NME
‘Nevermind' and 'Dirty' are the templates - Dave Grohl is getting Butch again.
‘Nevermind' and 'Dirty' are the templates - Dave Grohl is getting Butch again.
Last month in LA, Butch Vig, producer of Nirvana's 'Nevermind', mixer Alan Moulder and engineer James Brown helped Foo Fighters put the finishing touches to their seventh studio album. They then headed off to
a 'secret' Foos show at local dive bar Paladino's, known more for its weekly karaoke than hosting one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.
It was a fitting finale for a no-frills album that was recorded in Dave Grohl's garage, which has a little girl's pink bicycle propped up against a refrigerator topped with tuna cans. Maybe an unlikely spot to record Foo Fighters' "heaviest album yet", but this modest space has housed the band's all-analogue recording sessions for the past few weeks.
"Honestly, we finished the last mix and an hour later we got in Alan's car and drove down to the club and I walked right up onstage," Dave says. "It was like this sappy Hollywood ending with me, Butch, Alan and James walking down the driveway knowing that we weren't coming back to make the record tomorrow. It was so Gone With The Wind it was ridiculous."
Butch played a pivotal role in crafting the as-yet-untitled album, due out this spring.
"I wanted the Foos to have the 'Butch Vig record'," Dave explains. "Nirvana plus Butch Vig equals 'Nevermind'. Sonic Youth plus Butch Vig equals 'Dirty'. So if you have a band and you let it pass through the Butch Vig process, it comes out the other side a better band. I always knew we'd do that with him and now seemed right."
Another familiar name is Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who plays on one song and joined Dave and Pat Smear (Nirvana's touring guitarist and now a Foo Fighter again) at Paladino's for the closest thing to a Nirvana reunion you can get. But Dave now prefers to look to the future ...
"I think Foo Fighters just made the best record we've ever made," he says. "It's one of those albums that defines the band."
Released:
Expected Spring
Producer:
Butch Vig
Recorded:
Dave Grohl's LA home
Songs:
'Dear Rosemary'
'These Days'
'Miss The Misery'
'A Matter Of Time'
'Bridge Burning'
Words: Laura Ferreiro