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Dave Grohl Shares New Album to Start the New Year

Dave Grohl knows how to get the new year started off right.

On Saturday (January 1), the Foo Fighters frontman released The Hanukkah Sessions collections from 2020 and 2021. Now fans of the two-year-annual series can have all the songs together in one place to enjoy.

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The rocker announced the news and provided links to the new records on the Foo’s social media, writing on Twitter, “You ask, we deliver! The Hanukkah Sessions, now streaming. Hereโ€™s to 2022! Lโ€™chaim! https://kurstingrohl.lnk.to/2020https://kurstingrohl.lnk.to/2021

Last year, Grohl (who is not Jewish) with the help of Foo Fighters producer, Greg Kurstin (who is), began the tradition of covering eight songs by Jewish artists for the eight nights of Hanukkah.

In 2020, Grohl and Kurstin covered the Beastie Boys’ โ€œSabotageโ€, Drake’s โ€œHotline Blingโ€, Mountain’s โ€œMississippi Queenโ€, Peaches’ โ€œFuck the Pain Awayโ€, Bob Dylan’s โ€œRainy Day Women #12 & 35โ€, Elastica’s โ€œConnectionโ€, The Knack’s โ€œFrustratedโ€ and The Velvet Underground’s โ€œRock and Rollโ€.

This year, the duo covered Lisa Loeb’s โ€œStay (I Missed You)โ€, the Ramones’ โ€œBlitzkrieg Bopโ€, Barry Manilow’s โ€œCopacabanaโ€, Van Halen’s โ€œJumpโ€, Amy Winehouse’s โ€œTake the Boxโ€, Billy Joel’s โ€œBig Shotโ€, The Clash’s โ€œTrain in Vainโ€, and KISS’ โ€œRock and Roll All Niteโ€.

Grohl and the Foo Fighters later invited KISS’ frontman Gene Simmons up on stage at their show in Las Vegas. Footage from that performance shows Grohl chiding a fan in the front of the audience on his KISS makeup, calling it โ€œa little shoddy.โ€

The Foo Fighters then bust into a quick cover of KISSโ€™ โ€œCalling Dr. Loveโ€ before Grohl stops and says: โ€œWe canโ€™t do that in front of Gene Simmons. Gene, you can at least come out and show โ€™em your punim.โ€ (Punim is a Yiddish word for face.)

Simmons then walks out in a black baseball hat and jacket and face covering. He then gives Grohl a dollar bill as a presumed tip. Hey, itโ€™s Vegas after all.

After Simmons walked off stage, Grohl told the crowd, โ€œAll right. Weโ€™ve got a rock show nowโ€ฆ Listen, Gene Simmons โ€” legendary bass player. I had posters of that motherfโ€“ker on my wall when I was a kid. Hold on, let me rephrase thatโ€”I still have posters of Gene Simmons on my fโ€“king wall at home.โ€

Check out the full video below, posted by a fan on YouTube. And check out The Hanukkah Sessions KISS cover below, as well.