“I wanted it to be the biggest sounding Foo Fighters record ever. To make a gigantic rock record but with Greg Kurstin’s sense of melody and arrangement… Motorhead’s version of Sgt. Pepper… or something like that.”
So speaks Dave Grohl of the mission statement made manifest in Foo Fighters’ ninth epic, the aptly-titled Concrete and Gold, due out September 15 worldwide on Roswell Records / RCA Records and available for preorder now at http://smarturl.it/FFCG.
Just as Foo Fighters’ anthem of the summer “Run” “opens as a dreamy, slow burner then… quickly turns heavy as thunder” (Billboard) with its “huge triumphant chorus” (Sterogum), Concrete and Gold marries some of the most insanely heavy FF riffs ever with lush harmonic complexities courtesy of a first time team-up with producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Sia, Pink).
This unlikely alliance came about through a bizarre sequence of surprise musical obsessions and chance encounters: Listening to the radio during a drive roughly four years ago, Grohl first heard “Again and Again” by Kurstin’s band The Bird & The Bee—“It blew my mind… it was so much more sophisticated than anything I’d ever heard and I became obsessed.”
Some months later, Grohl would randomly spot and fanboy out over “the guy from The Bird & The Bee!” a.k.a Greg Kurstin. The two became fast friends over common musical loves with Grohl learning that his new favorite band had been on hiatus due to Kurstin’s workload as a producer.
While Foo Fighters recorded and released Sonic Highways, broke some bones and packed stadiums and arenas on one of the top five grossing tours of 2015, and gifted fans with the St. CeciliaEP, "Greg was becoming one of the biggest producers in the world,” Grohl recalls.
With the writing and recording of the next Foo Fighters album on the horizon, Grohl was eager as always to find fresh challenges for the band: “So I think maybe Greg is the guy that we ask to be our producer because he’s never made a heavy rock record before and we’ve never worked with a pop producer.”
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Darrel Thorp (Beck, Radiohead) was soon enlisted to mix and engineer. This collective conceived a blueprint of the new record as "Motorhead’s version of Sgt. Pepper... or something like that,” secretly booking into Hollywood’s esteemed EastWest studios to consummate this marriage of extremes... or as Grohl puts it: “Our noise and Greg’s big brain and all of his sophisticated arrangements and composition.”
Months, sounds and stories (more on those soon, promise) and so many guitars later, the 11-Grammy-winning, 25+ million-record-selling, last great American stadium rock band had completed its most ambitious album ever—which naturally begat another insane challenge: How to celebrate music & throw the ultimate "backyard party for 50,000 people.”
What came to Grohl in that vision will become reality October 7 when Foo Fighters’ Cal Jam 17 takes over Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, CA. In addition to being Foo Fighters’ biggest ever one-day U.S. headline, in the spirit of the original California Jam, this daylong marathon of eating, drinking and rocking features an absolutely unfuckwithable lineup: Queens of the Stone Age, Cage The Elephant, Liam Gallagher, The Kills, Royal Blood, Japandroids, Wolf Alice, Bob Mould, The Struts, Bully, Circa Waves, Babes in Toyland, Adia Victoria, Fireball Ministry, The Obsessed, Pinky Pinky, Starcrawler and White Reaper.
And in addition to 12 hours of rock and roll good times, Cal Jam 17 offers camping, carnival rides, a water park, attractions, a mobile recording studio and so much more. On Friday night, October 6, campers will also experience the world’s best Go-Go band Big Tony & Trouble Funk, an outdoor movie theater and many other surprises. Camping space is limited, so act fast.
Cal Jam 17 will be the first chance for Foo Fighters fans in the US to experience the sonic majesty of songs from Concrete and Gold in their full live glory—and will be followed by a full scale October through December US headline tour. Public on sales for all dates will be June 29 at 10 a.m. local time.
For information on how to sign up for pre-sale access visit foofighters.com.
As a sponsor of Cal Jam 17 and the 2017 Concrete and Gold Tour, Capital One cardholders will have early access to tickets. The Capital One presale starts Monday, June 26 at 9 a.m. local time. To find out more, visit foofighters.com/capitalone.Concrete and Gold Track List:
1. T-Shirt
2. Run
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
Concrete and Gold was written and performed by Foo Fighters, produced by Greg Kurstin and Foo Fighters, and mixed by Darrell Thorp.
Foo Fighters are Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee.
Foo Fighters Concrete and Gold U.S. Tour 2017
OCTOBER 7 - San Bernardino, CA - CAL JAM 17 @ Glen Helen Regional Park with Queens of the Stone Age, Cage The Elephant, Liam Gallagher, The Kills, Royal Blood, Japandroids, Wolf Alice, Bob Mould, The Struts, Bully, Circa Waves, Babes in Toyland, Adia Victoria, Fireball Ministry, The Obsessed, Pinky Pinky, Starcrawler, White Reaper, Big Tony & Trouble Funk and more
OCTOBER 12 - Washington DC - The Anthem (SOLD OUT)
OCTOBER 14 - Richmond, VA - Richmond Coliseum
OCTOBER 15 - Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum
OCTOBER 17 - Columbia, SC - Colonial Life Arena
OCTOBER 18 - Knoxville, TN - Thompson-Boling Arena
OCTOBER 20 - Cincinnati, OH - U.S. Bank Arena
OCTOBER 21 - Lexington, KY - Rupp Arena
OCTOBER 23 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
OCTOBER 24 - Memphis,TN - FedExForum
OCTOBER 26 - Birmingham, AL - Legacy Arena at The BJCC
OCTOBER 28 - New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music + Arts Experience
NOVEMBER 7 - Madison, WI - Kohl Center
NOVEMBER 8 - Champaign, IL - State Farm Arena (* Public On Sale Thursday, July 13 10am Local)
NOVEMBER 10 - Des Moines, IA - Wells Fargo Arena
NOVEMBER 11 - Sioux Falls, SD - Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
NOVEMBER 13 - Wichita, KS - INTRUST Bank Arena
NOVEMBER 15 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
DECEMBER 1 - Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center
DECEMBER 2 - Sacramento, CA - Golden 1 Center
DECEMBER 4 - Spokane, WA - Spokane Arena
DECEMBER 5 - Eugene, OR - Matthew Knight Arena
DECEMBER 7 - Nampa ID - Ford Idaho Center
DECEMBER 9 - Billings MT - Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark
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