Boygenius look back on their Hollywood Bowl guest turn from Dave Grohl: “He’s the best”

Boygenius have reflected on the moment that Dave Grohl joined them on stage to perform one of their tracks, saying that “he’s the best”.

• READ MORE: Boygenius on the enduring power of ‘The Record’: “We feel as good as we ever hoped to”
  
  

The conversation arose during a new interview with NME, in celebration of the trio’s recent album ‘The Record’ being named the best album of the year.

During the interview, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker looked back at when Foo Fighters legend Dave Grohl joined them on stage earlier this year to play the drums for them as they performed the song ‘Satanist’.

Taking place at the Hollywood Bowl on October 31, the former Nirvana drummer sat behind the kit wearing all black and facepaint, while the trio played their set dressed as The Father, Son and Holy Ghost in celebration of Halloween.

“I made friends with Dave backstage at a Billie Eilish show. He’s the coolest guy ever,” Bridgers told NME about how the collaboration arose. “I was texting the boys, being like, ‘I met Dave Grohl, and he exceeds every expectation of how a rock star can be in the world’. I think we, as a group, look for that a lot – like, who is living their life the way that we want to get old and live our lives?”

“He’s so game. I just want to stay game the way that he is,” agreed Dacus, and Bridgers added: “He’s the best. He was like, ‘I’m gonna be a priest, by the way’, when I told him what we were gonna be for Halloween.”

When asked how they decided which song he would join them for, Bridgers revealed that originally he was meant to feature on their LP.

Dave Grohl playing drums onstage with Boygenius tonight! pic.twitter.com/ZZz4CX7Qia

— phoebe on tour (@bridgersontour) November 1, 2023

“We also have a friend who knows him and toured with Foo Fighters, and there was this missed connection where Dave was actually going to come to the studio and play on [‘The Record’]. Then he slept through it or whatever, and we didn’t end up meeting,” she recalled.

“So it was actually kind of a perfect full circle moment of having him play on that song because we knew we wanted the drums to be crazy on that.”

While the rock legend ultimately didn’t appear on the group’s latest LP, Boygenius did go on to receive massive fan and critical acclaim with ‘The Record’.

In a five-star review of the album, NME described it as an “instant classic”, while in the countdown of the best albums of the year, it was credited as a debut that “deservingly vaulted them much closer to musical deity status”.

The trio were also recently nominated for six Grammys including Album and Record of the Year for the release, and Bridgers was also nominated for a seventh Grammy for her work on ‘Ghost In The Machine’ with SZA.

Speaking ahead of their stint on Saturday Night Live with Timothée Chalamet last month (November 11), the band reflected on their nominations – including being head-to-head against Foo Fighters for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.

When asked how they felt about it, Bridgers said: “Pretty dope”, but then joked: “I think we’re gonna have to fight Dave Grohl in the parking lot.”

Baker agreed, saying: “We should do that. We should challenge him to beef,” before Dacus added: “I’ve seen in-person how hard he hits the drums; I’m not gonna fight Dave Grohl. His arms are something else. Like, he’s got the muscle and he’s scrappy.”