NEWS
Dave Grohl has shared that he was completely unaware his daughter Violet had secured a record deal until she casually told him over dinner.
The legendary rocker has been making the rounds with interviews as Foo Fighters get ready to drop their 12th studio album ‘Your Favorite Toy’ on April 24, a project Grohl says is packed with “noisy, loud bangers” that capture a feeling of “the old days”.
Speaking during a recent appearance on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X, the frontman opened up about his teenage daughter Violet stepping into her own music career, admitting he played no role in creating her material.
The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter began releasing new music last month, including the David Lynch-inspired ‘What’s Heaven Without You’, which arrived last week to mark the first anniversary of the iconic filmmaker’s passing.
She followed that by confirming she had signed with Republic Records / Island EMI and would soon release two new tracks, ‘Thum’ and ‘Applefish’.
Moyles mentioned to Grohl that her music had recently been selected as ‘Record Of The Week’ on Radio X, prompting the Foo Fighters frontman to speak proudly about her work.
“This is amazing. So Violent, my daughter, she’s 19, about to turn 20, she made this album with a producer named Justin Raisen, and she did it on her own,” he said. “She connected with the producer, they were in the studio every day, and she would send me songs once they were done. But I had absolutely nothing to do with this record at all.”
He added that although he would have loved to be more involved, he did not realize how far things had progressed until she sat him down and told him herself.
“I had no idea. I knew she was looking to sign a record deal, and she was like, ‘Hey dad, can I come over for dinner tonight?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, sure. What do you want me to make?’ And she came over and told me, like, ‘I signed my record deal today.’ I’m just like, ‘Oh my God!’ So, I’m totally uninvolved,” he continued. “I’m the dad who wants to be there and know everything. And she’s just totally doing her own thing. It’s amazing.”
Grohl went on to praise Violet’s upcoming album as “amazing” and said she is “so incredibly talented and has such great taste in music”.
He also shared that watching her create new music ended up inspiring him while working on the latest Foo Fighters record.
“It really did. The way that they made that record and the energy of it, I was like, ‘Oh, man. I’ve just been inspired by my daughter’s debut album.’ It’s cool,” he explained.
Back in late 2024, reports surfaced that Violet had been working on her debut solo album with Raisen, whose credits include Kim Gordon, Charli XCX, and Sky Ferreira. Grohl has also previously said he would love to feature on her first record.
They have collaborated before, releasing a cover of ‘Nausea’, originally by Los Angeles punk band X, in 2021.
She first joined Foo Fighters on tour in 2018, contributing backing vocals at several shows. She later appeared at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in 2022, and after featuring on the band’s 2023 track ‘Show Me How’, she joined them onstage at that year’s Glastonbury to perform it.
Last year, the remaining members of Nirvana, Dave, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, reunited for a four-song set at the Fire Aid benefit concert in Los Angeles, with Violet taking on lead vocals for ‘All Apologies’.
As for Foo Fighters, the band revealed details of their 12th studio album ‘Your Favorite Toy’ on Thursday, February 19, alongside its powerful title track. In a four-star review, NME called the song a “futureproof rock beast” that is “snarlingly unapologetic”.
The album is set for release on April 24 and follows 2023’s ‘But Here We Are’. It will also include last year’s track ‘Asking For A Friend’.
Since announcing the new record, Grohl has admitted it was “really complicated” to move forward after the sudden death of Taylor Hawkins in 2022, and said he has often felt like each album could have been their last.
The band are preparing for a run of major stadium shows across the UK and Europe this year, along with North American dates later in the summer and autumn. They have also confirmed an Australia and New Zealand tour scheduled for 2026 and 2027. Tickets are available here.
Over the past week, Foo Fighters have performed their new single ‘Your Favorite Toy’ live for the first time on The Graham Norton Show and announced a string of surprise gigs across London, Dublin and Manchester.
They launched the run in Dublin on Monday, February 23, using the intimate show to debut unreleased material from the upcoming album. The London date is set for tonight, Wednesday February 25, followed by Manchester on Friday, February 27.
NEWS
Harry Styles paid tribute to the late David Hockney and reflected on his time in One Direction last night (June 12), as he kicked off his record-breaking residency at Wembley Stadium.
Hockney – whose painting of Styles was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in 2023 – died on June 11, aged 88, and the musician honoured him during his set by sharing a quote from the painter on the big screens.
“What an artist is trying to do for people is bring them closer to something, because of course art is about sharing,” the quote read. “You wouldn’t be an artist unless you wanted to share an experience, a thought.”
Styles’ gig last night marked the first of 12 gigs at Wembley, which will see the star break the record for the most shows at the venue in a single tour. Coldplay previously held the record, delivering 10 gigs at the stadium last year as part of their Music Of The Spheres tour.
The London residency follows the Together, Together tour beginning in Amsterdam in May, and will be followed by stops in São Paulo, Mexico City, New York, Melbourne and Sydney. He will be supported by a different artist in each city, joined by Shania Twain in London, who delivered a set of hits and new tracks from her upcoming album, ‘Little Miss Twain’.
As the sounds of Simon And Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ played over the stadium PA, Styles made his way to the stage, kicking off his set with ‘Are You Listening Yet?’, from his latest album, ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally’. Between renditions of ‘Golden’ and ‘Adore You’, he addressed the crowd for the first time, saying: “Our job tonight is to entertain you. Your job is to have as much fun as you possibly can.
“If you want to sing, if you want to dance, please feel free. Please feel free to be whoever it is you’ve always wanted to be tonight. We’ve got each other’s backs.”
Throughout the night, Styles subtly reworked some of the songs on the setlist. He dedicated ‘Taste Back’ “to all the ravers in the house”, as a snippet of Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ was interpolated into the song, while a brief burst of Talking Heads’ ‘This Must Be The Place’ was introduced to ‘Treat People With Kindness’. During ‘Dance No More’, the pop star’s band played part of the groove from Happy Mondays’ ‘Step On’, while Styles sang a snatch of Gorillaz’s ‘Clint Eastwood’.
There were also nods to Styles’ days in One Direction early in the set. As the musician left the stage after ‘Fine Line’, the string section on stage played a medley featuring clips of the group’s hits ‘Night Changes’ and ‘History’, plus Styles’ own track ‘Falling’. After ‘Keep Driving’, he took the time to reflect on Wembley’s connections to his and the boyband’s journeys.
“Just outside of this building, just next door, is Wembley Arena, and 16 years ago, my sister brought me to London for the very first time for my X Factor audition,” he said. “So driving here today, and any time I come through Wembley, means so much to me, ‘cause right in that building next door, I was put into a band. We were called One Direction.
The Together, Together setlist features a different surprise song each night at the start of the encore. Last night, Styles treated the Wembley audience to ‘Little Freak’, taken from ‘Harry’s House’, for the first time since 2023. After the song, he spoke to the audience for the final time, saying: “I don’t know if you’ve been listening to me for a week, or a month, or a year, or five years, or 10 years, or 16 years, or whatever it is, but you have changed my life over and over again. Thank you so much for being here and allowing us to do these shows. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
“Finally, 16 years ago, my mother signed me up for the X Factor without my knowledge. I wouldn’t be here today if she hadn’t done that. She’s here today – thank you so much. You’ve changed my life, all of you.” Referencing a lyric in ‘Dance No More’, he added: “Remember – respect your mother.”
‘Are You Listening Yet?’
‘Golden’
‘Adore You’
‘Watermelon Sugar’
‘Music From A Sushi Restaurant’
‘Taste Back’
‘Coming Up Roses’
‘Fine Line’
‘Italian Girls’
‘American Girls’
‘Keep Driving’
‘Ready, Steady, Go!’
‘Dance No More’
‘Treat People With Kindness’
‘Pop’
‘Season 2 Weight Loss’
‘Carla’s Song’
‘Aperture’
‘Little Freak’
‘Sign Of The Times’
‘As It Was’
The Together, Together, London residency continues at Wembley Stadium tonight, with further dates on June 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 27, 29 and July 1, 3, and 4. Visit here for any remaining UK tickets and check out doors and stage times here.
The gigs will see Styles donate £1 from every ticket sold to LIVE’s levy to help protect UK grassroots music venues and support emerging talent, and before Styles’ headline performance, the big screens at the venue encouraged fans to support Music Venues Trust.
The tour is in support of the star’s latest album, ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally’, which was released in March. In a four-star review, NME described it as “an album that you’ll really want to spend a lot of time with, letting all its layers envelope you”. It added: “It’s the most exploratory album of his career so far, trying out new things and steering his ship in new directions.”
Meanwhile, Styles has also curated this year’s Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre. The line-up chosen by the star includes Stephen Fretwell, Nilüfer Yanya, Orlando Weeks, Bar Italia, Dev Hynes, Jon Hopkins, Getdown Services, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Soulwax and more, as well as an intimate gig from Styles himself.
The festival kicked off earlier this week (June 11) with a performance from Los Angeles’ Warpaint, whose show was their first in nearly two years. During the gig, they shared fan favourites like ‘Love Is To Die, ‘Billie Holiday’ and ‘Disco//Very’, plus a cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’.
