Dave Grohl Gives Leg Update: 'It Could Have Been Worse'

When Dave Grohl looks back at the offstage fall that snapped his fibula and dislocated his ankle, at a Swedish Foo Fighters gig last month, he takes solace in one thing: It could have worse. "I could have done some real damage," he says with a slight rasp, due to a "great show" in Toronto the night before, on an off day before the group's co-headlining gig at the Festival d'été de Québec. "This is pretty gnarly, but it could have been a lot worse. I'm just blessed to still be talking to fuckin' Rolling Stone."

All things considered, he says, he's happy with his progress and he's stoked to be back on tour, playing to North American audiences from his giant guitar throne. "The shows are the easiest part of my whole day," he says with a laugh. "The rest of the time, I'm hobbling around trying to brush my teeth and pack my bags and walk down the street and get a cup of coffee. The challenge is the other 21 hours of the day. But I'm good. I'm just taking it one day at a time."

Health-wise, things are on the up and up. "I'm starting to do a little bit of rehab exercise and the cast is off," he says. "The swelling's down. The pain's gone. It's just a matter of getting those kick-drum muscles back, man. I can't fuckin' lose those. That's important to me. So I'm sitting here, moving it around, doing my exercise as we speak. So it's OK."

The good news is that now that the cast has come off, he's moved on to a removable boot that gives him a little more mobility. "The broken bone is only part of my injury," he says. "The other part of my injury is the ligaments and the cartilage is destroyed when I dislocated it. I had a physical therapist tell me the other day that it was basically like my ankle got into a 40 mile per hour car crash. It's not just like a sprained ankle; it's like an ankle that got its ass kicked by Ronda Rousey. It's just a matter of bringing it back to life, and I've always appreciated the challenges of life. I'm up for a challenge. I'll fucking take it. And this is a big one, but I'm in it to win it."

Currently, the Foo Fighters have North American dates scheduled through late October. The band will take a short break and then head to Europe in November.

In the meantime, Grohl recently participated in a hardcore supergroup called Teenage Time Killers that Corrosion of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin helped mastermind. The group's upcoming album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 features a bevy of punk and metal firebrands, ranging from Dead Kennedys' Jello Biafra to Slipknot's Corey Taylor. The group's song with Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe is streaming here. The record is due out July 31st.