Violet Grohl has covered The Cure‘s ‘High’ for a new radio session – check out the performance below.
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The singer-songwriter delivered a dreamy rendition of Robert Smith and co’s 1992 single for Triple J‘s ‘Like A Version’ series. She also played her track ‘595’, which appears on her debut album ‘Be Sweet To Me’.
Speaking about her choice of cover, Grohl described ‘High’ as “one of my favourite Cure songs, and I don’t really know exactly why”. She continued: “It’s just always been one that I’ve added to so many playlists. I’ve listened to it for so long, I just absolutely love that song.”
The musician went on to praise the track’s “instrumental arrangement”, hailing it as “so beautifully The Cure”.
“I think it’s a really perfect example of their sound during the early ’90s,” Grohl added. “I love the childlike joy of the lyrics – I think it’s such a cute love song. I love all the imagery in the lyricism as well. Again, it’s so sweet. It’s just a sweet song.”
She went on to recall realising “how brilliant [The Cure] were” when she was “about 12 or 13”, saying: “I heard ‘Friday I’m In Love’ and just… there was something about that song. It sucked me in, and right after that [I] did a massive dive of The Cure’s discography. And ever since then, I’ve just been a massive Cure fan. I love Robert Smith.”
Grohl’s stripped-back take on ‘High’ – from The Cure’s ninth studio album, ‘Wish’ – saw her perform backed by just an acoustic guitar. Explaining her approach, she said: “I wanted it to feel as raw as we could get.
“And it was just so much fun, and it’s sweet to tap into that kind of childlike joy or a teenage crush kind of feeling, and just lean into that.”
Watch the performances of ‘High’ and ‘595’ above, and see Grohl’s full interview about the cover here:
Meanwhile, Grohl made her debut appearances at Reading & Leeds last weekend after postponing two UK shows due to illness. Her slot at Leeds featured in NME‘s round-up of the most magical moments from the dual-site festival.
This spring, Grohl opened up about being a young woman in rock, saying: “I don’t like male musicians my age – I don’t care. They have attitude problems. They’ve been saying this about us for so fucking long – it’s time that they sit down, be quiet and play their music.
“The best advice I’ve been given is that it’s OK to say no or that you don’t want to do something.”
Her father – Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl – previously revealed he had “no idea” that his daughter had signed a record deal until she told him over dinner.
“I’m totally uninvolved,” he explained. “I’m like the dad that wants to be there and know everything and she’s just totally doing her own thing. It’s amazing.”
In other news, The Cure have just wrapped up their European and UK summer tour, which included a huge show at Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park. They also made stops at numerous festivals, such as Isle Of Wight, Primavera Sound Barcelona and Rock en Seine.
