A CHANCE sighting of a teenager hitching on the Beara Peninsula wearing a Kurt Cobain t-shirt in 1994 inspired former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl to go back and produce new music.
The Foo Fighters frontman had been visiting Ireland months after the death of Kurt by suicide in April of that year, and recalled this story in his book and in videos.
However, it is only in recent weeks that Athlone stonemason Lorcan Dunne (45) has come forward to reveal that he was that very teenager. What’s more, he has the picture of himself in Allihies to prove it.
Both Lorcan and Dave separately recount the incident in a well-executed spliced video on X (formerly known as Twitter) by his cousins, Eoin and Claire Tighe.
We made a video pic.twitter.com/ncNf33ZtaY
— Eoin Tighe (@eointighe) August 15, 2024
Since they posted the video online, which has been viewed over 2.4m times, it has been picked up by numerous international news outlets around the world including NME and Rolling Stone and several US radio stations have contacted him too.
Lorcan’s twin sister, Irene, who lives in Bantry, told The Southern Star that it’s been amazing since the video went viral.
‘The story only unfolded a few weeks ago when we had a huge family gathering here in Bantry which we call the ‘Family Fescht’ where over 80 family members attended. We had great fun and this story unfolded while Lorcan was here,’ said Irene.
‘Someone mentioned about this famous interview that Dave Grohl gave about meeting a hitchhiker while touring Ireland following the death of Kurt Cobain. None of us had heard this before and then Lorcan realised he was that very hitchhiker.’
She said she actually remembers that summer of 1994 when Lorcan, who was 15 at the time, went down to West Cork with his cousins, as she went down the following summer.
‘It all happened so fast when Dave’s car pulled up in Allihies and Lorcan was pretending to hitchhike and then looked into the car and saw Dave Grohl. He was shocked, as was Dave, it seems, on seeing Kurt Cobain’s face staring back at him on Lorcan’s t-shirt.’
Unfortunately, none of his cousins believed Lorcan’s story until 30 years later, when the story went viral.
Speaking in the video, Lorcan said he was running ahead of the others in Allihies that day and saw a car coming and pretended to hitch a ride. But when he looked in the window he saw Dave Grohl in the passenger seat.
‘I didn’t recognise him as such and I had a Nirvana t-shirt with Kurt’s face on it. I saw the look of shock on Dave’s face and then the car drove away.’
Dave Grohl recalled this incident in previous interviews and had been in a rental car visiting the Ring of Kerry.
‘We were driving around and on a country road I saw this hitchhiker kid and I said maybe I’ll pick him up. As I got closer to him I saw that he had a Kurt Cobain t-shirt on him. It was Kurt’s face looking back at me in the middle of nowhere and then I realised I can’t outrun this. I said I need to go home and f***ing get back to work, and so I did.’
That work turned out to be the phenomenal band, Foo Fighters, which he is still leads to this day.
Dad-of-two Lorcan, who is busily completing two gargoyles as part of his work as a stonemason, only heard about Dave recounting the story in recent weeks.
Irene jokingly said that she feels Dave Grohl owes her twin a pint and – more importantly – a lift and would even invite him to their next family gathering in Bantry in summer 2025!
‘It’s one of those cool stories that has caught people’s imagination and he would love just to meet Dave Grohl and be able to confirm their stories too.’
After all, the Foo Fighters lead singer is the type of guy who might just take them up on their invite.
