,” he revealed. “I’m not talking about 80s Bowie or 90s Bowie — she hasn’t even got to Berlin. All she does is listen to live bootlegs of the ‘Station to Station’ tour.”
Foo Fighters will release ‘Medicine At Midnight’ on February 5.
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