<\/p>\n
\n\tFoo Fighters<\/a> are set to return to the road <\/a>this month<\/a>, but they\u2019ll be without guitarist Pat Smear, who found himself on the injured list not from rocking out too hard, but what\u2019s apparently the second greatest threat to rock stars everywhere: mishaps in the garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe band shared the news on Instagram with a fake tabloid cover featuring a photo of a grinning Smear hoisting a middle finger while being carried away on a stretcher. \u201cPat Smear Bizarre Gardening Accident!\u201d reads the headline (The issue also promises \u201cAliens Spotted Warming Up for Spring Training!\u201d and \u201c2026 Fried Chicken and Champagne Diet Tips.\u201d)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn the classic tradition of rockstars having bizarre gardening accidents, Pat Smear has apparently rung in the new year by smashing the shit out of his left foot,\u201d Foo Fighters wrote in the caption. How exactly Smear smashed his foot remains unclear, though the band said he was left with multiple broken bones.<\/p>\n \n\tSmear will miss \u201ca few shows\u201d while he heals, the band continued, adding: \u201cWe\u2019ll miss our beloved Pat as much as you will, but we want him fully healed and back on his feet as soon as possible.\u201d Smear\u2019s temporary replacement will be Jason Falkner, who\u2019s played guitar with Beck and St. Vincent.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAs goofy as the group\u2019s fake tabloid cover was, there actually is a weird history of \u201cbizarre gardening accidents\u201d in rock music \u2014 some fake, some real. On the fake side, there\u2019s the famous Spinal Tap bit<\/a> where the metal band\u2019s first drummer, John \u201cStumpy\u201d Pepys, died<\/a> in a \u201cbizarre gardening accident\u201d that the authorities said was better left \u201cunsolved.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tOn the very real side, Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro<\/a> actually did die while spraying insecticides in his yard in the early Nineties (though the coroner ultimately ruled<\/a> that he died from a heart attack caused by cocaine use, not an allergic reaction to the pesticides). And in May 2020, Queen guitarist Brian May ripped<\/a> his gluteus maximums \u201cto shreds\u201d in what he called<\/a> \u201ca moment of over-enthusiastic gardening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n