Violet Grohl: "I’ve always been very fascinated by the macabre and by mortality and death”

Let’s address the Foo Fighting elephant in the room. Violet Grohl is Dave Grohl’s daughter. If you want to know what she thinks about being called a Nepo Baby, you’re late, because the 19-year-old has already said she doesn’t give a shit. More or less.

“Obviously, doors are open for me because of my last name,” is what she actually told the Forty-Five last month. “It’s not something I’m ever going to hide behind or say, ‘No, I worked so hard for this! You guys shouldn’t say that! That hurts my feelings.’ I don’t care – I really don’t. I’ve heard that since I was 13 years old. So call me a Nepo Baby all you want. It’s ‘whatever’ to me. I just hope that eventually people will give me a shot.

“Come listen to my music and then you can decide for yourself if I’m worthy of this career or not.”

Heed Violet’s advice and you’ll find that her debut album Be Sweet To Me gives you plenty of other things to talk about, including riffs and solos worth straining your neck headbanging to, as well as lyrics inspired by sex call-lines and paranormal activity.

The LP came together quickly. Violet and producer Justin Raisen had been talking for weeks before they met in person, and when they finally sat down to listen to music together, the fit was immediate. He suggested they start work the following week.

OUTRAGEOUS AND FUNNY

Audible influences include a mix of ‘80s and ‘90s rockers like Pixies, The Breeders and PJ Harvey. Is there some early Foosin there? Who cares!

The LP was recorded old school, in a room full of live instruments played by what Violet calls Raisen’s own “wrecking crew”, a rotating cast of musician friends brought in to write and record together, invoking the spirit of the legendary session players of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

“I learned so much within my own writing process from them,” Violet tells us. “Moving from the environment I was used to, which was really me by myself with my computer. And then going from that to being in an actual studio with a bunch of people was really shocking, but really fun in a good way.

“I mean, it was a little intimidating at times, but not because I was afraid to be there or that I didn’t feel confident enough in my abilities. It was just such a new space.”
The fruits of that space include ‘595’, a song inspired by a t-shirt with a defunct (I checked) sex-line on the front.

“I’ve always loved campy, vaudeville-type t-shirts – things that are stupid and funny and maybe a little edgy or erotic,” Violet shares. “I bought this stupid sex line t-shirt off of Etsy a while ago, and my dad opened my package before I found it and he hid it in his studio. I spent maybe four weeks scouring the house looking for this package because I really wanted to wear the shirt.

“I was up in his studio at some point and it was in a box covered by a bunch of random t-shirts. Fast forward a couple years later and I wore it to the studio one day, and everybody was obsessed with it. As we started writing the instrumental and arranging that part of the music, it was kind of like: ‘Alright, we have to write about this. This is the perfect concept to bounce off’.

“There were so many lines on the shirt too that we took inspiration from, just ‘cause they were so outrageous and funny.”

VOICE MEMO

The fun element is important, but there are mature moments on the record too. ‘Bug In Cake’ recalls paranormal activity following Grohl’s move into her late grandma’s home, while ‘Applefish’ grapples with questions of mortality.

“I’ve never been one to write music in terms of, ‘Oh, I want to get my pen and sit down with my book and write a song,’” Violet says. “It’s always been moments that have been really heavy. I’ve always turned to songwriting instead of journaling. That’s always been my thing, ‘cause I find it hard to verbalise exactly what I’ve experienced in a direct way. It’s easier for me to write poetry or lyrics about it.

“I’ve always been very fascinated by the macabre and by mortality and death. I’ve never been put off by it or found it scary. I’ve always found it very interesting and just a part of nature. With ‘Applefish’, I had actually witnessed a really gnarly accident when I was recording. I was in this weird dissociative brain-fog for a week after. And the only way that I could really get out what I was feeling was through writing that song. I don’t want to say everyone is able to tap into that part of themselves, but I think it lies within all of us. We all have people that pass away, we all experience tragic things – it’s just a part of life. That’s not something to shy away from in art, ‘cause I think the most profound stuff comes out of those times.”

Violet traces her instinct to process through song back to when she was 12-years-old, on the road with her father.

“I was in a hotel room in New York and I had this little ukulele that one of my dad’s childhood friends made for me,” she says. “I was playing the songs I knew and messing around with it and I just thought: ‘Well, I can maybe try to write something down or to figure out something like a chord progression’.
“I don’t remember exactly what I wrote about, but I remember it was something about looking out the window or being on a tour bus,” she smiles. “It’s probably in a voice memo somewhere in my iCloud – I have thousands.”

We’ll wait for the deluxe compilation album in 30 years time. As for the present, and what Violet hopes people take from Be Sweet To Me, she’s characteristically unbothered.
“I mean, if people can listen to the music and find experiences of their own they relate to, or even if it’s a desire to go dive into the stuff that influenced me... I just want people to listen to music of any kind and enjoy it, and appreciate the work it takes to make an album with live instrumentation and a band. People can love it, they can hate it. I don’t really care.”

• Be Sweet To Me is out now. Violet Grohl plays Electric Picnic on August 29.