On November 10, 2014, the eighth studio album from the iconic American rock band the Foo Fighters will become available worldwide. Sonic Highways, a “love letter to the history of American music,” as the Foo Fighters themselves said on their website, has been in the works since 2013.
This album is quite unique. Grohl said in a 2013 interview that “we are going to make this album in a way that no-one’s ever done before and we’re pretty excited about it.” On October 12, a trailer was released, outlining a new HBO series that will accompany the album for promotional purpose. For each of the eight new songs, there will be a corresponding episode that details the writing and recording process of that song. Each song is focused on a city and the local legends it holds.
The first episode aired October 17, with a special focus on Chicago. “Basically, the process is we come to a city and we spend a week and we start recording an instrumental, because I interview all of these different musicians from that city,” said Grohl. Next, Grohl writes his lyrics based on the interviews from the musicians in that city. The first single from the album, Something From Nothing, was released a day before its episode aired. The Foo Fighters credit many other artists as influences in the writing of this single, ranging from Steve Albini, producer of Nirvana’s third album, to Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen.
The second single, “The Feast and the Famine,” was released October 24, the same day episode 2 of the Sonic Highways series aired. It took place in Washington, D.C. this time, which happens to be Grohl’s own home turf.
The next five episodes air every Friday, leading up to the final episode on December 5. Future cities visited include famous recording studios in Nashville and Los Angeles, as well as New York, Austin, and New Orleans. “Mostly we wanted to pick cities that meant something to us, so there’s Seattle, where Dave made the first Foo Fighters record plus his history with Nirvana,” guitarist Pat Smear said.
Since the last album from the Foo Fighters was released all the way back in 2011, fans are excited for the mountain new music, clocking in at just over 44 minutes of tunes. With new tour dates and surprise concerts to come, it will be an eventful year for the Foos and their fans alike.
