Read this: Dave Grohl almost joined GWAR before his Nirvana days
Grohl told Rolling Stone he even designed his GWAR outfit
Music Features Nirvana
Dave Grohl has given hundreds of interviews throughout the years with stories of his music beginnings (and even made his own documentary), but there’ll now be a more extensive look at his pre-Nirvana days with his debut memoir, The Storyteller. The memoir isn’t out until October 5, but to promote the book, Grohl expanded on his early career memories to Rolling Stone. One of the biggest surprises? Well, it turns out that before joining one of the biggest acts of the ‘90s, Grohl nearly joined a very, very different kind of band.
GWAR were looking for a drummer. And I talked to their guitar player Dewey about it. And he’s like, it’s great, and you get to design your own costume. As drummer, you don’t want something that covers your face fully. You want your arms to be free. So I was like cool. So I started kind of drawing this thing.
Grohl doesn’t describe what his GWAR outfit would’ve looked like, but the band’s drummer Jizmak Da Gusha typically plays with his chest and arms exposed, so the band’s monstrous getup won’t get in the way of his drumming. Grohl’s own design was likely not too far off (though it’s difficult to imagine Grohl wearing Da Gusha’s loincloth).
GWAR had already amassed a sizable fanbase, so that was appealing to Grohl, who’d been in small punk bands but hadn’t gotten his big break yet. “At the time GWAR was a band that would draw like 700 people, right? Which is huge,” he recalls. But the band’s whole gruesome schtick isn’t quite family friendly. “Then the more I thought about it, am I really gonna invite my uncle to see me play when there’s like fake blood and cum shooting all over the place?”
It’s nearly impossible to imagine an alternate timeline where instead of drumming for Nirvana and becoming one of the world’s most renowned rock musicians, Grohl would’ve been hidden behind a mask playing to a vastly different audience. But come to think of it, Grohl would’ve been great at drumming on Scumdogs Of The Universe.
28 Comments
Imagine Jizmak Da Gusha fronting the Foo Fighters
WAY ahead of you.
Damn the Foo Fighters just got a lot less boring!
Wearing that mask with a black tshirt and some dad-jeans.
Theyd be a way cooler band with the jizmak
I didn’t know you played the drums, Nilus.
Whatever Grohl’s GWAR get-up may have been, it’s difficult to believe it could be more nightmare-inducing than thishttps://giphy.com/gifs/dave-grohl-do-want-yzGuaUByxRtpm
I think you mean BONER-inducing!
Should I look at this at work?
Dave Grohl has indeed given a lot of interviews.
Gwar has some great songs, but my perfect universe is one where I always feel as alive as I do listening to “Crush, Kill, Destroy.”I gave Dave Grohl’s could pull off that opening drum-roll. I guess.
I don’t think it’s so difficult to imagine Grohl wearing Da Gusha’s loincloth.
Not surprising as Dave is from N. VA and Gwar is from Richmond, VA, about a 90-minutes drive down the road. I had high school buddies that went to art school at Virginia Commonwealth University and hung out with those guys a few times. Also, the lead singer for GWAR was from Fairfax, VA which is right next to Springfield, VA where Dave was from and playing in Scream. I am pretty sure they crossed paths a time or 2.
The VA music scene was incredibly tight in the mid-late 90’s so I would believe that they knew each other pretty well
As a former Springfield and VCU art school attendee, this post gave me all the nostalgia. (Lol we prolly know each other in real life) I had a high school friend/acquaintance obsessed with GWAR!
I was from further out in Manassas. My buddies went there ‘87-’92. One still lives down there and the other out in AZ.
I don’t care whether or not this is relevant to the story, this deserves to be seen.
Nothing against Grohl, but I’d trade a hundred of him to get Lemmy back.
Same
“there’s like fake blood and cum shooting all over the place?”Is this accurate??? I thought GWAR was about wearing costumes and yelling “GWAR” a lot.
They certainly used to do the fluids thing back in the day. I don’t know these days given no original members remain.
First 3 rows of a GWAR concert get super super messy. They ruined my favorite coat when I was in college.Totally worth it though.
I thought GWAR was about wearing costumes and yelling “GWAR” a lot. Nope. Blood and cum. Lots of blood and a sizable amount of cum.
I remember my first GWAR show. This was back when Slymenstra Hymen was still with the band and, as I made my way up to the front, she lifted her leg and shot what seemed like a gallon of “menstrual blood” directly into my face.
It was a great, goddamn show
Dedicated fans wear brand new white t-shirts to Gwar shows so they can best showcase the stains from the various fluids sprayed at the crowd.
They used to spray a lot of fluids into the audience- it was welcome because it was mostly colored water, which helped cool down the mosh pit. As an added bonus, you would get a lot of stares when you stopped off someplace to eat after a show and your clothes were covered in fake blood.
I definitely make musical decisions based on whether or not I’d invite my uncle to see a show
Like most of our uncles, his was super into cutting edge, noise/hardcore influenced alternative hard rock, but NOT METAL.