Word: drummer
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Some kids dream about being in a rock band. Dave Grohl dreamed of being in every rock band. "As a kid, my fantasy was that I would go to a concert, any concert, and something would happen to the drummer," says Grohl, 34. "The lead singer would look out into the audience and say, 'Is there anyone out there who knows how to play our songs?' And, of course, they'd have to pick...
Since then Grohl has got dozens of calls from bands looking for an expert fill-in drummer (inexplicably, bands go through drummers as fast as drummers go through groupies) and the cachet of having a former member of Nirvana play on their album. Grohl doesn't ask for much cash, but he is moderately selective. "It's great to jam with other people; inevitably you learn something," he says. "But to make it more than just throwing Legos together to see what you can build...I try to work with people I respect...
...like to say we split up," Hayman says of Hefner. "It's just that four or five albums is enough, unless there's something really new to do." Hefner's drummer and guitarist are pursuing solo projects, while Hayman and bassist John Morrison are the French. Why call a band the French? Hayman, who grew up in Essex, explains that due to the antipathy his countrymen have for their neighbors across the Channel, "it's a kind of litmus test of my audience." His audience - somewhere between big cult and the bottom of the pop charts - will be relieved...
...doubt only partly true, as the video features the band in yeti costumes and blond wigs rocking out in a 21/2-minute glam-rock stomp. "We wanted to write a head-banging tune. You enjoy an incredible sense of freedom when you head-bang," says Rhys. "And a headache," offers drummer Dafydd Ieuan. Their tank is long gone - it was sold to Eagles frontman Don Henley - but Phantom Power shows the Super Furries haven't let up. The band even spent a day firing AK-47s and Uzis in a field just to get the right effects. Says Rhys...
...record companies didn't make things easy, either. "It's like they kept pouring buckets of cold water over our heads," says Yip Sai-wing, 39, Beyond's drummer. "We wrote a lot of songs for them, but they'd always say the songs wouldn't work. Some wouldn't even listen to our songs. They'd just take a look at us and reject us on the spot. We had to make a lot of compromises to meet their requests. We attracted a wide public [later] ... then we were able to slowly turn back to doing what we wanted...