The Foo Fighters are a modern-rock enigma.
Of course there’s the whole Nirvana thing. Aside from having been that legendary band’s drummer, Dave Grohl is also one of the biggest figures in rock ‘n’ roll today. He writes songs that are a natural fit on the FM band. He headlines arenas and amphitheaters. His albums sell in the millions.
But there’s also the prevalent thought that Grohl is getting soft, that he wrote and produced his most vital work in the few years after Kurt Cobain’s death and now he’s little more than a feed tube to corporate radio stations.
It’s true Grohl’s resume has jumped from underground hard-core drummer to righteous grunge icon to quirky rock frontman to middle-of- the-road MTV talking head in the last 20 years. But has Grohl really lost his edge?
“Some people think that we’ve devolved and that our records aren’t as good as they were back in the day, and that’s just a matter of taste,” said Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, whose band is coming to Red Rocks Amphitheatre for a Monday- Tuesday run.
“The first Foo Fighters record will always be my favorite one, because I was just a fan then. There was a real joy to that record. It was simple and fun.”
Simple and fun, recognized Hawkins, who joined the band in 1997 as it was releasing the sophomore album, “The Colour and the Shape.” Remember the band’s odd sense of humor — the sly lyrics and the funny videos mocking popular commercials and promoting odd cross-dressing opportunities?
That charm has mostly disappeared from the music in the last decade. Replacing the clever wit: big, bland arena-rock jams. The Foo Fighters are trying to sound important, and many fans dig it. A set list of their biggest hits — “All My Life,” “Times Like These,” “Best of You,” “The Pretender” and others — will fill stadiums.
But others miss the more magnetic and nuanced Foo Fighters of old.
Hawkins said that while his band has evolved, it hasn’t changed altogether.
“We’re still a garage-rock band,” Hawkins said. “When it comes down to it, we’re not Steely Dan, and we never will be. In a songwriting sense, though, Dave has evolved. His lyrical content has become a bit more direct and personal, and the song structure and arrangements have gotten a little broader and more interesting.”
Hawkins has had the advantage of watching Grohl evolve from afar. He was a fan for the first few years and records. And he’s had — and watched, from the drum riser — Grohl’s back ever since.
“When I first saw the band, they were a really raunchy, scrappy garage-rock band,” Hawkins said. “And we still are. But as a frontman, Dave’s become more comfortable. (Expletive), we just played Wembley Stadium. That’s 87,000 people a night, and he had them in the palm of his hand. That’s evolution. If you would have asked me if we could have done that six or seven years ago, I would have said, ‘No, we’re not ready for that.’ But now we are.”
The Foo Fighters, like many other recording artists, have a tendency to create sweeping rock records that could almost never be performed live in their entirety. Either the songs are too complex in instrumentation or too rich in personnel. But they won’t be playing new songs “Come Alive,” “Erase/ Replace,” “Home” or “Statues” on this tour, which is in support of 2007’s “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace” album.
“I think you make a record, and you wanna play the whole thing live because you think everything on the record is the greatest thing you’ve ever done — and I do think this is in our top three records,” Hawkins said. “But there are certain songs you just can’t do. . . . We do about half the songs on the record, including ‘The Pretender,’ ‘Long Road to Ruin,’ ‘Cheer Up Boys,’ ‘Let It Die’ and ‘But, Honestly’ — five songs from the new record, and that’s about average.”
Fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Grohl’s newfound piano skills — on display on the record in “Home” and “Statues” — will have to wait.
“(Dave) should have had a piano a long time ago,” Hawkins said. “His wife gave him a piano for his birthday two years ago, and as he was writing songs for the record, he wrote those songs on the piano, but he wasn’t going to play it.
“Dave just knows a few chords, and while they’re quite simple, they have a natural feel to it. It opens up a lot of doors melodically that are different than when you’re playing guitar. You know, John Lennon wasn’t a great piano player, but when he sat down and played ‘Imagine’ or any of those songs on the ‘Plastic Ono’ album, they were great.”
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
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Rock. Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, with Supergrass and Year Long Disaster. Monday-Tuesday. 7:30 p.m. Both shows are sold out. 303-830-8497, .
