I don't really know much about guitars at all but I play one in a band - basically I want to know how to make a bit more noise without sounding ridiculous, and the main thing I'm wondering is how they make that kind of whirring sound before going into a bit of a guitar explosion? The Foo Fighters do it a lot, but the best example I can think of is in Roseability by Idlewild about 2m20 in.

Is it as simple as having a seperate distortion pedal completely cranked up or is there actually a technique to doing it?

Or have I really not made this clear enough?