ABCA new Foo Fighters album is dropping this Friday, and we have Nandi Bushell to thank for that.
The 10-year-old British musical prodigy made headlines last year with her viral drum battle with Dave Grohl. Speaking to Kerrang!, Grohl shares that his interaction with Bushell helped spur his decision to finally release Medicine at Midnight, which had been shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The thing that inspired me the most to release this album was that drum battle I had with Nandi,” Grohl explains. “More than just some back and forth between two musicians, this battle of technical proficiency, it was spreading joy and happiness.”
Grohl adds that the drum battle felt like a special bright spot during a year that was otherwise consumed by a “dark cloud of doom.”
“Every day you pick up your telephone and you think, ‘Oh, God, what is it now? What’s next?'” Grohl says. “You’re just waiting for this bad news. But this exchange that she and I were having did nothing but bring happiness and joy to people.”
The drum battle also shifted Grohl’s perspective on needing to be able to tour to release an album.
“I thought, ‘That’s done entirely remotely, so why can’t our music do the same?'” Grohl recalls. “‘Why can’t we put the record out and hopefully it’ll give people that same feeling. Why can’t we do that now?'”
“And so we did,” he adds.
By Josh Johnson
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