The Supergroup Dave Grohl Was In Prior to Nirvana’s Dissolution

Did you remember that Dave Grohl was in a supergroup prior to the death of Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain and the band’s dissolution?

While Foo Fighters would eventually provide Grohl a creative outlet for years to come after Nirvana’s conclusion, the drummer actually played with a pretty impressive lineup of musicians in The Backbeat Band toward the end of his Nirvana run.

Why Did The Backbeat Band Form?

Much like Class of ’99 was for The Faculty or Ming Tea was for the Austin Powers movies, The Backbeat Band was constructed specifically to provide music for a film.

In this case, the film was the 1994 indie drama Backbeat, which centered on the relationship between John Lennon and pre-Beatles musician Stuart Sutcliffe along with Sutcliffe’s girlfriend Astrid prior to The Beatles breaking big. The film version featured Ian Hart (The Hours and Times) as Lennon, Stephen Dorff (The Power of One, Judgment Night) as Sutcliffe and Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me) as Astrid.

The film earned a modest $2.4 million in the. U.S. and Canada, but garnered decent reviews and eventually inspired a stage production of the story as well.

Who Were The Backbeat Band Members?

In addition to Grohl, who handled drums, The Backbeat Band consisted of Soul Asylum‘s Dave Pirner and The Afghan Whigs‘ Greg Dulli, who both lent their vocals to songs. Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore and Gumball’s Don Fleming were the group’s guitarists, while R.E.M.‘s Mike Mills was on bass and sang on the song “Roadrunner.”

The corresponding soundtrack album was produced by Don Was, who also was credited with an original score music release. For Was, who has since added plenty more credits to his name, this was his first project as a scorer and film producer.

According to Variety, Was shared that he heeded the advice of Ringo Starr, who told him to not hire session musicians but rather “just get some guys who’ll bash out the songs.”

While the legacy of the Beatles loomed over the project, Was shared that The Backbeat Band’s collective of musicians was “clearly not an impersonation of the Beatles.”

He added, “The spirit was really what we were going for. McCartney was a shouter and Dave Pirner shouts, but that’s where it ends. Greg Dulli does the John Lennon vocals and at times he comes remarkably close to John, but if you check it with a frequency analyzer it’s not at all like John’s voice. It simply evokes the spirit of what Lennon was about.””

How Did The Backbeat Band Work Together?

As pieces from some successful bands of the day, the group’s members actually had no prior experience working together before their union in the studio. Was gave them a deadline to keep things raw and spontaneous.

The producer shared with Variety that this was by design and that the intent was to not put the music under too much scrutiny.  “At that stage the Beatles were a wild teenage band that compensated for their lack of finesse with a tremendous amount of energy,” the producer shared.

According to FooFightersLive.com, the group started with an initial list of 200 songs to sift through. They eventually narrowed that down to 20 songs to record over a three-day period. Of those, 14 would come to appear on the Backbeat soundtrack album and a corresponding three-track single.

“The ability of these musicians, who are considered cutting-edge, to adapt immediately to that pioneering style demonstrates the fact that there’s a DNA code that links Little Richard to Sonic Youth,” Was said.

The Backbeat Band, “Money”

The Backbeat Band, “Please Mr. Postman”

Did The Backbeat Band Ever Play Live?

Though The Backbeat Band was specifically formed to record the music for the movie, they did actually play live … once. The band appeared on the MTV Movie Awards in June 1994 to help promote the music from the film.

Their performance kept that raw and raucous intensity as Greg Dulli led the band through “Money” before Dave Pirner stepped up to the mic to sing “Long Tall Sally.” They returned later in the evening to finish out the awards show by playing “Helter Skelter” with Dulli belting the song in a blistering performance.

The Backbeat Band at the 1994 MTV Movie Awards

Where Did the Backbeat Band Fit in Dave Grohl’s Timeline?

Grohl was still a member of Nirvana at the time he recorded with The Backbeat Band.

The group has spent the month of February 1993 recording In Utero. Shortly after those sessions, the Nirvana drummer stuck around to take part in The Backbeat Band recording in March 1993 at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles.

Nirvana would release In Utero in September 1993, but the band’s scheduled tour in Europe was canceled shortly after it started when Kurt Cobain suffered a drug overdose in Rome on March 6. Two days later, the Backbeat album soundtrack was issued on March 8.

Cobain’s death would come on April 5, 1994, which brought Nirvana’s time as a band to an end.

Grohl’s appearance at the 1994 MTV Movie Awards would be one of his first public outings after the death of Cobain along with his November 1994 appearance playing drums with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on Saturday Night Live.

Backbeat Stuck With Dave Grohl

Though the movie came and went during the ’90s, the Backbeat name stuck with Dave Grohl, whose BBQ venture shares the same name.

READ MORE: Totally Unforgettable Dave Grohl Moments

Grohl first started to get into barbecue after buying a beach house in North Carolina in 1992. He had grown to love barbecue and then in 2015 when Grohl broke his leg, he found himself barbecuing at home for family, then hosting parties of upwards of 50 to 75 people, per the FooArchive.com. Friends started encouraging him to start a business and eventually Backbeat BBQ was born.

In recent years, Grohl has taken his barbecuing passion and put it into action feeding firefighters in California and turning up to take part in L.A. Food Bank benefits.