Rolling Stone has an amazing new feature called Musicians on Musicians - in which two artists interview each other. Previous episodes have had Billie Eilish with Green Day's Billie Joe Armstong, St Vincent and Kirk Hamett, and Lenny Kravitz with HER. In the latest installment - Rolling Stone had two drummers turned front men - Dave Grohl and Ringo Starr sit down together ... in a bath tub of course .. to discuss their craft, dealing with losing bandmates, and finding a new career after their original bands.
The two have a bit of history - Grohl spoke at the release of Starr’s first photography book and Starr took photos for the Foo Fighters 2014 album Sonic Highways. Grohl also admits that the first musical instrument he taught himself to play was guitar - using a Beatles chord book.
The two also got extremely candid in opening up to each other about the loss of their close friends and musical collaborators John Lennon and Kurt Cobain.
When Starr was asked what he thought of Nirvana, he responded
“Absolutely great, and the man himself [Cobain] had so much emotion. That’s what I loved. I’m an emotional guy. No one can doubt Nirvana, ever. And who knew he’d end up where he ended up. I don’t think anyone who listened to music with any courage could doubt him, ’cause he was courageous.I don’t know the end story, and it’s not about him, and we lose a lot of people in our business early … This is the famous 27-year syndrome. A lot of them went by 27, like it’s that number—what, had they got it all in by then? Or maybe that’s just the way God planned it; I don’t know"
Grohl discussed his dealings with Cobain's passing:
“Well, I realized when Kurt died that there’s no right or wrong way to grieve. It takes funny turns. You’ll be numb. You’ll remember the good things, then you’ll turn and remember some dark times. I stayed away from music for a while. I wouldn’t even turn on the radio. And then I eventually realized that music was the one thing that actually made me feel better. And music was gonna help me through that. So I started writing songs and recording them by myself.”
Starr recalled Lennon's death:
“I well up every time I think [about it]—he’s talking about me. He says [imitates Lennon], ‘Hey, Ringo, this’d be great for you.’ And I can’t help myself. I’m emotional now thinking of him 40 years ago talking about me on his tape and thinking of me. The four of us were great friends with a couple of side issues. And it was far out. So anyway, I didn’t know how to act. And then I got back to L.A., and I grieved, and then of course you always go through the grief."
Starr goes on to explain that the song “Grow Old With Me” from his new album, What’s My Name, was one of the last songs Lennon wrote before his death
Check out the whole interview HERE
