Dave Grohl takes the key to Sound City

ALMOST three decades ago, The Beatles inspired a young Dave Grohl to follow his musical destiny.

Dave Grohl

ALMOST three decades ago, The Beatles inspired a young Dave Grohl to follow his musical destiny.

So imagine you're a big rock kid and you get to write and record a song in three hours with Paul McCartney and two of your Nirvana brothers, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear.

When you finish, you are kicking back on a couch in the studio control room listening to the song Cut Me Some Slack when the 70-year-old musician jumps on top of you and starts wrestling.

"To be perfectly honest, every time I see that (scene), I cry. I am seeing this film every single day at the moment so I just cried an hour ago. Can you ever f...ing imagine that happening?" Grohl says.

"It really is going to heaven without dying. As a kid, I didn't go to church; I wasn't raised in a religious family. My albums were my religion and these people were my saints.

"The thing with Paul is he immediately disarms that feeling that you are close to a Beatle; he understands what he represents to people."

That light-hearted candid scene comes towards the end of Grohl's directorial debut Sound City, which premieres in Australia today.

The doco was inspired by Grohl's purchase of the legendary Neve analogue recording console from the infamous Los Angeles Sound City studio where seminal records by Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Rick Springfield, Pat Benatar, Santana, REO Speedwagon, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Queens Of The Stone Age and Wolfmother were made.

It is the story of the historic, decrepit but beloved studios, the people who laboured with love there - both artists and technicians - and the dramatic effect the arrival of digital technology had on how we make and listen to music.

The second half of the film focuses on what Grohl does best, featuring the Foo Fighters frontman in the creative moment with different configurations of his interview subjects as they write and record new songs using the Sound City desk.

There's Nirvana with McCartney, Nicks messing up in the vocal booth on You Can't Fix This, Springfield rocking out on The Man That Never Was and Trent Reznor and Josh Homme respectfully jamming the foundation of Mantra. And there lies Grohl's intent for Sound City. Ultimately, he wanted the film to remind music lovers about the human element of art.

"It's easy to get confused about what the human element means to music and the conversation becoming about digital versus analogue," Grohl says.

"When I talk about the human element of music, it can be everything from the way you play your guitar to the relationship between the people in the studio."

Australian Rick Springfield features extensively throughout the doco as he was one of the first - and more successful - artists to emerge out of the studios thanks to the international smash hit Jessie's Girl and his star turn on long-running soap General Hospital.

Things did get uncomfortable for both men as Grohl sent Springfield back down memory lane and the '80s rock hero became emotional talking about a former manager who died.

"Rick Springfield was the golden child of Sound City and he was one of the first emails I sent out; he was so excited to tell the story of his studio and he's such a sweet dude," Grohl says.

"When he came in to record with us, it wasn't that far from what the Foos do and we all played together at Park City this week, he threw his guitar 36m above his head.

"So when he almost breaks down and cries in our interview ... I am no Barbara Walters or Oprah so that freaked me out. It was really heavy."

The film comes with a soundtrack of 11 songs featuring everyone from Nicks and Fear frontman Lee Ving to Rage Against The Machine's Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford.

While he is enjoying the Q&A sessions after the screenings in the US, it is the prospect of a gig with his supergroup the Sound City Players that has Grohl pumped about taking the doco to the world.

There may even be a gig in Australia when the Foos frontman heads here to launch the soundtrack in early March.

"Whether I am coming down with a mic or an army of musicians, the Sound City Players, one way or another I'll be there," he says.

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HEAR Sound City soundtrack and DVD/Blu-ray released on March 8.

SEE Sound City screens January 31at:

NSW: Event Cinemas George Street, Macquarie Centre

QLD: Event Cinemas Chermside, Pacific Fair

SA: Event Cinemas Marion

WA: Event Cinemas Innaloo