St Vincent was in awe of how quickly Dave Grohl got to grips with her songs.
The 41-year-old singer – whose real name is Annie Clark – had the 55-year-old Foo Fighters frontman in the studio for her new album ‘All Born Screaming’, as he played drums on ‘Broken Man’ and ‘Flea’, and he knew “every twist and turn” almost immediately.
Speaking to NME magazine, she said: “I’m so lucky to have great friends who also are great rippers.
“Dave Grohl is a buddy and he came into my studio and, like, everything they say is true: he’s the nicest guy in rock and the most fun hang.
“Like, he just drives over in his truck and because he’s so musical, he’s heard the song a few times and knows every twist and turn.”
St Vincent admitted he “lights you up” to hear ‘Best of You’ musician – who rose to fame as the drummer in Nirvana – doing his thing at the kit.
She added: “So you just hang and smoke some Parliaments; he tells war stories, you drink some coffee and smoke more Parliaments, and then he’s like: ‘Cool, let’s go!’
“And he goes in there and it’s Dave Grohl on the drums and he plays it perfectly. Man, it just lights you up to hear him play.”
The pair have been good friends for a long time, and she previously joined Nirvana at a reunion show a decade ago in Los Angeles.
Along with Beck and Dave’s daughter Violet, she performed ‘Lithium’, ‘In Bloom’, ‘Been a Son’, ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ and a rendition of Nirvana’s Davie Bowie cover ‘The Man Who Sold The World’.
Reflecting on Dave’s impact on ‘Broken Man’, she admitted he took the song to another level.
In a recent interview with NME, she said: “From the beginning of the song, it’s a slow-burn.
“The shape of the song is climbing the mountain, because it just grows and grows.
“There are essentially three drummers on the track: the first part is my programming, the second part Mark Guiliana comes in, and then at the very end of the track – just when you think it can’t get any higher – Grohl comes in with this absolute reckless spirit and just takes it to the edge.”