Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities ("It's a piece of cake! Just do 4 hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!") I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I've recorded and can't wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child.
This certainly doesn't mean that I'm quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it's like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the …
Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities ("It's a piece of cake! Just do 4 hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!") I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I've recorded and can't wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child.
This certainly doesn't mean that I'm quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it's like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway around the world for one epic night with my daughters…the list goes on. I look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a little sharper for you with much excitement.
I found the book particularly interesting for the early years in David’s career and the awesome musicians he met and played with along the way. The prose is simple and it sometimes feels like he tried too hard to be polite and avoided raising waves - a solid contrast to Dave Mustaine’s autobiography I’ve read long ago. The Nirvana era takes about one chapter - you’ll probably find other better suited books if that’s what you’re looking for.
“I have never been one to collect “stuff,” I do collect moments.” ― Dave Grohl, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music
Dave collected a lot of moments in his life and happily shared a lot of them in this book. It's mostly anecdotal and he explains his journey and choices. Very interesting and fun to read. He isn't as reflective as I would have wished, and doesn't mentioned real fuck ups and the learnings from that. I know, it's hard to reflect on oneself.
The main take-away is that Dave is a unique being and is enjoying his life living it on his own term. And that's inspiring.
Highly recommend the audio book as he narrates it himself!
What can I say about The Storyteller by @DavesTrueStories?
As a lifelong fan of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, as someone who lived and breathed grunge, punk and heavy metal as it were the words I couldn't say to anyone, that the beat of the music called to my fragile and scared soul? I looked to my music heroes as the reasons I could get through every day because they knew me? I had to hear Dave Grohl's stories so rather than choose a physical copy, I opted to have the full adaptation narrated by the man himself.
Because if I'm going to learn some stories of my hero, I wanted to hear him tell me them as if in a conversation. I wasn't left disappointed by my choice either as it gave each of the recollections an intimacy that I thought would be missed in me alone reading The …
What can I say about The Storyteller by @DavesTrueStories?
As a lifelong fan of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, as someone who lived and breathed grunge, punk and heavy metal as it were the words I couldn't say to anyone, that the beat of the music called to my fragile and scared soul? I looked to my music heroes as the reasons I could get through every day because they knew me? I had to hear Dave Grohl's stories so rather than choose a physical copy, I opted to have the full adaptation narrated by the man himself.
Because if I'm going to learn some stories of my hero, I wanted to hear him tell me them as if in a conversation. I wasn't left disappointed by my choice either as it gave each of the recollections an intimacy that I thought would be missed in me alone reading The Storyteller. That is the true wonder of the way the book is written, you could be sitting in a bar, or recording studio etcetera with a good whisky listening to Dave Grohl tell you about his childhood and how a nerdy teenager had his heart broken, or how the man many look too for his prowess on drums and guitar only had one lesson on drums and it was both expensive and agitated him.
Each recollection let's you see the man behind the image of a true rock and roll legend who played a two hour concert with a broken leg, the energetic drummer who helped bring Kurt's writing to life alongside Krist or the father of three girls who are clearly his everything.
I laughed at the idea of Grohl playing before a packed jazz club as a teenager despite not knowing how to properly play the drums, of his plans for revenge over a broken heart and so many humorous tales. I guarantee you will too... because some are so ludicrous you won't believe that they're true.
April 5th 1994 was the day my fifteen year old heart broke. A date that is held in the memory of every lost child who had found comfort in the music of Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Hammerbox etcetera, as it was the day a 27 year old Kurt Cobain died and Dave's retelling of that awful time left me with red eyes from crying and that ache in my chest that was there in 1994 and again as more of my heroes struggled with their demons and lost. I felt truly honoured that we were given such a brief and raw insight into his memories of that day and I tell you now, chapter twelve is when you're going to need tissues.
From his teenage adventures in the summer months, to travelling around the world both as a poor musician living on dreams, and a global music star living on those same dreams.. To his daughter learning the piano with Paul McCartney and those same little girls having a bedtime story from Joan Jett? The Storyteller is a book for any true fan of Dave Grohl.
I'm so glad that lockdown made him bored enough to make the initial instagram to writing this book because I loved every moment of his story time and the reminder that even are heroes are just people too.
