More about: Foo FightersDave Grohl

Dave Grohl’s reputation as the “nicest man in rock” has just taken a bit of a battering after former Foo Fighters drummer William Goldsmith compared him to a “school bully”.

The former Sunny Day Real Estate tubthumper played in Foo Fighters from 1995 to 1997. He contributed drums to the band’s second album, The Colour And The Shape – only to find out that Grohl had replaced all of his parts with his own. And judging by his comments, he hasn’t exactly made his peace with his old boss.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Goldsmith said: “Apparently Dave was going to re-record a few of the songs. I don’t know if the producer told him to keep going, or what. But the next thing you know, all of the work I had done was gone except for one or two of the tracks.”

Goldsmith added that the experience had left him creatively “raped”.

“It was a way of describing how it felt — when you put that much of yourself into something, and then without you even knowing, it is completely destroyed from existence,” he said.

Goldsmith is ever more damning over Grohl’s request that the drummer remain with the band and tour with them: “The way things were handled, and what was done to me, I do think that staying in that band would have made me feel like my soul was destroyed and I would have likely ended up dead.”

He added: “But that's not why I set out to play music. That's not what I did it for. For me, to have that done to you and to continue playing live would have been damaging to my soul. I would have been going against what I believe in. I wanted to create music not make money.”

Likening Grohl to a school bully, Goldsmith said: “He was a bit like the kid who is popular but is mean and everyone likes them.”

Meanwhile, Foo Fighters are set to release their new album, Concrete And Gold, on September 15 before returning to the O2 Arena in London on September 19.

More about: Foo FightersDave Grohl