Concrete and Gold

Concrete and Gold
Studio album by Foo Fighters
Released September 15, 2017
Recorded December 2016 – May 2017
Label
Producer Greg Kurstin
Foo Fighters chronology
Saint Cecilia
(2015)Saint Cecilia2015		 Concrete and Gold
(2017)
Singles from Concrete and Gold
  1. "Run"
    Released: June 1, 2017

Concrete and Gold is the upcoming ninth studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters. It is scheduled for release on September 15, 2017. The album's first single, "Run", was released on June 1, 2017.

Background

While touring in support of the band's 2014 studio album, Sonic Highways, band frontman Dave Grohl fell off the stage and broke his leg at a June 2015 concert in Sweden. [2][3] Grohl still managed to complete the show,[3] and through the use of his self-designed "throne", a large chair that could sit him comfortably, the band still managed to function, continuing their tour through the year and even managing to record and release the Saint Cecilia EP and song.[4][5] After the tour, in early 2016, the band announced they would be entering an indefinite hiatus.[6] While no reasons were given at the time, in 2017, Grohl admitted to Rolling Stone that privately, he was still struggling from the injury, still unable to walk and enduring daily, multi-hour physical therapy sessions.[7] He secluded himself from the band, and set a goal for himself to stay away from music and to for an entire year while he focused on recuperating. However though, at six months to the day, he cancelled the plan when he began writing the lyrics to the track "Run".[7]

Writing and recording

Initial writing sessions only involved Grohl, who continued being in seclusion from the band, although he initially struggled, feeling "out of practice" and "creatively atrophied" due to his longer than usual break from music.[7] Grohl rented a Airbnb in Ojala, California, so he could focus on long bouts of writing, with Grohl recounting "I brought a case of wine and sat there in my underwear with a microphone for about five days, just writing."[7] After twelve or thirteen rough ideas mapped out, he ran them by the band, who shared Grohl's belief that he was on the right track with the material.[7] Happy with his work, but feeling the material still required further development, Grohl started thinking about reaching out to a music producer.

The band ended up working with music producer Greg Kurstin on the album.[8] Grohl had been listening to the work of Kurstin's indie pop band, The Bird and the Bee since 2014 and was very impressed with his work, calling it "so much more sophisticated than anything [he'd] ever heard."[1] Grohl reached out to Kurstin, and learned that he had taken a hiatus from The Bird and the Bee to focus on his work as a music producer, producing songs including Halsey's "Strangers", Sia's "The Greatest" and "Cheap Thrills" and Adele's "Hello".[1] The two both were interested in the challenge presented with working together – Kurstin had never worked on a heavy rock album, while Grohl had never worked with a pop songwriter – and decided to collaborate on the album.[1]

"The last couple of albums had been made in ways that we were trying to get out of our comfort zone. I thought, 'What's the strangest thing for this band to do at this point?' And then I realized it was just to go into a studio and make a fucking album like a normal band." Frontman Dave Grohl, comparing the Concrete and Gold recording sessions to 2014's Sonic Highways, which was recorded in different studios around the U.S., and 2011's Wasting Light, which they did in Grohls garage to emulate the recording process of the 1990s and earlier.[7]

Recording was done at heavily populated EastWest Studios, where the band frequently ran into, and interacted with, various other musicians in the studio building.[2] The set up lead to the band having a number of high-profile collaborations on the album. The band worked with Boyz II Men member Shawn Stockman on the album's title track and album closer, which stemmed from a chance meeting between Grohl and Stockman in a parking lot.[9] Grohl also announced that "probably the biggest pop star in the world" would provide backing vocals on a track as well, though he refused to name who, leading to much speculation due to the number of pop stars Kurstin had previously worked with prior to the Foo Fighters.[10] Grohl later clarified that it was not Adele or Taylor Swift, and that the person has " been around a long time".[2] Further collaborations include vocals by Inara George on the track "Dirty Water", saxophone by David Koz on the track "La Dee Da", and vocals by Alison Mosshart of The Kills on "La Dee Da" and "The Sky is a Neighborhood".[2] Additionally, Paul McCartney will contribute drums to an unidentified track on the album, after entering the studio and recording two drum tracks without even hearing the song first, basing his performance entirely on Grohl recreating the song acoustically for him on the spot.[11] Concrete and Gold also marks Rami Jaffee's first credit as an official band member, having been a session and touring keyboardist for the band since 2005.[12]

Composition and themes

The band describe the album's sound as where "hard rock extremes and pop sensibilities collide"[13] and "Motorhead's version of Sgt. Pepper".[14] Explaining further, the album's sound was described as combining heavy guitar riffs with "lush harmonic complexities".[15] Grohl described the title track, which features the vocals of Shawn Stockman from Boyz II Men, as sounding like "[Black]Sabbath and Pink Floyd" and explaining that they "built a choir" out of Stockman's vocal takes, overdubbing them so it sounds "like 40 vocals stacked".[9]

Lyrically, the album is based around Grohl's thoughts about the future of the United States - "politically, personally, as a father, an American and a musician".[7] "The Sky is a Neighborhood" and "T-Shirt" represent a more bleak worldview by Grohl's, the two song's showing his concern for the future of humanity, and desire for escapism, respectively.[7]

Release and promotion

The album is scheduled for release on September 15, 2017.[16] The album's first single, "Run", was released well in advance of the album, in June 1, 2017.[16] Tracks such as "La Dee Da" and "The Sky is a Neighborhood" were debuted live even earlier in 2017.[17] The band will commence on a headlining North American tour in support of the album starting in October 2017.[18] Prior to the tour, the band also plans on throwing their own festival – "Cal Jam 17" – with performances from themselves, Queens of the Stone Age, Cage the Elephant, and a number of other bands,[19] as a large-scale version of an album-release party.[7]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."T-Shirt" 
2."Run"5:23
3."Make It Right" 
4."The Sky Is a Neighborhood" 
5."La Dee Da" 
6."Dirty Water" 
7."Arrows" 
8."Happy Ever After (Zero Hour)" 
9."Sunday Rain" 
10."The Line" 
11."Concrete and Gold" 

Personnel

Foo Fighters
Guest musicians
Production

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kaufman, Gil (June 20, 2017). "Foo Fighters Announce Ninth Album, 'Concrete and Gold,' Due Out in September". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Dave Grohl Dares You to Guess Foo Fighters Megastar Mystery Guest". rollingstone.com.
  3. 1 2 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dave-grohl-breaks-leg-but-continues-to-rock-in-sweden-20150613
  4. ↑ http://ew.com/article/2015/07/10/dave-grohl-says-broken-leg-was-blessing-disguise-foo-fighters/
  5. ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/foo-fighters-record-five-new-songs-in-austin-20151012
  6. ↑ http://www.spin.com/2016/03/foo-fighters-indefinite-hiatus-dave-grohl-taylor-hawkins/
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/dave-grohl-on-how-foo-fighters-made-new-lp-with-pop-producer-w494257
  8. ↑ "Foo Fighters Announce New Album 'Concrete and Gold,' 2017 Tour Dates". radio.com. June 20, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman Guests on "Heavy" New Foo Fighters Song". spin.com. July 6, 2017.
  10. ↑ "So, Who's This 'Biggest Pop Star in the World' That's Going to Be on the New Foo Fighters Album?". billboard.com.
  11. ↑ Kim, Michelle. "Paul McCartney Plays Drums On Foo Fighters' New Album". Pitchfork.com. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  12. ↑ Childers, Chad (June 4, 2017). "Dave Grohl Confirms Rami Jaffe as Foo Fighters Member". Loudwire. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  13. ↑ Young, Alex (June 20, 2017). "Foo Fighters announce new album, Concrete and Gold, due out in September". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  14. ↑ Trendell, Andrew (June 20, 2017). "Foo Fighters announce new album 'Concrete And Gold'". NME. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  15. ↑ Munro, Scott (June 20, 2017). "Foo Fighters announce new album Concrete And Gold". TeamRock. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  16. 1 2 Gordon, Jeremy (June 20, 2017). "Foo Fighters Announce New Album 'Concrete and Gold'". Spin. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  17. ↑ Rettig, James (June 20, 2017). "Foo Fighters Announce New Album Concrete And Gold". Stereogum. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  18. ↑ Dickman, Maggie (June 20, 2017). "Foo Fighters announce new album, 'Concrete And Gold'". Alternative Press. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Foo Fighters announce new album, "Concrete and Gold"; launching their own festival". ABC News Radio. June 20, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
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