Dave Grohl Once Caught His Mom Drinking with Green Day | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

-Welcome everybody. I'm here with my co-host, Dave Grohl! ♪♪ You can watch new episodes of his series, “From Cradle to Stage,” every Thursday on Paramount+. Lost my voice. This is what happens when you hang out with Dave Grohl. -Yeah. -Yeah. -One of the things that happens. -I love co-presenting the program with you. I think this is fun. -This is incredible. Can't. I am very happy that you let me share your desktop. -Well, I... We have like... This is the first time we have more than 50 people. We have 100 people in our audience

tonight

. -Its coming back. -We will be back. -Coming back. -I know. -We will bring one of our favorite acts.

I know it's a big audience. When was the last time you played in front of 100 people? -Eh, like in 1987. -Yes, exactly, yes. -Something like that. A long time ago. -You remember? Like when... Starting and getting... Like, 100 people was a lot of people. -Yes, I mean, when I started, you know, I started in neighborhood bands and things like that. And then I joined a band, a punk-rock band that actually toured the country and Europe when I was like 17, so I started traveling around in vans, little vans and playing small venues and stuff like that. . That was when I was about 17 or 18 years old.

And that's where I cut my teeth and learned how to do it. And when I joined Nirvana, it was pretty much the same. We were in a van playing small venues that held 100 or 200 people. And then the band got really big, really fast. And so... But, I mean, we used to play... When I first joined Nirvana, we played in venues a tenth the size of this place. And then he just said: pyew! -Were you scared when people knew the lyrics of your song and sang it to you and sang it with you? -Yeah, I mean, that's the best part of being in a band. -Actually. -When you're in front of an audience and they sing with you, and it becomes a really beautiful community moment where, you know, everyone is connected.

That's the best part. And the larger the audience, the better when that happens. -Yes, because everyone is doing it. -It's amazing. -You have a new documentary called "What Drives Us" on Amazon, which is great. They have something special about Amazon video. It's Coda. -Yeah. -A Coda collection. So, it's for musicians, people who love music and want to support music. It's about vans and whatever, a tour bus or whatever... whatever took you to the gig. -Yeah. -Whether it was a, you know, whatever, a Nissan Maxima or whatever vehicle you had. I love that. -You had to fit all your friends and all your stuff into this little thing so you could take your music somewhere else and share it with more people. -Yeah. -And the funny thing is that, in that documentary, you see that, you know, the Beatles did the same thing.

So I interviewed younger bands who are putting all this equipment in a small van and sleeping in it. And then I'm interviewing Ringo Starr of the Beatles, and he talks about how the Beatles did the same thing. Everyone does it the same way. The Beatles fart in his... I got fart stories from Ringo Starr about the Beatles. -In the... Really? -Yeah. -They do not do it. -They did it. They do. -Now they don't do it. -I think it's possible. -Now they don't do it. -Still. -Absolutely not. -Yeah. It's true. -Is it strange for you to say that you are friends with the Beatles? -Yeah! -Does it feel weird or are you just... -Absolutely.

Well, first... I mean, I grew up... That's how I learned to play music. He had a Beatles song book and a guitar. And I would just listen to the records and do that. So the first time you meet one of them, the one-dimensional becomes three-dimensional and you get a little scared. But then, over time, if you become friends and play together, you know, the effect never goes away. I mean, there was this time when I had... my third daughter, Ophelia, was born, and Paul was in town with Nancy and they said, "Hey, we want to come see the baby." So they came to the house and...

I mean, the first thing I did was hide all the Beatles stuff. You never know. You never know how much Beatles stuff you have in your house until a Beatle comes along. -It gets embarrassing. -You say, "Oh my God." -Tonight Show mugs. -Yes, it's crazy. So he came over and we hung out, there was a piano in our living room and when he left it was like he couldn't resist. And he just sat down and started playing "Lady Madonna" on the piano in my living room. And you're just... I mean, it's driving you crazy. And then my daughter, Harper, who was about 4 at the time, ran into the kitchen, grabbed a cup of coffee, filled it with leftover coins, and put it on the piano like it was a tip jar. -That's a good moment.

This is a lot. -That was cool. -He loved it? She loved it. -Absolutely. It was incredible. -That's the fun part of all giant bands, I mean, it's their sense of humor... They have a sense of humor and they're fun. They are great on stage. They are great musicians. But they are fun, funny and they laugh. And I feel like you have that too. -Well, you have to imagine... You know, you can't take it too hard to be... I mean, anyone who's seen a Foo Fighters video or, you know, or this thing we're doing. right now. -Yeah. -Like, you know, you have to...

You have to be real and sincere and passionate, and you have to honor the craft of making music, but then everything else, you just have to take it. with a grain of salt. -You didn't really want to practice. You didn't want to rehearse. -We have a saying in Foo Fighters that says: "If things get better, they will get worse." So we... I don't actually like rehearsing, because I like to go out on stage and have it be raw and real, so it's not like big choreography. So when we get there, it's like that moment, and it's super real. -That's wild. -Yeah. -Were you always like this?

I mean, you have... There's another series based on a book your mother wrote called "From Cradle to Stage." -Yeah. -Basically raising a rock star. -Yes, my mom... Well, then my mother was a public school teacher for 35 years, and when she retired, she... I said, "Mom, don't do that cruise thing." Like, you know, like retirees. I thought, "I have a cruise. It's a tour bus. Let's go." And she just jumped... And she started going on tour with me. And I gave her a laminate and she just went out to hang out. She would be on stage playing.

She would get me off the stage and say, "Where's my mom? Where's my mom?" And she'd be, you know,

drinking

beers with Green Day on top. -Yes mom! -She is very cool. She is very cool. And then, but then when she was on tour, she was like, "Where are all the other moms?" Like, "Where are all the other moms?" So she went to find these mothers to interview them and talk to them about what it's like to raise a musician. So in the book, she talked to Dr. Dre, she talked to Mike D, and she talked to Pharrell's mom.

And she talked to Zac Brown's mom, Miranda Lambert's mom. And then... So she made this great book. And then we made a documentary series, and that's what's on TV now. Is awesome. -That's great. And I didn't mention it, but congratulations on being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...again. Mom, you did very well! You did a good job, mom! Here's a clip. Here are Dave and his mother, Virginia, in "From Cradle to Stage." Have a look. -When I saw a Nirvana

show

where you destroyed all the instruments at the end, I was horrified. ♪♪ After growing up with no more than 10 cents left over each month, I thought you knew that one should not waste valuable materials. ♪♪ -Uh, first of all, I didn't start it. -I know.

Well. -Yeah. You just finished it. That's all. You have a point.