The Seattle rockers are back and teasing 2021 album with a new track
2020 should’ve been the year for Foo Fighters – marking their 25th anniversary, this year promised the release of their tenth album. But with an 18-month-long global tour put on hold with the rest of the record, Medicine At Midnight isn’t due out until February 2021.
Instead, we’ll have to settle for a glimmer of insight for now – new single ‘Shame Shame’.
After this weekend’s SNL show debuted the Foo Fighters’ first performance of the track, frontman Dave Grohl spoke about what it means to take the first real break from the band in years:
“A couple months ago, we just started up the machine again and decided it’s time,” he told NME. “The most important thing is that people can hear the songs. I love playing live and all the bells and whistles that come along with being in the Foo Fighters, but these songs were made to be heard. It’s time!”
The album – the first Saturday night party album by the ever-adapting rock band – was mixed and mastered for release by February this year. Instead, safety precautions meant the delayed release of a potentially fresh sound for the band.
“We’ve made so many different types of album,” said Grohl. “We’ve done acoustic things, we’ve done punk-rock things, mid-tempo Americana type of things. We have a lot of albums to fall back on, so you just have to go with our gut feeling and I thought instead of making some mellow adult album, I thought ‘Let’s make a party album’.”
‘Waiting On A War’, an upcoming track on the album, is written from a childhood experience of Grohl’s. As a father to three, recent interactions with his daughters took him back to a time in the late 70s/early 80s when fears of a nuclear holocaust were overhanging.
Even so, Medicine At Midnight’s title track promises to be an ode to Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ – an upbeat rock song written to open festivals and concerts on the much-anticipated Foo Fighters global tour.
“Listen, we really do care for the people that come and see the band,” said Grohl on the possibility of playing socially distanced gigs. “So until we get to a place where everyone’s safe and sound, we’ll just have to adapt and figure out new ways to connect with the audience.”
But dare we call it a funk album? I think that’s pushing it. From the sound of ‘Shame Shame’, it looks to be an album of smooth grooves and riffs – a fresh record for a landmark year.
Featured Image Credit: Danny Clinch
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