Dave Grohl said he finally decided to release the new Foo Fighters album Medicine at Midnight as a result of his online drum battles with a 10-year-old girl.

The record had been delayed as a result of coronavirus restrictions, which robbed the band of the chance to mark its 25th anniversary with a back-to-basics tour. Grohl’s instinct was to keep the release on hold until the band could tour to support it – until he enjoyed the experience of trading performances with Nandi Bushell in a series of videos.

“It felt strange to wait, because every album we’ve ever made, the energy of completing an album, mixing it and mastering it, having these new songs under your belt, it just rolls right over into hitting the road and taking the new music to the stage,” he told Kerrang! in a new interview. “This time it’s gone. That process is just broken. It’s severed right there.”

He continued: “I guess over time I just realized that [touring] is not the only reason that we do this. We make these songs to be heard. ... The thing that inspired me the most to release this album was that drum battle I had with Nandi. More than just some back-and-forth between two musicians, this battle of technical proficiency, it was spreading joy and happiness. People would turn on their computer or phone and for three and a half minutes they would smile because a 10-year-old girl was kicking my fucking ass in a drum battle. To me, that’s what the world needed.”

Watch Dave Grohl and Nandi Bushell's Drum Battle

Grohl added that "every day you pick up your telephone and you think, ​‘Oh, God, what is it now? What’s next?’ You’re just waiting for this bad news. But this exchange that she and I were having did nothing but bring happiness and joy to people. I thought, ​‘That’s done entirely remotely, so why can’t our music do the same? Why can’t we put the record out and hopefully it’ll give people that same feeling? Why can’t we do that now?’ And so we did.”

Medicine at Midnight comes out Friday.

 

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