"There’s injustice, and so much hate and fear, and it’s such a drag." Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl says it's difficult not to feel angry and disillusioned about the state of America in 2026
Dave Grohl on his "deeply divided" homeland
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Dave Grohl has reflected on the state of America in 2026, and admitted that he doesn't like what he sees.
In a new interview with The Irish Times, the Foo Fighters leader acknowledges that there's much about his homeland that's distressing at the present time.
Asked by journalist Lauren Murphy if it's difficult not to feel angry and disillusioned when looking at America, Grohl says, "Yeah, of course. It’s hard not to feel political living in America, where we’re deeply divided. And there’s injustice, and there’s so much hate and fear, and it’s such a drag."
"I try to love everyone," he adds, "because I think that’s what you’re supposed to do - and I do. But there needs to be change in that direction, and it’s been hard to find in the States."
Grohl freely admits that his band, and their music, serves as therapy for him in challenging times.
"I really do rely on it," he says. "There are times where I’ll write something that I have a hard time saying in conversation, and the end result is something real that you wind up singing every night. It just feels good to fucking scream that shit sometimes, you know?"
Earlier this year, Grohl spoke in depth for the first time about the loss of his best friend and bandmate Taylor Hawkins, and the impact of his death.
Hawkins passed away on March 25, 2022 in his room at the Four Seasons Casa Medina hotel in Bogotá, Colombia, ahead of Foo Fighters' scheduled headline appearance at the Estéreo Picnic festival. Colombian authorities never issued an official cause of death for the 50-year-old drummer, but a preliminary toxicology test indicated that Hawkins had 10 substances in his system at the time of his death, including opioids, benzodiazepines, anti-depressants and THC.
"The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins," the band said in a statement issued following Hawkins' death. "His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever."
Four years on, Grohl admits that he still has "a hard time making sense" of the tragedy.
"Losing Taylor was never meant to be," he tells MOJO magazine. "That threw our world upside down and made me question everything about life... It was so unfair.”
The new Foo Fighters album, Your Favorite Toy, will be released via Roswell Records/Columbia Records on April 24.
Grohl has described the album as a "powder keg", and its a collection that has helped his band regain their footing after it felt that their world had crumbled beneath their feet.
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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.
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