Foo Fighters Created a Horror Movie. For the reason that Why Not?

In the 3 many years that Dave Grohl has been a rock star, he has recorded with the likes of Stevie Nicks and Paul McCartney, directed documentaries, executed for presidents and been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame, twice.

But this month presents a to start with: On Feb. 25, Foo Fighters are releasing “Studio 666,” a horror-comedy directed by BJ McDonnell (“Hatchet III”) and starring, properly, Foo Fighters.

Why?

“For pleasurable,” Grohl reported in a current online video job interview. As he stated, “It was under no circumstances our intention to enter the Hollywood match with this major horror movie. It just transpired.”

In the movie, which also features Whitney Cummings, Will Forte and Jeff Garlin, the band moves into a mansion, in which Grohl himself at the time basically lived, to operate on their 10th album. But songwriting proves difficult. Hoping to dig himself out of a imaginative rut, Grohl wanders all-around the household and discovers a key that infuses him with creativeness — and blood lust.

The motion picture has been in the functions given that 2019, with output paused due to the fact of the coronavirus pandemic. It is unlikely to rack up awards — “We’re not buying tuxes for the Oscars,” Grohl said — but it does give nuggets of difficult rock and gore.

Chatting from his household studio in Los Angeles about a cup of espresso, Grohl talked about the building of the movie, his thoughts on rock ‘n’ roll and a new album. These are edited excerpts from the interview.

Why did you decide to make a film?

Three yrs in the past, a good friend went to a meeting with a film studio, and our title came up. They reported, “We’ve constantly preferred to make a horror with Foo Fighters.” He texts me, and I mentioned, “That’s the stupidest thought I’ve at any time heard,” and thought very little of it.

We were composing songs for our previous file. Generally when we make a history, I’ll go into my residence studio or a demo studio by myself and just write melodies and instrumentals. So I begun looking for properties to lease exactly where I could build a temporary studio. At the same time, my landlord from 10 decades back emailed me and claimed, “Do you want to get some residence?” I stated, no, but if I could lease it, that would be great.

I commenced creating and was sending demos to our producer, and he’s like, “This seems fantastic. Let’s record there.” So I began thinking, we could make a horror movie in this creepy, previous home. I came up with this concept, introduced it to the band, and they just laughed. It snowballed from there. We hardly ever imagined we had been likely to make a function.

Are you a horror lover?

I’m no aficionado. Despite the fact that I did develop up loving a good deal of the classics. I try to remember looking through the “Amityville Horror” reserve in 1979 and then going to see the movie. And I grew up exterior of Washington, D.C., where they filmed “The Exorcist.” I was obsessed with the residence and those techniques. Which is where by all the punk rockers would hang out in the ’80s. We would sit at the base of those measures and drink beer.

“Studio 666” is also a band movie, which there really do not appear to be that a lot of of out there. Why do you feel that is?

I really don’t know. I grew up viewing rock ‘n’ roll videos. “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park.” The Ramones in “Rock ’n’ Roll Higher Faculty.” It used to be something that went hand-in-hand with an ensemble solid.

I feel the band has to not only be eager to do it, but be capable of generating exciting of themselves. We have been undertaking that for 26 a long time, so this is just a long-type version of us poking fun at being a rock band.

We have talked about a sequel and how [“Studio 666”] can be handed from band to band. Would Coldplay do a horror motion picture? Would Wu Tang? That would be remarkable.

You wrote in your memoir that you once lived in a dwelling that you thought was haunted. Did you have that in intellect while earning the movie?

I do not think it crossed around into this notion. But that property was certainly haunted. In advance of then, I by no means had any fascination with paranormal activity. Immediately after then, I do imagine this sort of factor can happen. But I also remember considering, so I shared a household with a ghost. Is it likely to kill me? No. Do the lights go on every single when in a although and you listen to footsteps? Yeah. I’ve experienced even worse roommates.

Like most groups, Foo Fighters have experienced tensions in the previous. Did that encourage the plot?

No, it didn’t. But the screenwriter came to hold out with us when we were recording [“Medicine at Midnight,” the band’s 10th album,] to get a sense for the dynamic. She just overplayed it.

Like any band, we’re like a family members. It is a romance that teeters on catastrophe in every single innovative circumstance, mainly because there’s vulnerability and insecurity. It’s not straightforward remaining a band for 26 many years. Of all that we have been via, I don’t believe any one would want to destroy a different member. We really like every single other much too a lot.

The film would make fun of rock in general, but it also pokes exciting at you: you just cannot create new music Lionel Richie yells at you. Was that fun?

There are so numerous clichés in this movie. It’s section “The Amityville Horror.” It is component “The Shining.” It is component “The Evil Lifeless.” On the musical facet, there’s the controlling guide singer that’s torturing the band, the wrestle of writer’s block.

The funniest cliché, I think, is the clapping in the residing room. Any time an engineer or producer walks into a room prior to you history, they normally clap to listen to the acoustics. I’m in this article to say it is [expletive]. That will make no variance.

Do you have a most loved scene?

I did like the round desk scene with Jeff Garlin. Doing improv get immediately after choose, you felt like you were in “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

There have been allegations that Jeff Garlin behaved inappropriately on the set of “The Goldbergs.” What was it like doing work with him?

Jeff’s seriously into audio. So most of our interaction off-camera was just talking about the bands we enjoy. I did not know about any of that stuff. We just sat all around talking about Wilco all day.

There’s a scene exactly where your supervisor says that rock hasn’t been related for a prolonged time and it requirements an infusion. Do you imagine that’s genuine? If so, what could revitalize it?

I believe it’s partially genuine. I do not think rock demands much more Satan, but I do consider it wants another youth-driven revolution. My oldest [daughter] is nearly 16. I observe her uncover songs and produce music, and this is wherever [the action is].

I assume that the up coming rock revolution will look absolutely nothing like the a person that we have seen prior to. And I’m not solely sure what that is. But it’s coming. There is so significantly to recognize. I discover a new preferred artist when a 7 days, so it’s not like the well’s operate dry.

In 2021 by yourself, you launched two albums, a documentary, a documentary collection, a memoir, a number of singles and you went on tour. What drives you to do so substantially?

Coffee. [Smiles.]

No — I just recognize all the opportunity I have. I appreciate the people that support aid these absurd ideas, and I surround myself with folks that have the exact strength. And I dislike holidays. I’m just restless. I truly feel this strange feeling of guilt when I do very little. I’m like a shark. If I stop swimming, I’ll die.

You know what I’m accomplishing now? I’m creating the misplaced album by the band Dream Widow, from [the movie], like the “Blair Witch” tapes.

Is the key song from the motion picture likely to be on it?

It is. It’s this insane opus instrumental. I grew up listening to steel, so I started using from my beloved bands as influences. For a steel history, it is truly excellent.

So you have absent from masking the Bee Gees to metal.

Pay attention, what do you get the man that has all the things?

Proper. Is there everything else coming?

Yeah … you’ll see.