FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl recently revealed the extent of his hearing loss.
During a recent appearance on Howard Stern, Grohl said that he has been functionally deaf for almost two decades.
Dave says (as transcribed by Consequence of Sound): “If you were sitting next to me right here at dinner, I wouldn’t understand a fucking word you were saying to me the whole fucking time. There’s no way. In a crowded restaurant — that’s the worst.
“The worst thing about this pandemic shit is people wearing masks. I’ve been reading lips for, like, 20 years… I’m a rock musician. I’m fucking deaf. I can’t hear what you’re saying.”
“When we go in to make a record, and we’re mixing an album, I can hear the slightest little things. My ears are still tuned in to certain frequencies, and if I hear something out of tune or a cymbal that’s not bright enough or something like that. In the mix, I can fucking hear the minutiae of everything we had done to that song.”
“The problem that I have with [ear monitors] is it removes you from the natural atmosphere sound. I wanna hear the audience in front of me… It messes with your spatial understanding of where you are onstage.”
You can watch the full interview below.