Dave Grohl turned to his mother after his bandmate Kurt Cobain committed suicide. The Foo Fighters frontman played drums in genre-defining group Nirvana alongside Kurt until his suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1994.
Dave’s mother Virginia met the late musician’s mum Wendy plenty of times while both men were in the band and during an interview on Wednesday night’s (26Apr17) The Late Show with Stephen Colbert she recalled how Kurt’s death impacted her bond with her own son.
“I think it did,” she commented when asked by the host on whether Kurt’s passing changed things in the family. “It was such a dark, sad time. And David came home after that so we all sort of had to regroup. We talked a lot… We’ve always talked, we’ve always been able to say everything to each other. But that was a particularly sort of incredible time. It’s hard to express.”
Dave, 48, added that whenever he felt overwhelmed by the world he’d return home to his parents’ house back in Springfield, Virginia, and spend time in his old bedroom and hang out with school friends to relax.
Virginia has documented life as a rockstar’s mum in her new book From Cradle to Stage: Stories From the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars, which she released earlier this month. The tome also features interviews with the mothers of Pharrell Williams, Adam Levine and Amy Winehouse.
“She’s been on tour more than most rock moms I know,” Dave said of his parent. “She’s perfectly comfortable on the road. I give her a laminate, play a gig and come back to the dressing room and she’s having a beer with Green Day.”
Virginia also fondly noted that she always knew her boy would be an entertainer thanks to his “goofy” and charismatic personality, recalling how excited she was when he first embarked on a big tour with his early band Scream.