WATCH: Ipswich music prodigy Nandi Bushell has drummed up an online storm after her cheeky challenge to one of the biggest names in rock saw him respond.
Dave Grohl, frontman of the Foo Fighters, took up the musical gauntlet thrown down by the 10-year-old on social media to play the drum part from the band’s 1997 hit Everlong after she was filmed playing it.
He then laid down a challenge of his own for her to learn the drum part to the track Dead End Friends from his 2009 Them Crooked Vultures collaboration with Led Zeppelin star John Paul Jones and Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age.
The star, drummer in legendary 1990s band Nirvana, lived up to his reputation as one of the nice guys of rock by telling her: “I haven’t played that song since the day I recorded it in 1997.
“But Nandi, in the last week I’ve gotten at least 100 texts from people all over the world saying ‘This girl is challenging you to a drum-off, what are you going to do?’
“I’ve seen all your videos, seen you on TV, you’re an incredible drummer and I’m really flattered that you’ve picked some of my songs to do for your videos, and you’ve done them all perfectly.”
The video on Nandi’s YouTube page has now had more than 147,000 views and the ecstatic youngster said on it: “This is UNREAL! I can’t believe @davestruestories actually accepted my drum battle! This is the best day EVER!!! Challenge Accepted Mr Grohl, now it’s my turn to learn ‘dead end friends’ by @themcrookedvultures! I am going to checkmate this one too! This is so so so AWESOME!”
Nandi has become an internet sensation with her music videos showing her play drums and guitar to her favourite rock tracks, and has been widely interviewed on American TV including the Ellen DeGeneres talk show, one of the biggest in the US.
Nandi’s dad John said: “Nandi is a massive fan of Dave Grohl, Nirvana and the Foo Fighters.
“We were driving back from Wales and it was on a playlist, so we suggested that she do a cover and within a few days she had recorded a video.
“We didn’t expect Dave would see the video and actually reply, but her Instagram account started going crazy with all these notifications coming through and then we saw on the Foo Fighters page that he was playing Everlong.
“It’s just unreal that he responded and he was brilliant. Nandi had a lot of fun with the track, and she loves the competition of drum battles.
“She’s so excited, she’s practicing Dead End Friends ever since he came back to her and I think she’ll smash it.”
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