Alain Johannes Moschulski (born May 2, 1962 in Chile) is a guitarist and, along with his late partner Natasha Shneider and drummer Jack Irons, a founding member of the band Eleven. In addition to his work with Eleven, he has also collaborated with many other bands and artists such as Chris Cornell, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, Arctic Monkeys, Mark Lanegan and The Desert Sessions, both as a musician and as a producer.
As a teenager Johannes formed the band Chain Reaction (later Anthym) with Hillel Slovak, Todd Strassman, and Jack Irons. This band was later renamed What Is This?. Todd Strassman was replaced by Michael Balzary (Flea), who was replaced, upon leaving the band, by Chris Hutchinson.
In 1987, Johannes and Natasha Shneider released the album Walk the Moon under the MCA label. Reportedly, Chris Hutchinson and Jack Irons played on some of its tracks.
Eleven was formed in 1990 and released their debut album Awake in a Dream in 1991, which included the pop based singles "Rainbows End" and "All Together". They followed this with regular releases Eleven in 1993, Thunk! in 1995, Avantgardedog in 2000, and Howling Book in 2003.
David Eric "Dave" Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter, who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and founder of the Foo Fighters, prior to which he was the drummer in the grunge band Nirvana. He is also the drummer and co-founder of the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. Grohl has additionally written all the music and performed all the instruments for his short-lived side projects Late! and Probot, as well as being involved with Queens of the Stone Age numerous times throughout the past decade. He has performed session work (as a drummer) for a variety of musicians, including Garbage, Killing Joke, Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, Slash, Juliette Lewis, Tenacious D, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Lemmy Kilmister.
As a child, Grohl's family relocated from Warren, Ohio, to Springfield, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Three years later, when Grohl was six, his parents divorced, and Grohl grew up living with his mother.
Lee Ving (born Lee James Capellaro; April 10, 1946, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, most famous for his role as lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the Los Angeles-based punk rock band Fear, and actor. In the late 1960s Ving joined Sweet Stavin Chain Blues Band in Philadelphia, playing with Michael Brecker and Eugene Busnar; they played shows with B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Cream among others. Later, Ving moved to New York and formed the band Daybreak. In the mid 1970s, he moved to Los Angeles and in 1977 formed Fear.
Ving has also sung for the band MD.45, which also featured Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and Jimmy DeGrasso of Suicidal Tendencies. The 2004 re-release/remastered record replaced Lee Ving's with Dave Mustaine's vocals. Ving has also sung country music in the outlaw country genre with the band Range War. Prior to Fear, Ving played in a six piece blues act named Easy Love.
Fear reached national notoriety after the Halloween, 1981 episode of Saturday Night Live, in which they were introduced by guest host Donald Pleasence. Fear was booked only because former cast member John Belushi had insisted upon their booking as a condition of his return to appear in two skits in cameo parts. The band played two songs, during which hardcore members of the audience, many of whom traveled to NYC from Washington, D.C., slam danced and stage dived damaging the set. As the band began a third song, SNL producer Dick Ebersol ordered the live feed stopped, and a taped rehearsal performance played after a brief black-out delay.[citation needed]
Pat Smear (born Georg Ruthenberg, August 5, 1959) is a rock musician who has been a guitarist in several well-known bands including the Germs and Nirvana. He is currently a guitarist for the Foo Fighters. He is also known for appearing regularly on the MTV fashion show House of Style with friend and supermodel Cindy Crawford.
He was born and raised in West Los Angeles. He was born to an African-American/Native American mother and a German/Jewish immigrant father. His parents forced him to take piano lessons at a young age, and a few years later, he began teaching himself to play guitar. He lists his influences as Joan Jett, Brian James, Brian May, and Steve Jones.
As a teenager in 1977, Smear and Darby Crash formed the Germs with bassist Lorna Doom and drummer Dottie Danger (the pseudonym of Belinda Carlisle, who went on to front The Go-Go's).
Carlisle was soon replaced by Don Bolles and, in 1979, the band released their first album, (GI). Produced by Joan Jett, the record is now defined as a milestone in the history of punk rock. The Germs endured for one more year before finally disbanding in 1980 after Crash committed suicide. After the Germs, Smear had a brief stint as a member of punk band The Adolescents.
Oliver Taylor Hawkins (born February 17, 1972 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters. Prior to joining the band in 1997, he was the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette on her Jagged Little Pill and Can't Not tours, as well as the drummer in the progressive experimental band called Sylvia which, after changing their name to Anyone, went on to sign with Roadrunner Records. His cousin, Kevin Harrell, introduced him to Dave Grohl after camping with him for several weeks in the Ozarks. Hawkins would eventually become the drummer for Grohl's band, Foo Fighters. He was voted "Best Rock Drummer" in 2005 by the UK drumming magazine, Rhythm.
In 2004, Hawkins formed his own side project, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, in which he plays drums and sings.
After leaving the Orange County-based band Sylvia (later emerging as ANYONE), he joined up as drummer for Sass Jordan, which in turn he left to act as drummer for Alanis Morissette. He has appeared in Morissette's videos for "You Oughta Know" and "You Learn".