William Goldsmith served as Foo Fighters’ original drummer from 1995 until 1997. He was previously a member of the alternative rock band, Sunny Day Real Estate alongside Foo Fighters’ bassist Nate Mendel.
Sunny Day Real Estate was on the verge of breaking up in the mid 90’s just as Dave Grohl was looking to put together a band to tour for Foo Fighters debut album, in which Grohl played all the instruments except one guitar part.
Former Sunny Day Real Estate Members Join Dave Grohl on Tour
Impressed with the Sunny Day Real Estate’s rhythm section, Grohl approached the pair and gave them a copy of Foo Fighters’ debut record. From that point on the trio, along with former Nirvana and Germs guitarist Pat Smear started to tour together over the next two years.
The tour was a challenge for Goldsmith who admitted in the 2011 documentary, Back and Forth, that he was a little nervous playing in front of a crowd and resorted to drinking and drugs to deal with the pressure.
The band’s tour was a success as they played bigger and bigger venues as time went on, paving the way for their hugely successful sophomore record, The Colour and The Shape.
Recording Begins on The Colour and The Shape
The recording of the album was difficult for the band as it was the first time the quartet were in a studio setting. Producer Gil Norton pushed the band to perfect their parts and both Goldsmith and Mendel struggled as Norton, at one point, referred to them as the rhythmless section.
The songs on the record were written primarily during soundchecks during the group’s 1.5 year long tour with bassist Nate Mendel telling an interviewer how Grohl was the creative force. “The germ of every song is Dave’s,” with the frontman providing a riff and a basic song structure. The band would then jam and each member would contribute to some aspect of the song.
William Goldsmith Under Extra Scrutiny
Due to Grohl’s drumming background, he revealed in the same Back and Forth documentary, that when he’s writing a song, he already has an idea of what the drummer should be playing so Goldsmith was under extra scrutiny during the writing and recording of the album.
The sessions were expensive and time consuming as Grohl was unhappy with the quality of the music initially. The band decided to take a break over the Christmas holidays and reconvene in the new year.
Dave Grohl Re-Records the Album Without William Goldsmith
The band minus Goldsmith reconvened in Los Angeles in February of 1997 to re-record the entire album. Grohl re-recorded all of the drum parts with the exception of two songs including “Doll” and “Up in Arms.”
Grohl and Norton didn’t feel as if the drumming was up to snuff and Goldsmith who was up in Seattle at the time, even contacted the band to see if he should fly down to LA, but Grohl told him was busy doing overdubs.
William Goldsmith Leaves the Band
Mendel told Goldsmith the truth of what was actually happening and that Dave was re-recording most of his drum parts. Angered and upset, Goldsmith left the band by the end of 1997, even though Grohl wanted him to tour with the group.
Upon hearing the final versions of the drum tracks on the sophomore record, Goldsmith told the Daily Mail in 2017, “The versions Dave did were very similar. I am not saying I am an amazing drummer – the work that I did was not bad.”
“…I do think that staying in that band would have made me feel like my soul was destroyed and I would have likely ended up dead.” – William Goldsmith
Goldsmith would also talk about him leaving the band. “The way things were handled, and what was done to me, I do think that staying in that band would have made me feel like my soul was destroyed and I would have likely ended up dead.”
In the same interview, Goldsmith claimed that he wished he had never met Grohl. “That feeling might change if we actually sat down and talked. But that hasn’t happened yet.”
Goldsmith also revealed that he became a verbal punching bag for the Foo’s frontman and that he felt creatively raped and compared Grohl to a schoolyard bully. The drummer also gave his beliefs for how Nirvana’s dynamics influenced Grohl’s leadership style in the Foo’s.
“The impression I had got from people who were flies on the wall when Nirvana was recording was that Kurt had been very definite on what he wanted and Dave had to do it. I think his inability to allow people to collaborate with him after that, came from Kurt having things a certain way and him reacting to his frustrations.”
Goldsmith Claims He Didn’t Get Credit For His Work
It was that inability to work with Grohl that resulted in Goldsmith claiming he never got credit for his work, so he was screwed out of royalties. He told the Daily Mail, “I get paid around 0.01% in royalties, so every six months I get like $1,100 if I am lucky.”
Goldsmith’s relationship with his former bandmate, Nate Mendel was also fractured but they would reunite in 2002 when they played together in a band called The Fire Theft. They reunited again in 2010 when Sunny Day Real Estate reformed.
The drummer claimed that the last time he saw Grohl was in 2002 at a festival that they were both playing at. He recalled to the Guardian, “Dave saw me and said, ‘That Fire Theft record you did was good.’ …I had been given the impression he feels bad about the way things went. If he feels bad about how things went then why hasn’t he tried to get a hold of me? All he would have to do is sit down and talk it out with me.”
The following year, Goldsmith blamed Grohl once again for blocking the release of Sunny Day Real Estate’s unfinished fifth album, which was recorded at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606.
Goldsmith claimed Grohl wasn’t supportive of Mendel’s involvement in the planned LP as well as his work in Fire Theft. Nate Mendel responded via Foo Fighters’ representatives denying the allegations, claiming the pair hadn’t spoken in 7 years. Goldsmith later clarified the remarks that Sunny Day Real Estate bandmates didn’t receive the proper engineering support and it wasn’t directly Grohl’s fault.
“…He keeps going on these blog adventures. Dave never fired him, Dave never wanted to fire him.” – Taylor Hawkins
Almost a year and a half after the interview with the Guardian, current Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins defended Dave Grohl saying, “I wasn’t really comfortable playing drums in Foo Fighters really until we got into ‘One By One’. ‘All My Life’ was the first track because Dave played half the tracks on ‘There Is Nothing Left To Lose’. I was struggling because I had never been in the studio before and the studio is a completely different thing than live dude, it couldn’t be any more different. The microscope is on. The first drummer for the Foo Fighters buckled under the pressure, and still blames Dave for that. It’s like, ‘No dude’, and Dave never fired him by the way. Just so we’re all clear, Dave never fired him. He quit. He keeps going on these blog adventures. Dave never fired him, Dave never wanted to fire him.”
In 2019, Goldsmith hit some tough financial times and was on the verge of selling his own drum kit but a kickstarter campaign was able to help out.
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“…I Do Think That Staying In That Band Would Have Made Me Feel Like My Soul Was Destroyed And I Would Have Likely Ended Up Dead.” – William Goldsmith
Interesting that Taylor did end up dead.
Yeah but that was TH playing with drugs and made a deadly cocktail. DG and TH were very close and DG let’s everyone do their own creative things. TH had 3 different side projects while in the Foos.