Dave Grohl Opens Up About Hearing Loss: 'I Can’t Hear What You’re Saying'

Foo Fighter frontman Dave Grohlis opening up about his hearing loss.

Although he was the drummer for Nirvana between 1990 and 1994, he became the frontman and guitarist for Foo Fighters that same year. After performing decades of rock concerts, the married father of three revealed that it’s taking a toll on his hearing.

In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Grohl revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic and frequent mask-wearing mandates have made it difficult for him to tune in to conversations.

“If you were sitting next to me right here at dinner, I wouldn’t understand a f---ing word you were saying to me the whole f---ing time,” Grohl said. “There’s no way. In a crowded restaurant… that’s the worst.”

“The worst thing about this pandemic s--- is people wearing masks,” he added. “I’ve been reading lips for, like, 20 years… I’m a rock musician. I’m f---ing deaf. I can’t hear what you’re saying.”

Although he has trouble understanding spoken conversations, Grohl is so honed into the music that he can tell when a cymbal is out of tune.

“When we go in to make a record, and we’re mixing an album, I can hear the slightest little things,” Grohl said. “My ears are still tuned in to certain frequencies, and if I hear something out of tune or a cymbal that’s not bright enough or something like that. In the mix, I can f---ing hear the minutiae of everything we had done to that song.”

Grohl also says that he chooses to perform without ear monitors thanks to his expert audio technician team, who has been with the band for 31 years.

“The problem that I have with [ear monitors] is it removes you from the natural atmosphere sound,” he explained. “I wanna hear the audience in front of me… It messes with your spatial understanding of where you are onstage.”

Grohl has been doing a plethora of interviews to promote his upcoming horror-comedy film Studio 666.

The premise of the film focuses on the Foo Fighters going to record their next album in a haunted studio. Although Grohl never experienced anything in Sound City, he did talk about its rumored ghost.

“First of all, Sound City [where Nirvana recorded Nevermind] did have a ghost,” he said in a recent interview. “I never experienced it. But a lot of the people that work there had some really crazy stories about what would happen after everyone had gone home.”

Although he didn't experience any hauntings there, he did experience something at a house in Seattle.

“But the Robert Lang studio [where Grohl recorded the first Foo Fighters record] in Seattle… that’s funny because I lived just down the street from there and the only time I’ve lived anywhere that had any sort of paranormal activity was in the house down the street from Robert Lang’s,” he explained. “I lived in that house for two years but there was something else in the house.”

“I wasn’t the only one that felt it,” he continued. “I wouldn’t mention it to anyone and then other people would mention it to me. Then I finally mentioned it to Robert Lang and he said there’s a ghost in the forest that separates me from Robert Lang’s studio. Like a legit f—ing creepy thing.”

“It was the ghost of a woman and she was in my f—ing dreams,” he added. “But as far as recording studios, I haven’t really haven’t had too much.”

Although it's possible that some members of the band won't survive the film (no spoilers here!), Grohl believes that it’s possible that there can be a sequel - or even a spin-off - with another band.

“You never know,” he said. “Believe me, we’ve talked about every f—ing sequel possibility. Everything from getting the Wu Tang Clan in. I do think that whether it’s Foo Fighters or another band, I hope people will take the ball and run with it from here to bring that that rock and roll movie genre back.”

“Look at all the f—ing remakes that you have to suffer through every year,” he added. “F— that, put the money towards sending Radiohead into a f—ing into a haunted mansion and see what happens. Believe me, people will enjoy it.”

Studio 666 comes out on Friday, February 25, 2022.