In an interview with Warren Huart on Produce Like A Pro, recording engineer Bradley Cook looks back on engineering the Foo Fighters classic The Colour and the Shape, and working with Dave Grohl. He also revealed the very sad story behind a mysterious part of “Everlong.”
Using the song “Everlong” as an example of some of the band’s recording techniques, the two go through a number of interesting moments during the sessions. One involved Dave telling a which Huart and Cook can hear on the playback of the original tapes. Alternative Nation transcribed Cook’s comment.
“So [the] assistant Ryan Boesch told us the story that his dad would come home from his night job and when him and his brother were too loud, his dad would give him military punishment and have him hold [up] his boots at the foot of his bed. Hold them up as he slept. If he made a noise, he would make him hold his boots up.”
Listening to more of the playback, they hear Grohl saying on tape with Cook paraphrasing, ‘I would cry because the boots were so heavy.’ – Cook then adds: “They must have been little kids or something.”
As Dave is telling the story on the original tape, “Everlong” is playing in the background just as it kicks into ‘if everything could ever feel this real forever.’
