posted on May 12, 2008 by Dave Grohl
Just wanted to write a quick note to clear up this whole "Open letter to Metallica" fiasco......For the record, I never "wrote" anything to Metallica. I was asked by a journalist, at the end of a long interview (abut the Foo Fighters) to give a quick message to Metallica in the studio. So, I rattled that quote off the top of my head. No biggie, right? Somehow it became my "open letter" to the band, and now it's been picked up by everyone from Blabbermouth to Rolling Stone (as if anyone really cares!). Now, it's true that I've been a loyal fan of this band for 25 years, and I can't wait to hear the new shit, but an "open letter" to the band?!!?? Nah. Not my style. I'd rather just text 'em......
OK.......just needed to get that off my chest. Hope you guys are good. Thanks for coming out to the shows, they've been a blast. Only a few more before we crawl back into our cave and hibernate. It's gonna be a loooooong winter.......
Dave
posted on April 24, 2008 by Chris Shiflet
…is paved with good intentions!
Remember back in January when the blog was new and I had high hopes of posting updates every other day or so on tour?!? Where’d it all go wrong? Same place it always does I suppose. I’m fucking lazy! Thank goodness for Nate…
What’s happened since then? So much that I don’t know where to begin and will surely forget most of it.
We toured all over North America going places we haven’t been in a long, long time (like the South!). Still a bit more to go this summer but all in all we’ve stepped it up Stateside.
We book-ended our U.S. tour with shows at Madison Square Garden and The Great Western Forum – two super duper legendary venues!
Taylor jammed YYZ in Toronto with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from Rush! That was pretty much every rock drummers dream come true and to top it all off those guys were unbelievably cool. We even had Taylor’s doppelganger, pro wrestler “The Edge,” in attendance for that one. Who says our shows aren’t star studded?!?!?
posted on April 23, 2008 by Nate Mendel
Japan was grey and rainy, so waking up to the sun this morning was wonderful. We’re near a waterfront park, and I take advantage of the good weather and head down for an early morning run. The birds here are incredible and weird: pigeon-like things with giant pink heads, parrots, enormous pelicans.
Taylor, his tech Yeti, and I go out for some go karting later in the afternoon, which is alright, except that we’re not allowed to drive the fast karts without first proving ourselves on the little ones. Yeti, incredulous, attempts to persuade the pimply kid standing between us and the fast karts with a little logic, “I’m a 35 year old man, don’t you think I’m capable of riding a go kart!?” Rules, apparently, are rules, though and we’re denied. Still fun.
Next day I go for a game of golf with Ian and Beebe, which is really Nothing Left to Lose of us. The birds are squealing and yelling in the trees so loudly that it sounds like we’re on the set of a Tarzan film.
posted on April 23, 2008 by Nate Mendel
Today is so packed full of airplanes and airports that we need to get out of the hotel by 5:30 in the a.m. in order to pack in order to fit them it all in. First flight is from Narita to Hong Kong.
Passing through passport control in the Hong Kong airport Pat notices a sign asking that passengers remove the covers from their passports, and, thus, Pat discovers that there is such a thing as a passport cover, and having discovered it, decides he must have one. Once through the line he makes a beeline for the Gucci store. Because, and this is what I love, if you’re going to buy an accessory as patently useless as a passport cover, you might as well commit fully to the idea and buy the luxury brand.
We decide to have a cigarette and begin looking for a smoking section. As we get near to one, I see that it’s not so much a smoking section, but more of a glass enclosure housing a dejected looking pack of smokers milling about in a thick haze. I tell Pat I can’t do it, that I don’t need a cigarette badly enough to endure this, to which he replies, “What, can’t handle the ‘smoquarium,’ huh?”
The flight to Perth is another eight hours in the air. We get in about 11p.m., well cooked from the long day of travel.
posted on April 19, 2008 by Nate Mendel
Taking the bullet train back to Tokyo for our last full day in Japan. After arriving a few of us get together for lunch at the hotel steak house. I still can't get over the meticulous attention to detail here: they're steaming the tablecloths at the table.
After lunch Drew and I are off to another Tokyo tour staple, Kiddy Land, an enormous toy store in Shinjuku. I pick up a few things for Noah, and then we drive over to the Bathing Ape store, which I gather is famous in the hip hop community, but which I only know of through Gus having mentioned it. These guys are taking themselves pretty seriously here, despite the fact that they're really just selling Air Jordan rip offs and overpriced Gap clothing with ape face logos on them. One guy follows me around the place like I'm about to steal something, and later – come on - stops me from taking a picture. I could give a fuck about whatever commercial or style secret they're harboring. I just thought the wall of mirrors was interesting, and happened to be a little camera happy at the time . Drew does walk out of there, though, with a pretty alright pair of shoes. They're plastic and look like a Lichtenstein painting.
Later we head out for the television studio. I don't really know anything about this show, just that it's taped and there's no audience. What it's about or our role in it is anyone's guess. The lighting production is cool, though; just a wall of can lights over a black stage.
