Dave Grohl is at war with a child. Having been called out by a 10-year old drummer named Nandi Bushell (who we wrote about before when she was still just a 9-year old drummer), Grohl has taken the bait and decided to engage in a knock-down, drag-out drum battle against her.
In Grohl’s defense, it was the kid who started this whole thing. Two weeks ago, Bushell posted a typically joyful, energetic video of her playing Foo Fighters’ “Everlong” on her YouTube channel. “Dave Grohl, I challenge you to a drum-off,” she says before playing along and bookending her performance by screaming a triumphant, “Checkmate!”
Grohl, refusing to let this child get the best (the best, the best) of him, tweeted out a video of him playing “Everlong” (which he says he hasn’t played since he recorded it in 1997) and saying that he’s received hundreds of texts telling him about Bushell’s performance. He compliments Bushell’s drumming, says he’s flattered that she’s been playing his parts, and then throws down the gauntlet by performing Them Crooked Vulture’s “Dead End Friends.”
Though he signed his tweet “Your friend in rock,” there’s no mistaking the severity of Grohl’s challenge. Bushell is the younger generation, coming to overthrow the old. Her delighted video response may be adorable, but don’t get too distracted by both parties’ friendliness. The drum battle has become a drum war.
Bushell also said, in a tweet of her “Everlong” video that her dream is to “jam with Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, and all the Foo Fighters” so maybe, whenever we get live music back, the beef between grown man and child can be squashed once and for all with collaboration instead of competition.
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