Band Members
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Left to right: Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, Nate Mendel
Dave established the Foo Fighters 8 years ago. Since then the band has had multiple line up changes and many hits such as "Big Me", "Monkey Wrench", "Learn To Fly" and "All My Life". From the early days when it was Dave by himself, working on the selt-titled album, from Pat Smear and William Goldsmith to the current line up, comprised of Dave, Nate, Taylor and Chris.
For more info on the establishment of Foo Fighters, see Home Page.
Dave Grohl - Singer, Song-Writer, Guitarist
David Eric Grohl was born on January 14th 1969 in Ohio. His parents were academic couple James and Virginia.
Dave has always loved music since the age of 10 when he would mix his own songs playing guitar, drums and adding lyrics to each track. He used to cover Beatles songs, then progressed to his cousins punk-rock collection. He originally played guitar, learning at age 10 but was in a band ('Fast') where the drummer wasn't too good. In order to make the band better, he swapped from guitar to drums after picking up how to play. The bands life was short lived and in 1986 Fast split and Dave formed 'Dain Bramage' with guitarist and singer Reuden Radding. Dave and band did local gigs and released a LP called 'I Scream Not Coming Down. Dain Bramage then earned a cult following throughout Virginia.
After seeing the band 'Scream'live for a second time, Dave decided to take them up on their offer to replace their current drummer and he left Dain Bramage. The band became one of America's most explosive hardcore bands of the time. They completed a two month U.S tour in 1988 and released the band's first album 'No More Censorship'. The band split after the bassist, Skeeter Thompson, went missing.
Dave was in financial trouble as a result of Scream's breakup and cancellation of their upcoming tour. Dave became the drummer of the band 'The Melvins' for a short time before Buzz Osborne gave him the number of Krist Novoselic (bassist in the Washington band 'Nirvana'with Kurt Cobain and Danny Peters). Cobain and Novoselic had been long time admirers of Dave's work and were in need of a percussionist with a more aggressive sound so they hired him immediately and the band went on to play their first show as a group on the 11th of October 1990.
After Nirvana recorded 'Nevermind', Dave went back to Washington and recorded a handful of his own pieces that appeared on a 10-track cassette called 'Pocketwatch'. In 1992 Dave was busy touring with Nirvana and after some solo work with Barrett Jones, Dave returned to the studio in 1993 and Nirvana recorded 'In Utero' and an unplugged session for MTV. Soon after this, during April of 1994, Kurt Cobain committed suicide.
In 1994 Dave booked time in a professional studio where he and Barrett Jones spent a week recording a demo what would go on to become the 'Foo Fighters' self titled debut album. Dave played all of the instruments on the album, except for one of the guitar parts on X-Static which was played by Greg Dulli. 100 copies of the tape were produced and passed on to friends and associates but soon the object of a fierce record company bidding war. Dave chose to form a band consisting of former Nirvana band mate Pat Smear and ex 'Sunny Day Real Estate' members - Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith. The album was released on July 4th, 1995.
Dave recently put the Foo Fighters on a brief hold after Taylor's drug overdose to fill in as drummer for 'Queens of the Stone Age' as well as 'Tenacious D'. He toured with QOTSA, but after missing Foo Fighters, he returned to the studio to finish recording 'One By One' in 1 and ½ weeks.
Nate Mendel - Bassist
Nathan Gregor Mendel was born on December 2nd 1968 in Richland, Washington. He has been playing bass in a number of bands since 1986.
Nate's musical career began in a band called 'Diddly Squat', a hardcore band he formed with drummer Eric Akre. After touring earned the band a devoted fan-base throughout Washington, Diddly Squat broke up shortly after their last tour in 1988.
Nate then moved to Seattle and joined local straight-edged band 'Brotherhood' before re-forming Washington D.C band 'Christ On A Crutch' with 'Product of Rape' front man Glen Essary. The band stayed together for 4 years, touring and releasing a singles and an LP. Christ On A Crutch split up after their final tour in Europe, 1993.
During 1992, still with commitments to Christ on a Crutch, Nate formed a band with Dan Hoerner and William Goldsmith. The group named 'Sunny Day Real Estate' played as a 3 piece for over a year, releasing singles and touring whenever possible. After Christ on a Crutch's break-up, Jeremy Enigk joined the band. Jeremy suffered a mental breakdown in a hotel during a tour in 1994, which lead to the end of Sunny Day Real Estate. After a brief musical hold, Nate joined the 'Foo Fighters' and has been touring and recording with them since 1995.
Nate has been involved in several side projects. 1999 saw him write two songs for the movie 'Our Burden Is Light', where he made a brief cameo appearance with girlfriend Jessica. During 2000 he contributed to a 'Juno' and 'Dismemberment Plan' split EP, writing the bass-lines for all four songs as well as appearing live with Juno at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle on July 22nd, 2000. In the early stages of 2001, he recorded an album with former Sunny Day Real Estate band-mates William Goldsmith (also ex-Foo Fighter) and Jeremy Enigk under the new guise of 'The Fire Theft'. The album is due for release in 2003.
Taylor Hawkins - drummer
Oliver "Taylor" Hawkins was born on Feb 17, 1972 in
Texas. Taylor was in a trio called Sylvia with friends, but he quit to be part of Sass Jordan touring band. He then left them to joined Alanis Morissette's band Sexual Chocolate.
Taylor was driving in the car with his brother when Foo Fighter's first single "This Is A Call" came on the radio. He loved the song as soon as he heard it. His brother told Taylor that that was the band he should be in, right there. Taylor simply thought "I wish" until the Foo Fighters needed a new drummer.
Taylor and Dave had met several times before at MTV awards and immediately clicked, but never continued the friendship further until Dave asked him if Taylor knew a drummer, as the Foo Fighters were in need of one. Taylor left Alanis' band Sexual Chocolate in 1997 to join the Foo Fighters, replacing William Goldsmith.
Recently while the recording of the Foo's fourth album, was taking place, Taylor feel into a 2 day drug-indused coma. After the album was put on hold, Taylor recovered and the band got back to finishing the record.
Chris Shiflett - Lead Guitarist, Backing Vocals
Chris Aubery Shiflett, was born on May 6th 1971 in Santa Barbara C.A. He has been one of California's most prolific punk-rock guitarists. He began playing guitar during his early teen years, with the help of his older brothers Mike and Scott, who encouraged and aided him in the maturation of his sound.
Chris has played in a old school punk bands including the notable 'No use for a name' and '22-Jacks', recording 'Making Friends' in 1997 and 'More Betterness!' in 1999 before beginning his role as lead-guitarist with the Foo Fighters.
Chris also created punk cover band 'Me first and the Gimme Gimmes' with Fat Mike of NOFX in 1996, and has released 'Have a Ball' (1997), 'Are a Drag' (1999) and 'Blow in the Wind' (2001) with the band. He also took advantage of his freetime during the Foo Fighters' hold in 2002 by forming 'Jackson' with his brother Scott and Pete Parada, who are both members of the band 'Face to Face'. They have recently released their new single 'All The Way' which is the first song off their 5-track E.P. Jackson have now begun touring in the US.