Just because you’re an insanely wealthy musician with a long and storied career does not mean you have to ditch some of life’s littlest and most humble pleasures – like, say, getting weekday drunk on pre-payday piss in a dirty car park with a fellow insanely wealthy musician with a long and storied career. Y’know, normal behaviour of the common man.
The Foo Fighters new album ‘Concrete & Gold‘ sports a long list of guest stars who lent their talents to the recording, but (arguably) the most surprising of the lot is Justin Timberlake.
What’s even more surprising is that the cameo apparently came about thanks in large part to Grohl and Timberlake’s developed habit of getting absolutely bent out of shape on whiskey in a car park.
A sprawling new profile on Grohl and the Foo Fighters in Rolling Stone has revealed how the Timberlake cameo came about, thanks to the band’s decision to record in a large commercial recording space for the first time since 2002.
Among the other artists using the sprawling EastWest Studios at the same time as the Foo Fighters was Timberlake, who would often pop into the Foos recording sessions to see what was going on. A few wee drams later, Timberlake plucked up the courage to pop the guest star question:
Then there was the day Justin Timberlake dropped by. He listened to what the Foos were doing and liked what he heard, and pretty soon he and Grohl were hanging out regularly. “We’d drink whiskey in the parking lot,” Grohl says. “He was really, really cool. Then the night before his last day, he says, ‘Can I sing on your record? I don’t want to push it, but – I just want to be able to tell my friends.’ ” So the band had him add some “la la la’s” to one track. “He nailed it,” Grohl says. “I’m telling you – the guy’s going somewhere.”
So there you have it. It’s not just you sinking tins working up the moxie to ask to do gang vocals on yr mate’s band’s new EP. That awkwardness goes all the way to the top, baby.
Pop your eyes around the full feature, which totally rules, over at Rolling Stone.
