FooArchive News

This special magazine will tell the story of NME's 2011 Godlike Genius: a genuine rock and roll legend with a career spanning 25 years, that begins with the tale of a 10 million selling classic album, and takes in six UK Top Ten albums after that -  the last one going straight to Number One in 2007.  Not to mention headline shows at Wembley and every major festival in the world.

There are a ton of new and classic photos of all the artist's groups, some of the most candid, legendary and iconic interviews NME has ever published, plus new interviews about all the exciting things in store for 2011.

The magazine will be on shelves in February, ticket holders for the NME Big Gig will be able to pick up a free issue @ Wembley Arena and those overseas can buy it online.

Prior to Dave receiving the Godlike Genius Award at the NME Awards, NME.com are posting a series of video interviews with him & the latest is an interesting tour of his home studio:

The latest Mojo is a special anniversary issue marking twenty years since the release of Nirvana’s Nevermind, MOJO  takes a look back on the year that changed everything, including Dave Grohl on the tipping point of  ’Smells Like Teen Spirit’.

See the magazine’s full contents HERE.

As promotion prior to the release of the Foo Fighters’ 7th album gears up, the first press release has been issued which contains a little more info about the accompanying documentary & names ‘Walk’ as the first single.

CONFIRMED FOR SPRING 2011 RELEASE ON ROSWELL/RCA

Butch Vig-Produced Seventh Studio Record To Hit Simultaneously With Theatrical Release Of Feature-Length Foo Fighters Documentary Directed By Academy Award Winner James Moll

Foo Fighters have launched http://tease.foofighters.com/  featuring a first taste of “Bridge Burning,” the opening track of the band’s seventh full length studio album, due out this spring on Roswell/RCA.

The album, produced by Butch Vig and mixed by Alan Moulder, was recorded entirely on analog tape in the garage of Dave Grohl’s home in California’s San Fernando Valley. The no computers/no software/flesh blood and tape only approach has resulted in arguably the strongest and most cohesive effort of the band’s 15-year-plus career: From the soaring melodies of first single “Walk” to the  beautifully bipolar “These Days” to the stunning duet with Bob Mould on “Dear Rosemary,” the record is a singular triumph: a band that’s headlined arenas, stadiums and festivals the world over stripping itself down to the bare essentials–a bunch of friends recording an album to tape in a garage—and coming up with its finest hour.

The new record also marks the Foo Fighters’ first full length effort with legendary producer Butch Vig, who produced new tracks “Wheels” and “Word Forward” on 2009’s Greatest Hits and with whom Dave Grohl (of course) first worked on Nirvana’s classic Nevermind. Nirvana co-founder Krist Novoselic also makes a cameo, contributing bass and accordion to “I Should Have Known,” while former Nirvana touring guitarist and longtime extended FF family member Pat Smear now joins the permanent FF core of Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett.

Concurrent with the album’s release, Exclusive Media Group’s documentary division Spitfire Pictures will be producing a feature documentary about the Foo Fighters to be directed by Academy Award winner James Moll (The Last Days, Running The Sahara).  Co-produced and co-financed by Exclusive Media Group and RCA Records, Moll’s documentary will chronicle the entire history of the Foo Fighters, from the cassette demos Grohl recorded during his tenure as Nirvana’s drummer through their ascent to their Grammy-winning, multi-platinum, arena and stadium headlining status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.   This chronicling of the Foo Fighters’ triumphs and tragedies  will culminate in an in-depth behind the scenes perspective on the making of the new album: A process in which the band pushed itself forward by going back to basics and recording in Grohl’s garage completely on analog tape.

The new Foo Fighters record will of course be supported by an extensive world tour, of which the first dates to be announced, the band’s own July 2 & 3 Milton Keynes Bowl headline stint, blew out all 130,000 tickets within hours of on-sale. Additionally, the Foos are confirmed to headline across the worldwide summer festival circuit, including Washington state’s Sasquatch!, the UK’s  Isle of White, Pink Pop in the Netherlands, Germany’s Southside and Hurricane, Oxegen in Ireland, T in the Park in Scotland, Optimus Alive in Portgual, and more to be announced as they are confirmed.

UPDATED -

Less than 24 hours later the following statement was issued:

FOO FIGHTERS NEW ALBUM TEASER SOARS PAST 300,000 PLAYS IN 48 HOURS

FIRST SINGLE AND RELEASE DATE STILL TBD

The first taste of the new Foo Fighters album at http://tease.foofighters.com/  has rocketed past 300,000 plays in barely two days since its launch.

The preview features a snippet of “Bridge Burning,” the opening track of the band’s seventh full length studio album, due out this spring on Roswell/RCA.

The first single from the album will not be “Walk” as previously and erroneously reported. The single will be announced as soon as it is confirmed.

Foo Fighters will headline the NME Awards Big Gig at London’s Wembley Arena on February 25.

Cee Lo Green, Band Of Horses and No Age are also on the bill for the event.

The gig is set to take place two days after the Shockwaves NME Awards ceremony, where Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl will pick up the NME Godlike Genius award for 2011 (as covered HERE). Everyone who buys a ticket to the Wembley gig will get a free Dave Grohl ‘Godlike Genius’ magazine worth £4.99, available to pick up at the show.

Dave said:

“There’s nothing better than seeing that person with that instrument doing it right there in front of you, It’s the fuckin’ Foo Fighters! It’s the only way you’re really gonna get it.”

Cee Lo said:

“I’m so excited, man, any Cee Lo show is good, but Cee Lo and Foo Fighters… it’s going to be off the hook.”

When asked about covering ‘Darling Nikki’ with Foo Fighters in the past he teased;

“Dave is a friend and we spoke over the holidays, we’ll definitely cook up something for you guys.”

Ben Bridewell (Band of Horses) said:

“I’m a huge fan of everything Dave’s done from Nirvana to Them Crooked Vultures.  It’s an honour to play.”

Dave Grohl turns 42 today.  With a Godlike Genius Award, a ‘massive’ album & a stint with The Muppets all forthcoming,  I’m sure 2011 will be a rewarding year personally & professionally.

To help his day be that little bit sweeter, why not purchase his new children’s book from Amazon:

click for larger image

On a totally unrelated & personal note – January 14th was the due date for our 2nd child.   Now, I know I’m a big Foo Fighters fan but it was entirely coincidental - concieving a child to arrive on Dave’s birthday would be stretching this ‘fan’ thing a little too far,  anyways Caoimhe (pronounced Keeva) turned up 2 days early on January 12th & weighed in at a healthy 7lb 13oz.

…well, not really.  Back in 2001 when Dave was mentioned in a Guitar World interview with Zakk, he had this to say;

“If I ever run into Dave Grohl, I’m gonna kick his fuckin’ ass, because I think he sucks, and he wrote this cheese-dick song for Ozzy that I have to fuckin’ play on, and I’ll never forgive him for that. Foo Fighters is a fuckin’ candy-ass girl band, but you’ve got that motherfucker submitting songs, too. I mean, none of these guys could play a Randy Rhoads solo if they tried. Dave Grohl? Fuck Dave Grohl! Let him get up there and play Mr. Crowley; he can’t fuckin’ do it! and it’s like, you’re getting this guy to write songs for Ozzy? Just because he played drums for fucking Shitvana?”

A few years later in 2004 when Dave was plugging Probot, he was asked about Zakk’s quote and (ever the diplomat) he replied:

“I can understand.  If I were Zakk Wylde…  He’s an amazing guitar player, there’s no question about it, the guy’s an incredible guitar player. If my singer wanted other people to write the songs, I’d be fucking pissed too.  I’d be really pissed off, I’d be like, ‘Wait a second, I can write music.  Why are you asking someone else?’  So I understand why he’s pissed off.”

Now, fast forward to 2011 and Zakk is the contestant in this week’s Kerrang! Quiz.

Now, isn’t that nice?

The Shockwave NME Awards 2011 take place on February 23rd at the O2 Academy Brixton and Dave will be there in person as he picks up the ‘Godlike Genius’ award.
While the rest of the awards are voted for by readers of NME, ‘Godlike Genius’ is picked by NME staff and amounts to the lifetime achievement prize in the annual awards.  Previous recipients have included U2, The Clash, Ozzy Osbourne, The Cure and Paul Weller.

NME magazine, NME radio & NME TV will exhaustively cover every aspect of the awards.

UPDATED (January 10th)
NME today confirmed Dave as the award’s recipient in this news item:
http://www.nme.com/news/foo-fighters/54498

Dave sends a short video message with his reaction:
http://www.nme.com/nme-video/video/741298277001

NME editor Krissi Murison said:

“An NME Godlike Genius is a very rare thing. To qualify, an artist must not only be a musical visionary, have an unparalleled legacy and a decade-spanning career, but also still be meaningful to young bands and music fans today.

Whether it’s headlining the world’s greatest festivals, staging his own mega-gigs, releasing a series of hugely successful albums, collaborating with everyone from The Prodigy to Paul McCartney or still surprising fans with projects like Them Crooked Vultures, Dave Grohl is at the centre of everything interesting that is happening in music.

“But the Godlike Genius Award is no victory lap. It marks recognition of a stellar career thus far, and signals there’s a lot more to come.

With a new Foo Fighters album, festival appearances and giant gigs around the globe booked this year, the NME is recognising an artist who is still in his ascendancy and one we confidently predict will dominate music for a long time yet.”

UPDATED (January 12th)

The lead news piece in today’s issue is the Godlike Genius award.

click for larger

Zane Lowe took over Radio One’s breakfast show for a week, and as he looked ahead to some of 2011′s big record releases, he caught up with Dave on the phone.  After a quick back-and-forth trading double entendres based around ‘sprinkling nuts’ & ‘double dipping’ they talked business and these are the points of interest:

• The record is entirely finished.
• Butch Vig claims making this record was the most fun he’s had in his career.
• There are 11 “massive” songs on the record and not one “sleepy ballad”.
• The album still has no confirmed title.
• The artwork will all be handmade.
• The single has yet to be decided & an airdate is still to be confirmed.
• ‘Spring’ is as much of a release date for the album that Dave will reveal.

A newly issued press release has confirmed the release of the (still untitled) 7th  Foo Fighters album.  It’ll be in stores on April 11th (UK) & April 12th (US).

Here’s the press release in full:

FOO FIGHTERS TEASE SECOND SNIPPET OF NEW ALBUM AT http://www.foofighters.fm

APRIL 12 RELEASE DATE CONFIRMED

MORE LIVE DATES ANNOUNCED

http://foofighters.com/
http://www.facebook.com/foofighters
http://twitter.com/foofighters

With the recently leaked snippet of opener “Bridge Burning” having surpassed 500,000 plays in one week, Foo Fighters have now unleashed a second morsel of hard rock goodness from their upcoming seventh studio album, out April 12 on Roswell/RCA.

FF fans jonesing for another several seconds of new material should head posthaste to http://www.foofighters.fm and move the virtual tuner to 101.5 for this new taste.

The album received its first public airing at a surprise gig Friday, January 28 at the minuscule Velvet Jones club in Santa Barbara, where the band ripped through the entire record from start to finish–and followed up with a crushing live collection of greatest hits and rarely played deep cuts including “Wattershed” from the band’s self-titled 1995 debut.

In other live FF news, the band has announced its first U.S. show (so far) of 2011: a May 21 headlining appearance at the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, AL. Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. CST Wednesday, February 2, and will be available via http://Hangoutmusicfest.com or 888-512-SHOW. The show is the second of many domestic dates to be announced in an upcoming world tour, the first being a May 27 appearance at the Sasquatch! Festival in George, WA. Other recently announced FF dates abroad include headlining appearances at the UK’s Isle of Wight, the Netherlands’ PinkPop, Wulheide Stadium in Berlin, and numerous others across the UK and Europe including an already sold out 130,000 capacity July 2 & 3 headline “weekender” at the Milton Keynes Bowl in the UK.

Foo Fighters’ still untitled seventh album, produced by Butch Vig and mixed by Alan Moulder, was recorded entirely on analog tape in the garage of Dave Grohl’s home in California’s San Fernando Valley. The new record also marks the Foo Fighters’ first full length effort with legendary producer Butch Vig, who produced new tracks “Wheels” and “Word Forward” on 2009’s Greatest Hits and with whom Dave Grohl (of course) first worked on Nirvana’s classic Nevermind. Nirvana co-founder Krist Novoselic also makes a cameo, contributing bass and accordion to “I Should Have Known,” while former Nirvana touring guitarist and longtime extended FF family member Pat Smear now joins the permanent FF core of Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett