Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett appeared in a new Premiere Guitar interview and chatted about their inspirations. The frontman named his dream rock star and revealed that he wanted to look like him when he was younger — it’s the former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley.
“I really liked Ace Frehley,” the rocker said when Shiflett asked who his guitar influence was. “I had a Beatles chord book and that’s where I was learning to play chords and stuff but I never saw footage of The Beatles playing when I was eight or nine or something like that.”
“But I had KISS posters and then I had seen KISS concert, stuff online. I just thought Ace was so f*cking cool-looking. I loved the way he stood and I loved his Les Paul. I thought he was kind of my first… If I could be a guitarist and look like him without all the f*cking heels and the makeups and sh*t, current day, which I think I do,” he added.
Grohl is known to be a showman on stage, and he credits that part of his guitar-playing style to not just Frehley, but all of KISS. It all happened when the rocker got a copy of KISS’ 1976 album ‘Destroyer’ when he was younger.
“With nuclear anticipation, I let the needle drop on that legendary intro to ‘Detroit Rock City,’ perhaps the greatest introduction to any rock ’n’ roll album ever recorded. It filled my speakers and my imagination. Thirty-four minutes and 27 seconds later, KISS had filled my soul. I was now a member of the infamous KISS army,” Grohl told the audience while presenting the band with the ASCAP Founders Award in 2015.
He added, “Before long, my room had become a fucking shrine. Posters of these four musical monsters lined my walls, action figures filled my shelves and KISS albums overtook my once AM-friendly record collection. I was converted.”
The influence of Ace Frehley’s guitar style can be heard in Foo Fighters tracks like ‘The Pretender’ and ‘Monkey Wrench.’