“I was like, ‘OK, so how many songs am I not going to play bass on?’” Nate Mendel on the time John Paul Jones arrived for his Foo Fighters cameo

Nate Mendel of Foo Fighters performs on stage during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend at Carlisle Airport on May 14, 2011 in Carlisle, United Kingdom. John Paul Jones performs with Seasick Steve during the performs during the 2014 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on June 14, 2014 in Manchester, Tennessee. .

If you're familiar with the Foo Fighters’ big hits – Monkey Wrench, Learn To Fly, Times Like These, Breakout and so on – you'll know that they specialise in Rock with a capital R, designed for stadiums and beloved of crowds worldwide.

It's all a long way from bassist Nate Mendel's youth as a punk kid from Richland, Washington. “I just wanted to be in a band," he told Bass Player. “I was listening to the Ghost In The Machine album by the Police at the time, and I was hugely into Sting, so when my friend suggested I should play bass guitar I thought it sounded like an awesome idea.”