This Is a Call

‘Someone called and said Kurt died. I just f*****g lost it.’

He has sold over 40 million albums. He's been in bands that have changed popular music forever. He saw his best friend commit suicide. He starts supergroups. He's the nicest guy in rock. From a bandmate's suicide to drug abuse, from Washington DC to California, Paul Brannigan gives an unparalleled, intimate and extraordinary account of the life and times of Dave Grohl.

In 1990, little-known punk-metal upstarts Nirvana added a new drummer to the band. They were soon to become a global phenomenon – but as we all know, things went wrong. Dave's friend Kurt, frontman of Nirvana, took his own life, plunging the band and their future into chaos. His friends' grief was mirrored by worldwide sorrow to an unprecedented degree. Defying expectations, a knack that was soon to become his trademark, Grohl refused to see it as the end. In 1995 his new band, the Foo Fighters, rose to join the pantheon of rock deities. The ‘wonder years’ were by no means calm. The spotlit existence imposed by his celebrity status, the bellowed vilification by his critics and his high-speed lifestyle proved a dangerous cocktail. Grohl has been through some of the darkest lows and most dazzling highs that life can offer.

Dave's feelings about these events have never fully been revealed to the public. Never before has an author had such intimate access to this extraordinary man. Paul Brannigan, his friend and confidant, now brings to light this unique portrait of Dave Grohl: the man who changed music forever.

Author Biography

Paul Brannigan has a professional relationship with Dave Grohl stretching back almost 15 years: “I consider you a friend,” Grohl told Brannigan when the pair last spent time together in Los Angeles. The former Editor of Kerrang! – the world's biggest weekly music magazine – Brannigan's writing on punk rock, grunge and hard rock have also appeared in the world renowned Q and Mojo magazines.