Obstruction

Celebrity Skin

- Hole, Celebrity Skin -

Being on a big tour changed our lives.
Suddenly 'Story of Us' and 'Dark Days' were both selling all over the world. People knew who we were and we even had the occasional Paparazzi on our heels.

Much of it thanks to being on tour with the greatest rock band in the world.
We didn't exactly get to hang out with them as such but we had enough time with them to pick up on their good advice and to see what made them great. Basically they were a chilled out bunch who partied occasionally but not every day... or even every week.
We went with them a couple of times to small pubs and clubs where they had these incognito gigs and were occasionally asked to join them at restaurants or trips to the cinema.
And they were really cool and down to earth.

Dave Grohl found it hilarious to enter a celebrity look-a-like contest in Berlin and I went with him to see the delighted smile on his face when he won the third price behind a really awful Elvis and a girl who vaguely resembled Gwen Stefani.

"The trick is, Izzy. Never forget where you came from and who you are," he told me when he spotted my disbelief at his third place for not looking enough like himself for a first.

I got it though.
All of the guys in Foo Fighters were down to earth, likeable guys without any star ideas or inflated egos. They were in it for the music, not the fame. Which is what we wanted to do.

"I know you guys have been told how to do stuff a certain way by your publicity people. Just ignore that. Focus on the music and have fun. Don't worry about the fucking press," he said and gave a friendly wave to a paparazzi as we were walking back to the hotel after his look-a-like contest.

The guy would get taxis but a lot of the time he chose to walk like a normal person. Sometimes people would look at him as if trying to figure out if it was him, and sometimes people would stop him for a photo and a chat. He didn't seem that fazed by it tho. He'd give a friendly smile and pose for photos before walking on.

"You just waved to the pap?!?" I asked, throwing a look over my shoulder at the photographer on the other side of the street.

"Yeah. Gets annoying if there are too many of them, but most of the time, they are just doing their job. Besides... it doesn't hurt to look friendly in photos," he chuckled and stopped to chat with another fan.

"Makes sense," I mused and made sure I gave Dave's fan a friendly smile as he decided to take a selfie with me as well.

"Anyway. Thanks for going with me. This one is yours," he grinned and gave me his price from the look-a-like contest. It was a small teddy bear wearing a t-shirt with the logo of the mall and something in German about looking famous.

"Will you sign it?" I asked and got a hearty chuckle and a nod back.

"Sure. I'll sign the bear. But you'll have to get me a signed Obstruction CD for my kids," He laughed.

Oddball got hold of the Foo Fighters raider one day and we ended up comparing it to our own and making alterations.

"They have hardly any alcohol, considering the amount of people backstage with them," Simon commented.

"I like our raider, tho," I said. We had food, local beer, fruit and water as our staples.

Sometimes we would ask for souvenirs to take home, but most of the time we were happy with the food. I usually asked for a stack of stamped postcards to send home to my mum and Ellen. Oddball wanted local snacks and usually ate most of them. Ethan and Simon stuck with the local beer.

"How about you put what you want on your raider instead of trying to copy the Foo's?" Selma asked.

"I'm with Selma. We don't need to ask for stuff we don't need," I agreed.