Unconfirmed reports over the last few weeks suggest Foo Fighters are currently recording their new album in 12 different studios, across 12 different cities and are working with legendary producers Steve Albini and Butch Vig. The reports are fitting with Dave Grohl’s recent comments that the Foos are approaching their new output “in a way that no-one’s done before”.
Consequence of Sound points to a Facebook post that reports of new songs recorded by the Foos at Washington D.C.’s Inner Ear Studios, Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago, and Butch Vig’s 606 Studios in Los Angeles.
That evidence is supported by a photo of Grohl on Sunday with DC musician Pete Stahl outside Inner Ear Studios. Grohl and Stahl were previously bandmates in hardcore punk band Scream, who recorded at Inner Ear, and Grohl also recorded some of his 2004 heavy metal project Probot there. The studio has also previously played home to the likes of Bikini Kill, Fugazi, Bad Brains and Minor Threat.
Grohl has a working relationship with both men via his former band Nirvana, with Vig as the producing mastermind behind 1991’s Nevermind and Albini as the producer on the band’s final album, In Utero.
Last month, a fan using the Twitter account FooArchive tweeted an excerpt from Billboard‘s Over Heard rumours column which claimed an “insider” told Billboard that Grohl was actively “scouting iconic studios in 12 cities to record the next Foo Fighters album.” The post suggested New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago were definite choices.
Around the same time Triple M reported that an Australian filmmaker living in Chicago ran into Dave Grohl and producer Butch Vig in a local bar. “They’ve recorded the [new album] in about 12 different cities and they wanted to work with the producer Steve Albini, who owns the studio [in Chicago],” said the fan, known only as Wes.
“He’s been recording with Butch Vig and Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, using a never-previously-used recording technique that’s unique to this analogue studio.” Dave Grohl spoke about the band’s eighth album at the end of 2013 to Rolling Stone, when he revealed they were about to start recording.
“It’s badass,” he said. “We’re doing something that nobody knows about, it’s fucking rad. We begin recording soon, but we’re doing it in a way that no one’s done before and we’re writing the album in a way that I don’t think has been done before.”
Grohl’s appreciation for historic recording studios became apparent through his Grammy-winning documentary Sound City, which tracks the history of recording studio Sound City Studios in Los Angeles.
