St. Vincent on working with Dave Grohl: “It just lights you up to hear him play”
St. Vincent has opened up on working with Dave Grohl, saying “it just lights you up to hear him play.”
In a new series of NME’s In Conversation, St. Vincent opened up about working with the Foo Fighters frontman on her new album ‘All Born Screaming‘. Grohl contributed drums to two songs, the “gnarly” ‘Broken Man‘ and the thundering ‘Flea‘ (of which St. Vincent shared her reaction to Grohl recording drums for the track).
When asked about people she brought in as sounding boards for her new album, St. Vincent responded: “I’m so lucky to have great friends who also are great rippers. Dave Grohl is a buddy and he came into my studio and, like, everything they say is true: he’s the nicest guy in rock and the most fun hang. Like, he just drives over in his truck and because he’s so musical, he’s heard the song a few times and knows every twist and turn.
“So you just hang and smoke some Parliaments; he tells war stories, you drink some coffee and smoke more Parliaments, and then he’s like: ‘Cool, let’s go!’ And he goes in there and it’s Dave Fucking Grohl on the drums and he plays it perfectly. Man, it just lights you up to hear him play.”
St. Vincent has formed a longstanding friendship with the former Nirvana drummer, who she joined for a Nirvana reunion show back in 2014. Along with the remaining Nirvana members, Grohl’s daughter Violet and Beck, St. Vincent took to the stage in LA to perform ‘Lithium’, ‘In Bloom’, ‘Been a Son’, ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ and Nirvana’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ cover of David Bowie‘s 1970 song, ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.
She has previously opened up about Grohl’s role in her new album, particularly on her track ‘Broken Man’: “From the beginning of the song, it’s a slow-burn. The shape of the song is climbing the mountain, because it just grows and grows.
“There are essentially three drummers on the track: the first part is my programming, the second part Mark Guiliana comes in, and then at the very end of the track – just when you think it can’t get any higher – Grohl comes in with this absolute reckless spirit and just takes it to the edge.”
In the same In Conversation interview, St. Vincent also shared her thoughts on the power of Taylor Swift’s fans “change world economies” after success of ‘Cruel Summer’, which she co-wrote with Swift.
“That was crazy. I mean, I always thought in the context of that record, like, ‘That should be a single, it’s a great song’,” she began.
“And I don’t even think it was a single; it just was a fan favourite. And it’s like the fans just decided: ‘No, this is your hit song.’ Which is so wild and so modern, you know. That was just a real bonus Jonas there. And I mean, that’s one hell of a fanbase.”
When it was put to her that Swifties had been able to turn a non-single into a Number One, Clark responded: “I mean, changing world economies, let’s go!”
In other news, St. Vincent will be embarking on a 2024 UK and EU tour with Heartworms as support. Check out the dates below and get any remaining tickets here.
St Vincent’s 2024 UK and European tour dates are:
MAY
31 – SWX, Bristol (with Heartworms)
JUNE
01 – Royal Albert Hall, London (with Heartworms)
03 – Den Atelier, Luxembourg City (with Heartworms)
04 – De Roma, Antwerp (with Heartworms)
07 – Best Kept Secret, Hilvarenbeek
08 – NorthSide, Viby
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Alex Rigotti
NME
