Mike Mettler

Dave Grohl and I are crouched together on a hot blacktop driveway that encircles the SoCal locale where the photo session for this exclusive S+V cover story is taking place. To the onlookers who shuffle past us and sometimes hover at a respectful distance, it appears as if these two hunched, animated, close-talking bearded longhairs are plotting to take over the world — and perhaps that’s not an entirely wrong assumption.

YOU’RE SCRAMBLING NOW, thinking, Wait — I recognize her . . . don’t I? Yes — yes, you do. Can’t quite place her though, hmm? (She might actually appreciate that; she doesn’t like or seek being typecast.)