Fresh Fighters Foo Fighters Spice Up Life In Pullman, But Try Leaving Your Mentos At Home

The Foo Fighters have been running into some sticky situations at recent concerts.

They’re not suffering any technical setbacks, and they’re playing quite well together, according to some recent reviews. The Foo Fighters’ bus isn’t breaking down nor are they getting ripped off by promoters.

“Their main problem is that their getting beaned with Mentos,” said Jawbreaker bassist Chris Bauermeister from a tour stop in Austin last week. Along with Ween, Jawbreaker is currently opening for the Foo Fighters on the West Coast leg of the band’s U.S. tour, which stops at the CUB Ballroom in Pullman Friday.

“People are throwing handfuls of Mentos at them,” Bauermeister said. “Last night, I saw these high-velocity Mentos winged towards the stage.”

Of all things, why Mentos candies?

If you have MTV, you already know.

If you don’t, the Foo Fighters filmed a hilarious spoof of the Mentos commercials for their latest video, “Big Me.”

In the video, band members - singer-guitarist Dave Grohl, guitarist Pat Smear, drummer William Goldsmith and bassist Nate Mendel - play the roles of characters from the Mentos commercials. They re-enact two popular Mentos scenarios - “The Parking Incident” and “The Limousine Incident” - and come up with one of their own.

As with the commercials, each clip is followed by the logo. But instead of reading “Mentos: The fresh-maker,” it reads “Footos: The fresh-fighter.”

Further, just like the ad campaign has developed a huge cult following in this country, the video has transformed the song “Big Me” into the Foo Fighters’ biggest hit so far.

But as Jawbreaker’s Bauermeister has witnessed, the video has opened the door for unruly fans to shell them with the candies at shows.

So how’s the band coping with the steady pelts?

“I talked to William about it,” said Bauermeister. “He says they’re getting used to it.”

If you were one of the lucky 1,000 to snatch up a ticket for the sold-out WSU concert, by all means enjoy the show, but leave the Mentos in your mouth.

This isn’t the first time Jawbreaker has opened for Grohl and Smear, both members of Nirvana. In 1993, the San Francisco unit toured with Nirvana, which undoubtedly led to its signing with Nirvana’s label, Geffen.

Hopefully, the current jaunt with the Foo Fighters will help Jawbreaker regain the momentum it initially had when its fourth album and major label debut “Dear You” was released last fall.

The album’s first single, a soaring guitar number called “Fireman,” started out strong on radio and was approved for full rotation by MTV. Since radio interest quickly faded, MTV dropped the song after only eight plays.

Geffen had high expectations. After all, the threesome was plucked from the same music scene as Green Day, even if the bands’ punk styles don’t match.

Although both Jawbreaker and Geffen are struggling to find “Dear You” an audience, Bauermeister, whose band is locked in with Geffen for at least two more albums, doesn’t regret making the jump from the safe harbor of indie rock to the mainstream.

“There have been some rocky times,” said the bassist. “We’re not the big hit sensation that they had hoped we would be.”

At least not yet. “Dear You,” although a departure from Jawbreaker’s earlier releases, was still one of the best records released last year.

Yet worries of sluggish sales suddenly superseded Jawbreaker’s thirst to make music.

“We got a little too deep into the whole business end of things for a while,” Bauermeister said. “It made us stir-crazy. It sort of made it no fun for us. So we were like, ‘… Why are we doing this? We’re a band … If they want to sell records, fine. That’s their job. We’ll just write and play music and tour.”’

Smartly, Jawbreaker - rounded out by vocalist-guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach and drummer Adam Pfahler - took the money allotted for its next video and invested it in touring. That way Jawbreaker can stay on the road longer to support the album.

If the new single “Accident Prone” does well on radio, the band will shoot a new video.

Jawbreaker has been elusive all its career. Every album sounds significantly different without production and Schwarzenbach’s signature raspy vocalist being factors. 1994’s “24-Hour Revenge Therapy” was a raucous, charged punk rock blast. 1992’s “Bivouac” was a noisy, introspective album. “Unfun” exhibited the trio’s poppiness. And the polished “Dear You” is a slower, moody and thoughtful effort.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT The Foo Fighters, Ween and Jawbreaker perform Friday at 8 p.m. at the CUB Ballroom at Washington State University. The concert is sold out.