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When Kurt Cobain took his own life and ended Nirvana at the barrel of a shotgun in 1994, it was assumed that drummer Dave Grohl, one of the best musicians in the grunge scene, would find a new gig, basically, wherever he wanted.

He turned down a full-time offer from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers after touring with them and was rumored to be in line for the open Pearl Jam gig. instead, he reverted to his original instrument, guitar, and formed Foo Fighters with two former members of Sunny Day Real Estate — bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith — and Nirvana hired hand, guitarist Pat Smear.

From the first single, “This is a Call,” in 1995, we knew he could scream with the best of them and that maybe being behind Cobain all that time rubbed off on him. everyone was rooting for the Foo Fighters, even if it seemed like a one-shot deal.

Foo Fighters

Where: Consol Energy Center, Downtown

Tickets: $29.50-$49.50. 1-800-745-3000

But then, with the second album, “The Colour and the Shape,” the songs got better and more assured, particularly “My Hero” and “Everlong.” Mr. Grohl continued to pour that passion into songs like “Learn to Fly” and “All My Life” and now, 16 years and seven albums in, he’s one of rock’s most formidable frontmen. On the last tour, for “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace,” he pulled off a two-hour-plus show with Springsteen-like charisma.

The Foo Fighters return Friday, on tour with “Wasting Light,” for their first show at the Consol Energy Center.

With that in mind, here are the 20 most notable spinoffs, defined as one or two members of a prominent group forming another prominent group. We’re setting aside supergroups (CSNY) and solo groups (Neil Young and Crazy Horse).

• Led Zeppelin (1968): the band originally toured in late 1968 as the new Yardbirds, before getting the cease and desist, so it would be hard to not consider them a spinoff. Jimmy Page was the Yardbird and when his plans for a supergroup with Jeff Beck and the Who’s rhythm section fell through, he was stuck with a bunch of relative no-names who did all right for themselves.

• Parliament-Funkadelic (1968)/Bootsy’s Rubber Band (1976): the ’70s were a lot funkier thanks to George Clinton, who updated his ’50s doo-wop group the Parliaments into the R&B/funk ensemble Parliament and spun off a psych-rock group Funkadelic. they existed separately or as one extended family, producing such songs as “One Nation Under a Groove” and “Give up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker).” With Clinton’s blessing, Bootsy Collins did his own thing in the late ’70s with Bootsy’s Rubber Band, charting the R&B hit “Bootzilla.”

• little Feat (1969): Reasons vary for why singer Lowell George got booted from the Mothers of Invention — either Frank Zappa thought George would be better on his own or it was because George wrote “a song about dope” with “Willin.’ ” whatever the case, he grabbed Mothers bassist Roy Estrada and ringers like bill Payne to create this Southern funk dynamo.

• Electric Light Orchestra (1970): the move was a part of the British Invasion that never invaded the States. the impact wasn’t felt here until frontman Roy Wood, Bev Bevan and latecomer Jeff Lynne spun off to form ELO, with the idea of picking up where the Beatles left off. when Mr. Wood split after the band’s 1971 debut, Mr. Lynne took the reins and powered ELO through 19 top 20 hits and sales of more than 50 million albums.

• Wings (1971): Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles career is a bit muddled, title wise, but the idea was that Wings was a band not just his backup. Wings debuted in 1971 with “Wild Life,” with Paul and wife Linda joined by drummer Denny Seiwell and ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. when it didn’t fare well, the second and third albums, “Red Rose Speedway” and “Band on the run,” were labeled Paul McCartney & Wings. With “Venus and Mars” in 1975, it was back to just Wings, and on the tour, multiple members of the band were singing lead.

• Journey (1973): Guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Gregg Rolie split off from Santana in 1973 to form a jazz fusion group. when that didn’t go so well, they went looking for singers, eventually finding the right guy in golden-voiced Steve Perry for their fourth album, “Infinity.” “Don’t stop Believin’,” one of many hits, has become a “Glee” standard and standard-rock anthem, elevating it to the most downloaded catalog track in iTunes history.

• Jefferson Starship (1974)/Hot Tuna (1969): when the engine died on Jefferson Airplane around 1973, its bluesy core of guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady dove deeper into its side project, Hot Tuna. Meanwhile, the frontline of Grace Slick and Paul Kantner (with Marty Balin) attempted a sonic upgrade with Jefferson Starship, which had some great moments (“Red Octopus”) and at least one of rock’s most lamentable (“We Built This City”).

• Public Image ltd. (1978): Contrary to the Neil Young lyric, Johnny Rotten didn’t burn out after the Sex Pistols ditched him in San Francisco. He reverted to his birth name, John Lydon, and reinvented himself in this dark, dissonant and innovative art-punk band.

• new Order (1980): Ian Curtis hanged himself on the eve of Joy Division’s American tour, leaving the British post-punk band shocked, sad and singer-less. Although not the most charismatic individual, guitarist Bernard Sumner made an impressive shift to frontman, leading the band in a more danceable and accessible direction with songs like “Blue Monday” and “Bizarre Love Triangle.”

• Tom Tom Club (1981): when David Byrne started working with other musicians around the time of “Remain in Light,” the husband-wife rhythm section of Chris Frantz and Tiny Weymouth got a little frustrated and headed for the Bahamas to start a project that allowed them to toy with hip-hop and hit the dance clubs. upon the breakup of Talking Heads, it went from side project to full-on spinoff group.

• Megadeth (1983): things combusted so quickly with Dave Mustaine, he was out of Metallica before the band even recorded its debut album, on which he has a few writing credits. He formed Megadeth that same year, 1983, determined to be faster and heavier than his former band. Metallica still has the upper hand, but Megadeth, with its turbulence and constant personnel changes, has sold more than 30 million albums and is considered one of the big Four thrash bands (with Slayer and Anthrax).

• big Audio Dynamite (1984): they revolutionized rock ‘n’ roll with the Clash in the late ’70s, but by 1983 Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were clashing on everything, especially musical direction. upon being fired, Mr. Jones took his knack for incorporating hip-hop, reggae and samples to B.A.D., which made a pair of fun, funky albums before running out of steam in the late ’80s.

• Fine Young Cannibals/General Public (1984): when Britain’s leading ska band, the English Beat, split in two in 1983, General Public had the edge with frontmen Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger. instead, bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox made the more lasting contribution by discovering soul prodigy Roland Gift and churning out a no. 1 hit with “She Drives me Crazy.” unfortunately, the Cannibals ended up not liking each other and split in 1992. Mr. Gift’s absence from the scene is something of a mystery.

• Fugazi (1987): Minor Threat was the flagship band of the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene in the early ’80s, establishing the straight-edge movement. Four years after its demise, intensely serious frontman Ian MacKaye formed Fugazi, expanding on the sound with elements of reggae and funk, and influences ranging from Gang of Four to Led Zeppelin. Despite lots of offers, the band has been inactive since 2003.

• Pearl Jam (1989): Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were on the path to success with Mother Love Bone when singer Andrew Wood died of a heroin overdose. they picked up the pieces by finding a singer from San Diego named Eddie Vedder who worked in a gas station. You know the rest.

• Rancid (1991): Childhood friends Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman spent three years melding hardcore and ska into ska-core in the Berkeley, Calif., band Operation Ivy. when it split in 1989 — “Too much attention unavoidably destroyed us,” Armstrong would later sing — they formed the still-active Rancid, a big player in the early ’90s punk revival.

• Wilco/Son Volt (1994): the bad news about Uncle Tupelo’s breakup in 1994 is that we said goodbye to the premier alt-country band. the good news is that now we had two bands — one led by Jeff Tweedy and one by Jay Farrar — putting out good material. Wilco, the underdog in this race, turned out to be the more innovative and enduring of the pair.

• Foo Fighters (1994): Phil Collins … Don Henley … Dave Grohl. Wildly different styles, same idea.

• Queens of the Stone Age (1997): upon the demise of Palm Desert, Calif., stoner rock band Kyuss in 1995, its big jock guitarist Josh Homme joined Screaming Trees for a stint before taking his trippy desert vibe to QOTSA two years later. the heavy, warped sound of “Rated R” and “Songs for the Deaf” have been hugely influential on the alt-rock scene. Mr. Homme can also be found in Eagles of Death Metal and supergroup them crooked Vultures.

• Raconteurs (2005)/Dead Weather (2009): Along with being one of the more gifted musicians to come along in the ’90s, Jack White is one of the more restless creative spirits. Before the White Stripes called it quits in February, he was a member of three different bands. the Raconteurs, with Brendan Benson, is more of a straight-up heavy blues-rock band, while recent supergroup Dead Weather puts kills singer Alison Mosshart out front with Mr. White on drums.

Other notable spinoffs: Atlas Sound (Deerhunter), Boxcar Racer/+44/Angels and Airwaves (Blink-182), the Breeders (Pixies), Cracker (Camper Van Beethoven), Crowded House (Split Enz), the Flying Burrito Brothers (Byrds), Gorillaz (Blur), the Hold Steady (Lifter Puller), Love & Rockets (Bauhaus), the minus five (Young Fresh Fellows), the Knitters (X), Postal Service (Death Cab for Cutie), Ratdog (Grateful Dead), Sebadoh (Dinosaur Jr), Style Council (The Jam), Sugar (Husker Du), Sunset Rubdown (Wolf Parade).

Supergroups that don’t count: Asia, Audioslave, Chickenfoot, Cream, CSNY, Derek and the Dominos, the Firm, the new Barbarians, A Perfect Circle, Shriekback, Superheavy, them crooked Vultures, Tinted Windows, Traveling Wilburys, Velvet Revolver, Wild Flag.

first published on September 22, 2011 at 12:00 am

With Ramsbottom Festival just around the corner, Young Knives’ Tom speaks to Skiddle about festivals, the ‘pop’ industry and why he’s glad Kurt Cobain never had a Twitter.

In a few weeks time you will be playing Ramsbottom Festival. as a band, do you enjoy festival season?

Yeah definitely! Its gets you in front of a whole bunch that wouldn’t necessarily come to watch your gig if you were playing somewhere if they didn’t know who you were, so they would probably never ordinarily watch your show. At a festival they’re there and cant run away. It’s weird as well, as sometimes you get a good reaction and people are loving it and then you occasionally have those people who don’t really like you and are just stood there leaning on the barrier looking bored, waiting for the next band to come on. But yeah, I like festivals.

The last time we spoke to you was just before Kendal Calling. How did that go, and what other festivals have you played since?

Kendal Calling was good actually. We’ve not done that one before; it’s a nice little festival. It’s well laid out and not totally crammed. I went to one in London recently and it was so packed full of people. they must have sold as many tickets as humanly possible. It’s nice to do ones that are punter friendly. T in the Park isn’t very punter friendly. It’s as if its set up just to make as much money as possible. You can’t take water or food into the site. the smaller ones that people are doing now are far better as you don’t feel like your getting scammed.

You’ve obviously played lots of festivals. are there any that you would like to play that you haven’t played yet?

Some of the European ones. We’ve done a bit of stuff in Europe but this year we haven’t – nobody seems to have wanted us! some of those out there look really good, like Benicassim and Pukkelpop, although that has been a bit of a nightmare recently.

So you’ve been in the music scene for over 13 years. what do you think was a turning point in Young Knives’ career? when did people start to take notice?

It was sort of a gradual thing really. It sounds kind of boring but it was mostly about getting people interested enough to want to represent you either record company wise, management wise or even just spreading the word for you. You can’t really do it alone. It was all word of mouth really, weather its fans or local radio, so it was a gradual process. there were certain things that happened that were pivotal moments. when we signed up to a management company first time round and we had someone on our side doing things for us and talking to record companies. although it doesn’t sound very exciting, it was kind of pivotal in a way.

Well it was only quite recently that the social networking side of things took off, whereas when you started out there wasn’t really any of that. Do you think it was much harder back then?

I don’t think it affected us that much. now with the Facebook, MySpace and Twitters – everybody’s got one. There’s nothing sort of special about it. when we were first playing, MySpace came out and people were saying to sign up. then suddenly loads of people were on it because it was somewhere you could listen to bands and not pay any money, but then it eventually ran its course as a new and exciting phenomenon.

Do you think social media promotion has got a bit too much now?

Well there’s just too much to see now isn’t there? I mean it’s great when you hear of a band and you want to know what they sound like – there’s a whole myriad of places you can go to hear them and that’s great because that never used to be available. You would have to get a copy of a tape off your friend back in the day.

It obviously affects people who would have gone and bought a single as they are not doing that anymore. I think the main thing that’s a bit depressing about it is that there’s no mystery surrounding anybody in a band. We’ve got a Twitter and a Facebook and people are just constantly messaging you and stuff. I sometimes think I don’t want to be sat on here and be saying ‘yeah, I’m just having a cheese and ham sandwich’ etc… If I would have sat there when I was a kid reading tweets from Kurt Cobain saying ‘just having a wee’ it would have ruined it for me. He wouldn’t have been that magical, unapproachable figure.

In a way I suppose it’s good with the kind of celebrity thing. People think celebrities are special and live in another world, and it does blow that out of the water when your reading someone like Lily Allen’s constant tweeting and wittering.

Do you think bands are losing the more personal touch with fans now?

Yeah, but there’s good and bad. some have really personal things going on, and some bands have a really close fan base. British Sea Power always do a lot for their fans. then there’s the other side of things that are really naff like helping them to fund another album, I’m not down with that. We keep getting asked about it. some people say you get a copy of the album at the end of it, which is fair enough, that’s fine. But some almost feel as if your being scammed. they do things like ‘we’ll come round to your house and make you dinner’ or ‘we will draw you a picture’ and that kind of stuff, and you think ‘what a scam’.

Have you found that the industry has changed in its attitude towards ‘guitar bands’? There’s been a big influx of more electronic bands in recent years. has this had an effect?

Yeah definitely. If there are guitar bands around they are not being shown in the media as much or signed to labels. It’s more of a pop industry, even hip hop is becoming part of the pop industry. I find you will get people who were round a few years ago and doing something really cutting edge, like Dizzee Rascal’s first album; that was real grime and raw, but he got gradually more commercial.

You have people like Tinie Tempah who is sold to you by a record company as something really cutting edge and underground, like Dizzee Rascal was a few years ago, but it’s just a pop track with a hip-hoppy image, which is just rubbish.

Well his record company are the same people who look after Kylie and Ellie Goulding, which is probably a completely separate bracket than what he originally wanted to break through in.

Yeah, and Ellie Goulding is one of those people who is sold to you like that too. You have the PR company selling you this underground artist who’s writing is genius, unique and groundbreaking but she’s just pop shit.

Hmm, the industry doesn’t seem to be as black and white as it once was. everyone seems to be merging into the mainstream to survive.

I think that’s mainly to do with the record companies who are losing a lot of money in recent years and they’re just trying to keep everything they bring out much more commercial. labels who helped new bands get off the ground, well you don’t really hear much about them anymore, as they don’t really have any money to help bands with advertising. I mean, there are things out there but you just don’t really seem to hear about them. You used to hear about bands on 6music but even that has become more commercial, almost without really noticing. People who would have got the odd play never seem to really be on there, which is sad. although mark Riley is one that still does things…

Have you stumbled across any bands while you have been touring recently that you think we should keep an eye out for?

I watched a band called Toy the other day. they have been supporting the Horrors recently. Do you remember Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong? well it’s them minus the lead singer, I don’t know what’s happened to him, but they’ve all grown their hair and doing kind of doom rock now, which is really weird because it’s completely different – but actually works quite well.

Ornamants From the Silver Arcade is your most recent album. as a band, what is your strategy behind writing a new album?

A bit of everything really. sometimes we sit around and do them together, some songs we do on our own. Things start out sometimes when we’re messing around and making noises and you think it would make a good B-Side, but later think ‘actually that’s a pretty good A-side’. I think the last one we sort of had a vision for. We made a decision to go for a specific, more immediate sound. now the new one we are just starting is a bit darker.

I was just about to ask you what’s next. are you going to go for a darker sound?

Yeah! Loud. dark. Heavy maybe…?

Are you going through your ‘gothic stage’? are you going to grow your hair and dye it black?

(Laughs) We’re not going Emo or anything, just a bit more gutsy really. Our other song was quite pop actually, which was great fun to do, but we’ve done that and wanting to go in the opposite direction really.

Where do you get your inspiration from for making new music? Just everyday things, or are you one of those ‘pained musicians’ that go into a dark room and write page and page about how your feeling?

(Laughs) Not really, it’s more everyday stuff really. one of us will have an initial idea and throw it out, and we try this or that. Usually they are just ‘in-jokes’ between the band and we write a track that nobody else will probably get the meaning of. A bit of everything really. It doesn’t come very easy for us so we tend to do it together. every now and again you get a song that kind of writes itself and you can write it all in an hour, but with most of the stuff we will have a chorus that we will make up and add words around it. sometimes we struggle a little bit, but we keep going until we get something good. the lyrics are the hardest bit for us sometimes.

Do you find it easy to make the music as opposed to the lyrics then?

Yeah, well the thing is we always come up with the music first. sometimes the lyrics are good and read like good poetry but when you sing them to the lyrics they come across as quite naff and try hard. You sort of want it to feel effortless, so when people listen to them it doesn’t sound like you’ve been thinking too hard about them. You want it to sound like it all fits together perfectly.

What can we expect from you at Ramsbottom Festival? will you be playing some new tracks?

We are going to play some stuff of the latest album. From the one we’re writing at the minute we’ve got one track… maybe we’ll do it. Maybe we will, maybe we wont.

I think you should…

It might be a bit weird at a festival though. I think at a gig it would be alright because you’ve got more fans there, but at a festival… I suppose there’s more people who will hear it.

Take a risk, play a new one…

Alright then, alright then! (Laughs)

Catch Young Knives at Ramsbottom Festival on Saturday 17th July. Tickets for Ramsbottom Festival are available below. 

Interview: Jo Waddington

Press Release Source: Sirius XM Radio On Thursday August 25, 2011, 12:38 pm EDT

NEW YORK, Aug. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI – News) announced today that it will pay tribute to Nirvana, the band often identified as the most important rock group of the 1990s, as band members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, as well as Butch Vig, who produced the groundbreaking album Nevermind, sit down for a rare Q&A session, hosted by Jon Stewart, with a select group of SiriusXM listeners at the SiriusXM studios in New York City.

(Logo: photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101014/NY82093LOGO)

“SiriusXM’s Town Hall with Nirvana,” the two-hour broadcast event, will air live on Lithium, channel 34, on Saturday, September 24 at 8:00 pm ET, the 20th anniversary of the release of Nevermind. the live special is part of SiriusXM’s “Town Hall” series, an intimate gathering with an iconic musician and a studio audience of SiriusXM listeners.

Hosted by Jon Stewart, the “SiriusXM Town Hall with Nirvana” will feature Novoselic, who founded Nirvana with Kurt Cobain; Grohl, whose first full length recording with the band was the classic Nevermind; and producer Vig answering questions from the live studio audience as well as questions from listeners calling in from around the country.

“This is our way to honor the artists who, with the release of Nevermind, influenced a generation and marked a change in the course of music history no generation will ever forget,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM. “Our ‘Town Hall’ series offers our listeners a rare chance to meet some of the most important and influential artists of our time.”

“SiriusXM’s Town Hall with Nirvana” is part of Nevermind Radio, an all-Nirvana limited-run channel on SiriusXM. Nevermind Radio will launch on Friday, September 23 at 3:00 pm ET on channel 34 and will feature the music of Nirvana’s entire career, including their three classic albums, B-sides, rarities and live performances. the channel will also feature celebrities in various fields sharing their thoughts on Nirvana and their influence. Nevermind Radio will air through Wednesday, September 28 at 12:00 am ET.

Nevermind’s 20th anniversary will be marked by Universal Music Enterprises’ September 27 full spectrum re-release. with configurations ranging from a 4-CD/1-DVD Super Deluxe Edition to a 4-LP, 180-gram heavyweight vinyl edition to a standard digital/CD remaster of the original album, the 20th anniversary reissue of Nevermind unearths dozens of previously unreleased recordings, obscure B-sides, alternate mixes, radio sessions, studio rarities and live recordings, including a 1991 Halloween concert at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre in its entirety (the only known Nirvana concert shot to film). For more information, please visit nirvana.com.

Lithium plays grunge rock and ’90s alternative. Listeners will hear Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bush and Offspring.

For more information on SiriusXM, please visit siriusxm.com. 

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