Former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman, Dave Grohl, spoke to Vulture and opened up about when late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain thought about hiring another drummer to replace him and revealed his response to the situation.
Music journalist Michael Azerrad, the writer of the best-selling Nirvana memoir ‘Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana,’ released his personal history entitled ‘My Time With Kurt Cobain.’ In one of his stories, he claimed that Kurt Cobain was yelling in a hotel room and wanted to fire Dave Grohl from Nirvana.
Dave Grohl answered this claim saying that he heard that Krist and Kurt wanted to replace him but not in a hotel room. While the band was rehearsing for their In Utero Tour, Kurt stated they needed a new drummer like Dan Peters, who they were about to hire before Grohl joined them. He revealed that he felt so sad after their comments.
Then, Grohl decided to confront his bandmates Krist and Kurt and highlight that he could leave if they wanted to find a new drummer more suitable to Nirvana’s style. However, Kurt Cobain stated that he would continue as the band’s drummer, so he played with them until they disbanded following Kurt Cobain’s death on April 5, 1994.
Grohl recalled these times saying:
“I hadn’t, and I have kind of a different version of that story. We were on our way to Los Angeles to start production rehearsals for the In Utero tour, and I was sitting a few rows ahead of Kurt and Krist. I could hear Kurt saying, ‘I think we need a drummer that’s more rudimental, along the lines of Dan Peters,’ who was the guy they almost hired when I joined the band.
I was really upset because I thought things were okay. I talked to Krist, and I said, ‘Is that really what you guys want to do? Because if that’s what you want, maybe just let me know, and we can call it a day.’ I eventually talked to Kurt about it, and he said, ‘No. That’s not what we want to do.’ I just felt like, It’s up to you guys what kind of drummer you really want, and they decided I should stay.“
In addition, Dave Grohl was named the only drummer that could stay in a band like Nirvana, which had hired six different drummers; Aaron Burckhard, Dale Crover, Dave Foster, Chad Channing, Dan Peters, and Jason Everman. No one except Dave managed to remain a long-term member, and it seems like his bandmates highly appreciated his honesty.
