Foo Fighters have confirmed that the making of their upcoming eighth album–due out this fall on Roswell/RCA–will be accompanied by an as yet untitled HBO series documenting the eight-city odyssey during which the record was created.

In the series, directed by FF founder Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters tap into the musical heritage and cultural fabric of eight cities–Chicago, Austin, Nashville, Los Angeles, Seattle, New Orleans, Washington, DC and New York–basing themselves at a legendary studios integral to the unique history and character of each location.

One song was recorded in each city, every song featuring local legends sitting in, and every lyric written in an unprecedented experimental style: Dave held off on putting down words until the last day of each session, so as to be inspired by the experiences, interviews and personalities that became part of the process.

“Dave’s heartfelt passion for this project is contagious and his talent as a musician and filmmaker is undeniable,” said Michael Lombardo, President, HBO Programming. “We are excited to go on this journey with him and the Foo Fighters for this insider’s look at how regional music inspired them to create their own new music.”

Grohl’s 2013 feature film directorial debut, the universally acclaimed Grammy-winning Sound City, was a celebration of the human element in the creation and recording of music, this series is in Grohl’s words, “a love letter to the history of American music.” Each episode delves into the singular regional identity of each city-how each region shaped these musicians in their formative years, and in turn the impact those people had on the cultural fabric of their hometowns-ultimately celebrating their common bond: Every artist that appears in the show, regardless of genre or locale, started as an average kid with the universal dreams of making music and making it big.

Grohl’s interviews with these musicians are integral to the show and the creation of the album as his chemistry with bandmates Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear.  Dave’s unequaled passion for both the music he creates and the music that inspires its creation once again fuels the type of honest and trusting musician-to-musican exchange that made Sound City a critical and commercial smash, one that earned a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as it rocketed to #1 on the iTunes documentary chart.

Premiering on the eve of Foo Fighters 20th anniversary, the FF/HBO series aims to “give back” to the next generation of young musicians.  As interviewee Buddy Guy puts it, “Everything comes from what’s come before.”

The HBO series is directed by Dave Grohl for Roswell Films, a division of the Roswell Records label that releases Foo Fighters’ music, produced in conjunction with James A. Rota, John Ramsay, and Therapy studios, and written by Mark Monroe and Dave Grohl.

Hey everyone…

Dave here. Just wanted to write and thank you all again from the bottom of my heart for another incredible year. (Our 18th, to be exact!) We truly never could have done any of this without you…

Never in my wildest dreams did I think Foo Fighters would make it this far. I never thought we COULD make it this far, to be honest. There were times when I didn’t think the band would survive. There were times when I wanted to give up. But… I can’t give up this band. And I never will. Because it’s not just a band to me. It’s my life. It’s my family. It’s my world.

Yes… I was serious. I’m not sure when the Foo Fighters are going to play again. It feels strange to say that, but it’s a good thing for all of us to go away for a while. It’s one of the reasons we’re still here. Make sense? I never want to NOT be in this band. So, sometimes it’s good to just… put it back in the garage for a while…

But, no gold watches or vacations just yet… I’ll be focusing all of my energy on finishing up my Sound City documentary film and album for worldwide release in the very near future. A year in the making, it could be the biggest, most important project I’ve ever worked on. Get ready… it’s coming.

Me, Taylor, Nate, Pat, Chris, and Rami… I’m sure we’ll all see you out there… somewhere…

Thank you, thank you, thank you…

Dave

Oh, what a night we had last Sunday at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. The glitz! The Glamour! SEACREST! Where do I begin?? Chillin’ with Lil’ Wayne…meeting Cyndi Lauper’s adorable mother…the complimentary blinking Coldplay bracelet…..much too much to recap. It really is still a bit of a blur. But, if there’s one thing that I remember VERY clearly, it was accepting the Grammy for Best Rock Performance…and then saying this:

“To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do… It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head].”

Not the Gettysburg Address, but hey……I’m a drummer, remember?

Well, me and my big mouth. Never has a 33 second acceptance rant evoked such caps-lock postboard rage as my lil’ ode to analog recording has. OK….maybe Kanye has me on this one, but….Imma let you finish….just wanted to clarify something…

I love music. I love ALL kinds of music. From Kyuss to Kraftwerk, Pinetop Perkins to Prodigy, Dead Kennedys to Deadmau5…..I love music. Electronic or acoustic, it doesn’t matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician’s personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and…..human.

That’s exactly what I was referring to. The “human element”. That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became “bad” things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily “fixed”. The end result? In my humble opinion…..a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place.

And, unfortunately,  some of these great advances have taken the focus off of the actual craft of performance. Look, I am not Yngwie Malmsteen. I am not John Bonham. Hell…I’m not even Josh Groban, for that matter. But I try really fucking hard so that I don’t have to rely on anything but my hands and my heart to play a song. I do the best that I possibly can within my limitations, and accept that it sounds like me. Because that’s what I think is most important. It should be real, right? Everybody wants something real.

I don’t know how to do what Skrillex does (though I fucking love it) but I do know that the reason he is so loved is because he sounds like Skrillex, and that’s badass. We have a different process and a different set of tools, but the “craft” is equally as important, I’m sure. I mean…..if it were that easy, anyone could do it, right? (See what I did there?)

So, don’t give me two Crown Royals and then ask me to make a speech at your wedding, because I might just bust into the advantages of recording to 2 inch tape.

Now, I think I have to go scream at some kids to get off my lawn.

Stay frosty.

Davemau5

BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE

BEST ROCK ALBUM

BEST ROCK SONG

BEST HARD ROCK/METAL PERFORMANCE

BEST LONG FORM VIDEO

Foo Fighters took home a career record single night total of five honors at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday, February 12.

The band’s Grammy take for the historic evening included Best Rock Performance (“Walk”), Best Rock Album (Wasting Light), Best Rock Song (“Walk”), Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance (“White Limo”), and Best Long Form Video (shared with director James Moll for the Foo Fighters: Back & Forth documentary).

Foo Fighters’ Grammy triumph nearly doubles their career tally from six to eleven, adding Sunday night’s haul to the band’s three previous Best Rock Album (There Is Nothing Left To Lose; One By One; Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace), two Best Hard Rock Performance (“All My Life,” “The Pretender”), and one Best Short Form Video (“Learn To Fly”) wins.

THREE HOURS OF SUSTAINED TREMORS CAUSED BY AUCKLAND CROWD OF 50,000

Anyone who’s witnessed one of Foo Fighters near-three-hour tour dates in support of their worldwide #1, Album of the Year Grammy-nominated Wasting Light knows: They’re the hardest rocking band on the current stadium and arena circuit.

But now there’s geoscientific evidence to prove it: the capacity crowd of 50,000 at the Foos’ December 13 gig at Auckland, New Zealand’s Western Springs Stadium generated actual detectable geological tremors.

New Zealand media reported that nearby monitoring stations in Herne Bay and Eden Park picked up tremors consistent with those generated by a volcanic event–except that the shaking coincided precisely with the Foo Fighters performance, even including “lulls in the signal between the songs and peaks in signal intensity during the songs” according to the GeoNet blog http://geonet-shakennotstirred.blogspot.com/2011/12/rock-n-roll.html

The Western Springs Stadium show was the conclusion of a record-breaking run of Australia/New Zealand stadium shows, as well as the last date of the Wasting Light tour until 2012. Foo Fighters will resume moving the earth with their music at the 2011 Grammy Awards February 12 in Los Angeles.

Wasting Light Nabs Noms For Album of the Year, Best Rock Album; “Walk” For Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song; “White Limo” For Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance; Back & Forth Documentary Nominated For Best Long Form Music Video

Foo Fighters have been nominated in six categories in the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards, including Album of the Year.

In addition to the evening’s highest honor, Wasting Light is also nominated for Best Rock Album, while its current single “Walk” is up for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song and album track “White Limo” is a contender for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. In addition, the band’s acclaimed documentary Foo Fighters: Back and Forth has been nominated for Best Long Form Music Video. Finally, Foo Fighters colleagues racked up two related nominations, with Butch Vig up for Producer of the Year for his work on Wasting Light and the Deadmau5 remix of “Rope” up for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.

Should Foo Fighters sweep the above categories when the GRAMMYs air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 12, 2012, the band would double its career GRAMMY tally from six to twelve. The Foos’ previous GRAMMY wins have included three for Best Rock Album (There Is Nothing Left To Lose; One By One; Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace), two Best Hard Rock Performances (“All My Life”; “The Pretender”) and one Best Short Form Music Video (“Learn To Fly”).

Speaking from Melbourne, Australia where Foo Fighters are in the midst of a sold out stadium tour, Dave Grohl said,  “We’re totally honored and blown away at the six nominations for Wasting Light! It’s nice to know that we live in a world where an album made in a garage, entirely to analog tape, with no help from computers, can be nominated for Album of the Year. Long live Rock and Roll!”

The half dozen 2011 GRAMMY nominations are yet another peak in possibly the most phenomenal year of Foo Fighters’ 16-year career to date: The path leading to the nominations began in earnest with the April release of Wasting Light, the band’s seventh studio album and first to hit #1 in its native U.S.–also debuting at #1 in eleven other countries including the UK where it ended Adele’s 11-week run atop the albums chart, and Australia and New Zealand where it has had the biggest first week digital album sales in both country’s chart histories.

2011 has also seen Foo Fighters receive the most positive critical notices of the band’s 16-year career including a 4-star lead review in Rolling Stone calling Wasting Light “the best Foos album since the first two,” as well as the band’s sixth Saturday Night Live appearance, first performance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the theatrical and televised premiere of the Foo Fighters: Back and Forth documentary (directed by Academy Award winner James Moll), and a still-ongoing world tour that included a sold out return to Madison Square Garden, two SRO nights at the L.A. Forum and a 130,000 capacity July 2-3 headline engagement at the Milton Keynes Bowl in the UK.

More recently, the Sam Jones-directed clip for Wasting Light single “Walk” took Best Rock Video honors at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.

(Nov. 15–New York NY) For those of you who weren’t among the capacity Madison Square Garden crowd that witnessed rock n roll history this weekend when Joan Jett joined Foo Fighters for a once in a lifetime encore of her classic “Bad Reputation”…  don’t despair!

The Foos will reunite with Jett TONIGHT on The Late Show with David Letterman to make their “Bad Reputation” team-up a twice in a lifetime milestone.

Check local listings and don’t sleep.

For a virtual look at the original as it happened in all its MSG glory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5qv61AwNX8

NYC, DC DATES ADDED TO FALL U.S. ARENA TOUR

Pre-Sale 10 am EST August 10, General On-Sale 10 am EST August 12

http://tour.foofighters.com/

Having just laid waste to the hordes at Lollapalooza, Foo Fighters have confirmed two big additions to their forthcoming U.S. arena tour:

Foo Fighters’ return to Madison Square Garden for a second headline stand has been confirmed for November 13, while November 11 will bring the band back to Dave Grohl’s old stomping ground of Washington DC where the band will play the Verizon Center.

Pre-sales for the new dates will begin 10 a.m. EST August 10. General on sales begin 10 a.m. local time August 12.

Foo Fighters’ September-November arena headline tour is the latest installment in a juggernaut of a worldwide campaign that most recently included an August 7 headline appearance at Lollapalooza. The tour rides the relentless momentum of Foo Fighters’ recently released seventh album Wasting Light, certified gold less than two months after debuting at #1 in a dozen countries. Wasting Light has also generated arguably the best critical notices of the band’s 16-year career. The newly released Foo Fighters: Back & Forth documentary, directed by Oscar winner James Moll, has done likewise, with a just-out four-star ROLLING STONE review raving “a classic rockumentary arc… Dave Grohl has lived an extraordinarily cinematic life.”

Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear will be playing hits spanning the Foo Fighters’ catalogue of multi-platinum arena anthems, including new staples such as the 13-week Modern Rock #1 “Rope” and “Walk,” the band’s latest single. Currently in the running for Best Rock Video at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, the brilliant Sam Jones-directed “Walk” clip has been viewed more than three million times since its June 2 premiere. Embed code is below:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/4PkcfQtibmU

For a complete list of current Foo Fighters tour dates and ticketing info visithttp://tour.foofighters.com

FOO FIGHTERS U.S. TOUR 2011-NEW DATES IN BOLD:

Sept. 14 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Center **
Sept. 16 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center **
Sept. 17 – St. Louis, MO – Scottrade Center **
Sept. 19 – Detroit, MI – Palace of Auburn Hills **
Sept. 20 – Cleveland, OH – Quicken Loans  Arena **
Sept. 22 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena **
Sept. 23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Consol Energy Center **
Sept. 25 – Buffalo, NY – HSBC Center **
Sept. 26 – East Rutherford, NJ – Izod Center **
Oct. 9 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center ***
Oct. 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Maverick Center ***
Oct. 13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum ***
Oct. 14 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum ***
Oct. 16 – Phoenix, AZ – US Airways Center ***
Oct. 17 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena ***
Oct. 19 – Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena (Oakland Coliseum) ***
Oct. 20 – Sacramento, CA – Power Balance Pavilion ***
Nov. 7 – Duluth, GA – Arena at Gwinnett Center ****
Nov. 8 – Charlotte, NC – Time Warner Cable Arena ****
Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center ****
Nov. 11 – Washington DC – Verizon Center ****
Nov. 13 – New York NY – Madison Square Garden ****
Nov. 14 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center ****
Nov. 16 – Boston, MA – TD Garden ****

PRE-SALE JULY 13, GENERAL ON SALES BEGIN JULY 15

FOO FIGHTERS iTUNES FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE TO STREAM LIVE FROM LONDON TODAY 4pm EST/1 pm PST

http://tour.foofighters.com/

Having just wrapped up a sold out weekend at Milton Keynes National Bowl in London where they rocked the worlds of no less than 130,000 insanely appreciative fans, Foo Fighters have confirmed the latest series of dates in their forthcoming U.S. arena tour.

The third leg of the tour will commence November 7 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth GA and will include stops in Charlotte, Philadelphia and (as previously announced) Newark before concluding November 16 at the TD Garden in Boston.

Pre-sales for the new dates will begin 10 a.m. local time July 13. General on sales begin 10 a.m. local time July 15. The November 7 date goes on sale to the public July 22.

Special guests for the November dates will be Social Distortion and The Joy Formidable.

Foo Fighters’ October-November arena headline tour is the latest installment in a juggernaut of a worldwide campaign that currently has the band headlining European festivals as well as an August 7 appearance as a Lollapalooza 2011 headliner–not to mention a performance TODAY at the iTunes festival in London that will be streamed live from the Legendary Roundhouse at 9:00 pm  local UK time (1pm PST/4pm EST). To watch, fans can download the FREE iTunes App, or simply log into iTunes. http://tw.itunes.co.uk/l0W

The show will be available for streaming free and on demand for a limited time following tonights LIVE stream.

The ever-expanding tour rides the relentless momentum of Foo Fighters’ recently released seventh album Wasting Light, certified gold less than two months after debuting at #1 in a dozen countries.  Wasting Light has also generated arguably the best critical notices of the band’s 16-year career. The newly released Foo Fighters: Back & Forth documentary, directed by Oscar winner James Moll, has done likewise, with a just-out four-star ROLLING STONE review raving “a classic rockumentary arc… Dave Grohl has lived an extraordinarily cinematic life.”

Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear will be playing hits spanning the Foo Fighters’ catalogue of multi-platinum arena anthems, including new staples such as the 13-week Modern Rock #1 “Rope” and “Walk,” the band’s latest single and subject of the brilliant Sam Jones-directed parody of the classic crime drama Falling Down. Already a viral sensation, the “Walk” clip has been viewed more than a million times since its June 2 premiere. Embed code is below:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/4PkcfQtibmU

More dates will be announced as they are confirmed. For a complete list of current Foo Fighters tour dates and ticketing info visithttp://tour.foofighters.com

FOO FIGHTERS U.S. TOUR 2011–NEW DATES IN BOLD:

Sept. 14 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Center **
Sept. 16 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center **
Sept. 17 – St. Louis, MO – Scottrade Center **
Sept. 19 – Detroit, MI – Palace of Auburn Hills **
Sept. 20 – Cleveland, OH – Quicken Loans  Arena **
Sept. 22 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena **
Sept. 23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Consol Energy Center **
Sept. 25 – Buffalo, NY – HSBC Center **
Sept. 26 – East Rutherford, NJ – Izod Center **
Oct. 9 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center ***
Oct. 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Maverick Center ***
Oct. 13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum ***
Oct. 14 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum ***
Oct. 16 – Phoenix, AZ – US Airways Center ***
Oct. 17 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena ***
Oct. 19 – Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena (Oakland Coliseum) ***
Oct. 20 – Sacramento, CA – Power Balance Pavilion ***
Nov. 7 – Duluth, GA – Arena at Gwinnett Center ****
Nov. 8 – Charlotte, NC – Time Warner Cable Arena ****
Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center ****
Nov. 14 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center ****
Nov. 16 – Boston, MA – TD Garden ****

** Rise Against & Mariachi el Bronx Support
*** Cage The Elephant & Mariachi el Bronx Support
**** Social Distortion & The Joy Formidable Support

“a classic rockumentary arc… Dave Grohl has lived an extraordinarily cinematic life (FOUR STARS)”–ROLLING STONE

http://us.foofightersfilm.com/

Having sold some 10,000 DVDs and downloads since its release, the feature-length documentary Foo Fighters: Back & Forth (Spitfire/Roswell/RCA) has debuted at #1 on the Billboard DVD chart.

Foo Fighters: Back & Forth was released digitally via iTunes June 7, on DVD June 14, and is available on Blu-Ray exclusively at Best Buy through July 12.

From Academy Award winning director James Moll (The Last Days, Running The Sahara) and Spitfire Pictures’ Grammy and Peabody award winning producer Nigel Sinclair (Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, The Last Play at Shea) , Foo Fighters: Back & Forth chronicles every stage of Foo Fighters’ 16-years-and-counting career: From Dave Grohl’s cassette demos through their ascent to their current status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. Intimate one on ones with Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, former members and other associates recall every triumph and tragedy of the band’s existence, culminating in a behind the scenes look at the direct-to-analog tape sessions in Grohl’s garage with producer Butch Vig that produced the seventh FF album Wasting Light–which debuted #1 in a dozen countries (including the band’s first U.S. #1) and is currently perched at #12 on the U.S. album chart.

Foo Fighters are currently in the midst of a worldwide tour that will include a sold out 130,000-capacity July 2-3 headline weekender at Milton Keynes Bowl in the UK, a headline appearance at Lollapalooza 2011, and North American arena dates running through November and beyond. For further information, updates, tickets, etc., go to http://www.foofighters.com/us/tour or http://tour.foofighters.com