Down In Toronto

Description

Dave Grohl joined Nirvana as its drummer in 1990. During tours, he took a guitar with him and wrote songs, but Grohl held these from the band; he said in 1997 I was in awe of Kurt Cobain's songs and I was intimidated. I thought it was best that I kept my songs to myself. However, he occasionally booked studio time to record demos and covers of songs he liked and even issued a cassette of some of those called Pocketwatch under the pseudonym Late! in 1992. When Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8th, 1994, and Nirvana subsequently disbanded, Grohl received offers to work with various artists; press rumors indicating he might be joining Pearl Jam, and he almost accepted a permanent position as drummer in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Ultimately Grohl declined and instead entered Robert Lang Studios in October 1994 to record fifteen of the forty songs he had written. With the exception of a guitar part on 'X-Static' (played by Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs), Dave Grohl played every instrument and sang every vocal on the tracks. I was supposed to just join another band and be a drummer the rest of my life, Grohl later said. I thought that I would rather do what no one expected me to do. I enjoy writing music and I enjoy trying to sing, and there's nothing anyone can really do to discourage me. Grohl completed an album's worth of material in five days and handed out cassette copies of the sessions to friends and colleagues for feedback. The show captured on this CD comes from a live FM Broadcast made by the group at Toronto's Concert Hall on 3rd April 1996, while they were still touring their debut. This early concert shows all the promise of a band having arrived almost fully formed and containing one of the best composers of his generation. In completion one is left wondering why Dave Grohl had held back so long when, as this early show confirms, in many cases his material was as strong as that released by his former group