Dave Grohl, Pat Smear + Krist Novoselic Still Have Private Nirvana Jams
Foo Fighters have been reluctant to revisit Nirvana material live over the years, saving it for only truly special occasions. But that doesn't mean that the living members of Nirvana haven't revisited their past work without an audience.
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM's Howard Stern Show, Foo Fighters guitarist and Nirvana alum Pat Smear revealed, "Every once in a while me and Krist and Dave get together and we do play as if we're Nirvana, so I don't have to miss it. We do it. If we're in the same town together or whatever, let's get together and jam."
Grohl revealed that they had recent taped one of their jam sessions that occurred at the house where the Foo Fighters had been recording their Medicine at Midnight album and brief soundless footage can be seen in the video of the interview below.
Despite the occasional jam sessions, Nirvana remains a subject not easy to breach for either musician. They both address that it's too painful to revisit listening to the old records. "It just makes me sad," said Smear.
But given Nirvana's popularity, it's often hard to completely avoid the music. Grohl recalled, “There are times where you’re driving in a car and a song will come on. Last night, my daughter Harper, she’s 11, she says, ‘Dad, can we just go drive around?’ We just drove around, drove around in Hollywood, and ‘Come as You Are’ came on the radio and she started singing. She sang every word."
Grohl added, “I never played that record. We don’t talk about Nirvana and stuff, and she’s singing every word of the song. That, to me, that feels good.”
He added that Harper just started asking about his time in the band. "It was a trip,” Dave said. “She wanted to know if Kurt was shy, I think. I said, ‘Yeah, he kind of was.’”
Pat Smear + Dave Grohl Discuss Nirvana With Howard Stern on SiriusXM