Dave Grohl: The ‘Sonic Highways’ Exit Interview

“I haven’t had too many reflective moments in the past eight months,” Dave Grohl tells Rolling Stone a day before the finale of his musical travelogue series Sonic Highways.

Even though the Foo Fighters frontman has been traveling to eight U.S. cities, including Austin, Los Angeles and New Orleans, to spotlight their respective musical histories, Grohl is already thinking about his next, as-yet-unrevealed project.

But with the premiere of the TV series’ last episode and the band’s 165-minute show at New York’s Irving Plaza Friday night, Grohl took some time to discuss Sonic Highways‘ reception, reveal his Smithsonian dreams and respond to criticisms of the band’s recently released album.

In interviews — as on the show — Grohl comes off more earnest everyman than debauched rock star; the son of a Washington, D.C. reporter who says it’s “written in my DNA that I like to sit down and talk to people and their experiences.” The singer shared his experiences to Rolling Stone.

When you first conceived Sonic Highways, were you nervous about how it would be received? How much was it about pleasing Foo Fighters fans versus people just interested in the musical history of each city?
I never questioned [the reception]. I thought, “This is something that people will appreciate whether they like the Foo Fighters or not. This is something that will hopefully inspire people to fall in love with music just as all of these people [on the show] did.” So I wasn’t nervous or scared, but I had no fuckin’ idea how much work it would be.

I could imagine it and see it in my head and I knew what I wanted to accomplish. But I really didn’t see the big picture or the scope of the entire project until months ago when we edited the first episode. I thought, “Oh my God, we did it!” and someone said, “You have seven more.” They just kept coming. The amount of information and stories and how inspiring everybody is just swept me off my feet and I couldn’t be happier, or any more sleep-deprived. I don’t really know if I knew what I was getting myself into.

You had already directed a full-length documentary, Sound City. What did you learn from that you could apply to the show?
I’m always learning. You know I have no idea what I’m doing, right? I didn’t take lessons for this. I don’t know how to read music. I didn’t take lessons to play guitar or drums. I dropped out of high school. What do I know? If I gathered all of these people [interviewed on the show] at a table for dinner and we sat down and talked about our lives musically, the histories of the cities where we came from, the culture and how it affected us as people, it would be almost the same thing. At the end of the night, we would come to a conclusion and that would be the song.

“I’m always learning. You know I have no idea what I’m doing, right?”

The vibe of many interviews feels like two musicians talking shop.
When I sit down to interview people, I don’t hold questions and I don’t know the answers.  They’re more like conversations that become lessons. You just keep chasing the carrot and thinking, “I’m gonna get it. I’m gonna get it.” You never get it. When you’re sitting face to face with Dolly Parton, you’re not thinking of putting a song together or an editing booth. You’re just looking at Dolly Parton and saying, “Oh my God. I can’t believe I’m sitting on her tour bus now.” It’s tunnel vision.

But there’s still a music nerd element to the show. Was that conscious or more a byproduct of each episode?
One of the things I learned doing all these interviews is that all the musicians [on the show] are music nerds. It begins with this spark of inspiration that snowballs into a passion and life direction. Everyone is connected by that same feeling. There aren’t too many people that decided, “Well, I don’t think I’m going to become an accountant; I think I’ll be a rock musician.” It’s something that burns inside of them. When you get two musicians together talking about music, it’s easy. If I had to go interview someone about the automobile industry, it just wouldn’t work.