On getting Barry Manilow for his "Sound City" doc: "Barry Manilow is the coolest motherf***er in the world. Years ago we have a family friend named Dave Koz who is a jazz alto saxophonist. He's pretty famous - he's won Grammys, has a radio show and has sold millions of records. He was getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame so he invited us to the ceremony at the Capitol Records building. In the green room before the event started it was like the Mount Rushmore of smooth jazz, including Kenny G and Barry Manilow. The only time I'd seen Barry before was at a Clive Davis party where he performed a medley of his hits that went on for half an hour that left everyone - from Puff Daddy to Pearl Jam - in tears."
"So on the day we were walking out to see Dave get his star, I heard Barry's assistant whisper, 'That's Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters.' Barry said, 'Dave Grohl - I love the Foo Fighters!' He had me right there! Barry had recorded at Sound City - one of the coolest things about the movie and the list of cast members is the diversity: there's a lot of rock in there but everyone recorded at Sound City at least once, from Barry Manilow to Trent Reznor. That original soundboard that I bought should be in the rock'n'roll hall of fame. It has so much magic inside of it from all of those different artists."
On Lars Ulrich getting a hard time because of Metallica's "Some Kind Of Monster" documentary: "First of all I love Lars Ulrich. He's always been a huge influence. I bought the first Metallica record the month it came out, I am a die-hard fan and you will have to pry their CDs from my cold dead hands. Lars is without a doubt a very strong personality. I think he's the engine that drives that band - he might not be the sole creative mastermind but he is as passionate about what he does as any other great musician."
"You also don't meet too many people who just don't give a f***. Lars does not give care what you think! I have a lot of respect for that. I have wrestled with that guy drunk on the floor of a hotel room, I've cried to that guy - he knows he's my hero. But he won't change. Some Kind Of Monster is such a nightmare for any musician to watch because you're watching a band be honest to each other. Not a good idea man! You know why Foo Fighters have been a band for 20 years? Because I've never really told anybody what I think of them. The last thing you ever want to do is go is go to therapy with your band. I feel like that's what happened to the Kinks - that's when people start punching each other in the face. We keep the peace by not having the therapist in a sweater that charges $2000 a week."
On the hardest person to track down for "Sound City": "Neil Young. He was the first person to agree to do it and the last person to do his interview - there was a year in between. I eventually just had to fly to Hawaii. Someone said, 'I'm so sorry he really wants to do it but he's got the next five days off and you're going to have to go.' I flew everyone down with all their gear, talked to him for an hour and a half and the rest of the time I just drank beer in the ocean. So cool - there's nothing better than having a bottle of beer in your hand in the waves."
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