Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament and Seattle drummer Richard Stuvered (Fastbacks/RNDM) discussed Dave Grohl transformation from Nirvana drummer to Foo Fighters frontman in a new Pearl Jam Radio special. Ament went as far as to call Grohl a ‘superstar.’
Richard said, “I have always appreciated Grohl, the transformation he sort of made from drummer to songwriter. I don’t really fancy going that far with it.”
Jeff responded with his own take on Grohl, “You mean being a mega world hit superstar.”
Jeff and Richard then laughed, and Richard discussed wanting to strengthen his own songwriting.
Richard said, “Yeah, right. I think he was pretty humble in the early days, with his first record. I kind of feel like okay, maybe I’ll get a little more serious about writing.”
Ament responded, “I mean the great thing is I think when any of us are trying on the other hats of people in a band, whether it’s writing songs or playing instruments that you’re not comfortable with, I think it gives you an appreciation.”
“If somebody brings in a complete song, you can sort of look at it from a songwriter’s standpoint. Then you’re not necessarily playing drums the way that someone who just loves like Neil Peart, who just wants to shred all the time.”
He added, “You can sort of dial it back and go, ‘I really need to serve the song in this part, and play something really simple.'”
