Dave Grohl says US President Barack Obama is a “a rocker, he’s cool”.
The Foo Fighters frontman interviewed the head of state for Sonic Highways, the TV documentary accompanying the album of the same name, which is released on Monday (November 10).
Speaking to NME for a major feature in this week’s issue, which is on newsstands and available digitally from tomorrow (November 5), Grohl says he made a “wish list” of all the people he hoped to interview, and Obama was included.
Asked what it was like to interview Obama, Grohl said: “We had met before a few times and he’s genuinely cool. He’s musically inclined. He’s very into Stevie Wonder, The Beatles and the Stones. He’s a rocker, he’s cool.”
Grohl also spoke about the interviewees he didn’t manage to secure, which included Patti Smith and Carole King. Grohl said: “Patti Smith. She’s a hero of mine. Carole King; she’s an American icon. Just a few, not too many, but there were some that I was afraid to contact, too. I thought, ‘Wow, you know, I have to talk to Dylan,’ but I haven’t called him yet… I figured that once I got the president, I could maybe get Dylan, but I think he may be the harder one to get!”
Grohl dedicated Foo Fighters song ‘My Hero’ to Obama at the Democratic National Convention on September 6, 2012. Grohl’s band took to the stage during the party’s annual gathering, held that year in Charlotte, North Carolina, to perform a special two-song acoustic set. Later in the evening, Obama would accept his party’s nomination to run for a second term as President.
Foo Fighters’ eighth album, ‘Sonic Highways’, will be released on November 10. As previously revealed to NME, Eagles’ Joe Walsh, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen are among the guests who feature on the record.
Sonic Highways, the documentary which takes viewers behind the scenes as Foo Fighters record their new album in different studios around America, began airing in the UK on October 26. The eight-episode series is being split between BBC Four and BBC iPlayer, with episodes three to six available exclusively online. The final two episodes will be shown on BBC Four.