by Martin James
Studio 606, as it was christened, is accessed via steep steps. On the descent the steps pass a Mardi Gras skeleton, complete with tux. The studio’s name is announced by a sign that hangs on the door at the bottom of the stairs. Open it and you discover a room full of equipment stored under a low ceiling. Amplifiers, drums, mics are stacked everywhere. At the far end of this room is another door which opens into the mixing area. This room features walls that are plastered with evidence of Grohl’s life in music. Gold and platinum discs for Nevermind and Unplugged sit next to awards for 500,000 sales of Foo Fighters. An advert for a New York Coliseum show with Nirvana, The Breeders and Half Japanese sits next to a photo of that venue displaying a ‘SOLD OUT’ notice. There is also an original show advert for Little Richard and Guitar Slim. Grohl’s favoured chair is a luxurious loveseat. It is here that he sits while overdubbing guitar parts. Behind it, on the wall, sits his aforementioned framed Dischord royalty cheque.
Building the studio was important for Grohl, not only to demo the Foos, but also so he could continue recording his own material. In the years since that debut album, he had tried to find time to put down occasional ideas, many of which were unsuitable for either the band or even commercial release.
“I’m always recording some stuff. I even record speed metal songs or country ballads, just something to do if you’ve got an hour to spare, you know. Listen to it, laugh about it and erase it. It’s great to see that you can do a complete speed metal song – writing, composing and recording it – in just one hour. I’ve got heaps of tapes at home that are just dealing with the question of how far you can push the rip-off of a Led Zeppelin riff! Nobody will ever hear that stuff, I’m just doing it for my own amusement!” (13)
As the band settled into the demo process in the newly finished Studio 606, problems started to emerge. They just weren’t happy with the way things were sounding; the four band members simply weren’t gelling musically.
Following a Christmas break, the band had reconvened at the studio to work on more new material. Progress was slow. The combination of the awkward band chemistry and the new studio’s teething problems hampered the sessions.
Throughout 1999, Foo Fighters failed to come up with that next album. There were demos, but nothing that they could say they were particularly happy with. The only song that they were looking forward to recording was ‘Aurora’, one of the subsequent album’s standout moments.
In early July 1999, the underlying friction in the band came to a head when Franz Stahl left. Stahl himself hadn’t been comfortable with the new stuff. He was pushing in a harder direction, while the others were exploring less confrontational terrain.
“We were just going in two different directions musically, and the three of us had made a connection that we had never done before,” says Grohl, who admits to shedding a few tears at his friend’s departure. “It sucked. I love Franz, and I miss him. But the three of us were moving at pace and doing something we’ve never done. Nate and I were making this connection where he was complementing everything that I came up with. Taylor was so ready to go that he was playing like a madman. Our enthusiasm was really huge, and it seemed like most of the creative energy was coming from right here.” (14)
“Franz leaving the band was a really traumatic experience for me. I cried after it happened,” added Mendel. “But we all went through it together, and I feel like it made us closer. Right before we went in to record, we had this traumatic bonding experience that gave us cohesion. It sounds dorky, but there was a lot of hugging going on before we made this record.” (15)
With the band now down to a three piece, they returned to Studio 606 for a period of intense creativity. The trio quickly locked into a unified idea of what the new album was going to be like. “Going in (finally to the studio) to make this album was the easiest yet,” confirmed Grohl. “Taylor and Nate and I feel like we are the original line-up. We don’t feel like this calico fucking paste-up of a band – Nate and I definitely have an unspoken musical relationship that is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Taylor is not only my best friend in the world but the best drummer in the world and three of us realise that if anything happened to that, it would definitely be over.”
Together the trio worked, rested and played day and night to get the songs right. The sessions were relaxed, but emotionally intense. Grohl, it was rumoured, was really cracking the whip.
“…cracking the whip only in that I think it is really important that each person have as much passion as the next,” he argued. “Fortunately we do. The best (musicians) in the world struggle and it’s frustrating, and that frustration becomes some weird energy or motivation that winds up making its way into the music. I think that is important. I think it’s important to struggle to make an album. If it’s too easy it just sounds too easy, ya know? The thing about recording is you’re totally naked and under the microscope and then you have to challenge yourself. I think it’s the most fun in the world. It’s great – albums are like little journal entries or diaries. Once that song is on tape it will never, ever go away. It’s forever and I think that’s pretty fuckin’ cool. But also as far as perfection goes, perfection is a subtlety. Perfection is not like, ‘I want everything to be spot-on that click track. I want everything to be perfectly in time.’ Perfection is something where you just feel it, it could be sloppy as hell… but it sounds fuckin’ perfect to me. Also, I think everyone sort of cracks their own whip on themselves, saying, ‘I’m not good enough.’ I mean I have seen our bass player Nate throw his bass in the trashcan before.” (16)
These rumours that Grohl was exercising his renowned dictatorial streak were completely unfounded as he actually felt complete respect and trust in his band mates. That feeling was mutual so the trio were able to bounce ideas off each other freely without ego ever getting in the way of the process. What transpired was arguably the Foo Fighters’ first album as a true democracy. No power struggles, no musical differences, just locked-in creativity pushing towards a singular goal. Remarkably, Foo Fighters were still without a record deal.
In the month that followed the album’s completion, Foo Fighters underwent a task that they had never had to face before; they auditioned for a new guitarist. After days of jamming with hopefuls they eventually settled on the relative unknown Chris Shifflett.
On September 3, the band played the first of three secret shows which they set up to ease Shifflett in. The first show took place at Troubador in LA, where they played under what was to turn out to be the suitably fitting pseudonym, Stacked Actors. The second secret gig was on September 15 at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, followed two nights later with their final secret set at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. This latter was a showcase for industry and competition winners only. The band had used the lure of the tapes for their new album to open negotiations with interested record companies. Eventually, after a brief courting period with a few majors, Grohl opted for RCA. This gig was a celebration for the new label.
“It was interesting to see how much more fucked-up the business has gotten since 1991,” Grohl said. “Now, the first thing you have to ask is: ‘When is everyone getting fired? Has Seagram bought you yet?’ That’s the biggest difference, that and now everyone wears fucking Prada.” (17)
So happy were RCA to have signed Foo Fighters that their A&R man, Bruce Flohr, could be seen down the front, moshing with the kids and singing along to the songs. “Bruce, you’re scaring me,” chuckled a bemused Grohl from the stage. “Can I tell you how psyched the whole company is about this band? It’s almost too much for words,” enthused Flohr at the time.
The RCA deal, like the previous contract with Capitol was with Roswell Records, allowing Grohl total control over Foo Fighters records. Not that he was unrealistic about how far he could go. He knew that if they wanted to put out some of the heavier material that the band had worked on as a single, “… we’d have to fight like hell, but legally we could do it. But at the same time I look up to a
lot of those people… I don’t disrespect the people that work at RCA because they know what they’re doing; they’re there for a reason, just as I do what I do for a reason. It’s a mutual relationship. There are times when it’s tough and there are times when it’s great. And we feel really lucky that they don’t mind that we make albums in the basement, ya know? Not many people are fortunate enough to do that.” (18)
A few weeks after that secret industry gig, the band flew to Australia to play a tour in support of the first new single, ‘Learn to Fly’ which was released there on October 18. The single was issued in the UK a week later.
Although Grohl had since declared his dislike for the song, ‘Learn to Fly’ has become classed as one of the Foo Fighters’ true classics, thanks largely to its addictive hookline. The UK release of the single was again a double pack with The Obsessed’s ‘Iron and Stone’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Have A Cigar’ on Part 1, and ‘Make A Bet’ (a The Colour And The Shape out-take) and ‘Have A Cigar’ on Part 2. ‘Have A Cigar’ featured Hawkins on vocals and lead guitar by Hawkins, Mendel and Adam Kasper.
The video for the single marked the beginning of Grohl’s association with the semi-spoof band Tenacious D, featuring top Hollywood actor Jack Black, who Grohl would go on to produce an album for. “I was in Los Angeles a few years back and a friend of mine who worked at that club The Viper Room called me and was said, ‘Man, you gotta get down here on Sunday night. This band’s playing and you gotta see them.’ So I kinda blew them off the first weekend. Second weekend I couldn’t make it. Then I finally got down there expecting it to be just a band. There weren’t that many people there, maybe about twenty five or thirty people. And Jack and Kyle (Gass) got up on stage just with acoustic guitars. I was doubled up laughing, I felt like I was on acid. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. I swear to God.” (19)
On November 2, Foo Fighters’ third album There Is Nothing Left To Lose was finally issued. It included a tattoo and an enhanced portion. The cover had a picture of the back of Grohl’s head, where the nape of his neck now boasted a ‘FF’ tattoo.
There Is Nothing Left To Lose proved to be the best Foo Fighters album yet. Neither restricted by the insecurities of Foo Fighters, nor flawed by the inadequacies and power struggles of The Colour And The Shape, this album was the sound of the band working towards a common goal. To rediscover the American rock legacy and transform it through the energy of post-hardcore power pop.
Hence, through the album’s eleven tracks the band embraced artists like Lynard Skynard, Joe Walsh-era Eagles, Peter Frampton, Kiss and even Foreigner and Journey, among many others, and reworked them with the tuneful force of a latterday Bob Mould. Gone were the Metallica poses and the 1980s rock sheen that had marked out the previous album. In its place were a series of wistful, contemplative epics. Indeed the out-and-out rockers were as few and far between as the predictable grunge-isms.
“To be in a band means to go through different phases, each album reflects another phase,” explained Grohl. “You know I’ve always admired Bowie. He is a chameleon who refocuses with every album, he’s always and forever changing his style and that’s really fascinating!”(20)
There Is Nothing Left To Lose opened with the misleading thunder of ‘Stacked Actors’ with its belting distorted bass, rippling guitars and powerhouse vocals. It proved to be the only moment on the album that in any way hinted at the band’s history. What followed was a far more tuneful and mellow affair than on previous outings. However that opening number did turn heads, not only with its brilliant melody, but also with the lyrics which some speculated were about his soured relationship with both Hollywood and, perhaps, Courtney Love (Grohl did not confirm this).
“I think the most important thing about writing songs is to refuse the specifics because that takes away the opportunity for some listener to relate to the song,” he says in defence of the lyrics. “‘Stacked Actors’ – I wrote that song about everything that is fake and everything that is plastic and glamorous and unreal. So if that pertains to anyone that comes to mind, then there you go. And I’m sure a lot of people can relate to it and forward that message on to a number of disgusting celebrities. But specifics are fucking boring, y’know. Whatever, it’ll be the subject of speculation forever. But I knew when I was writing it that, oh God, this’ll become one of those songs that I’ll have to explain at length every time.”
The track that followed, ‘Breakout’, was a power pop stomper with a sensitive touch. Its phased bass line intro, picked guitars and feedback refrains introduced some of Grohl’s most sublime melodies yet. ‘Learn To Fly’ was a moment of stunning beauty captured in just less than four minutes thanks to its understated guitar and bass interplay and joyous, almost spiritual chorus.
‘Gimme Stitches’ was a sly and raunchy look back to the glam stomp of T-Rex and the Stones, but without the former’s lip gloss action and the latter’s arrogance. It came in like a dirty ‘Gimme Shelter’ and went out like ‘Let It Bleed’ stripped bare of its glimmering paintwork. The chorus proved to be another case of Grohl snatching the most addictive hookline from the burning embers of power chord rock. A classic Grohl hookline in fact.
‘Generator’ was the least effective track of the set, thanks to its kitsch voice box refrain that echoed Peter Frampton’s ‘Show Me The Way’. What followed however was the track that Grohl is on record as thinking of as “the greatest song ever written!” That song was ‘Aurora’, the only song that had survived those earliest sessions. With its luscious chord changes and aching melody it proved to be a high point on what was an album with few lows. “‘Aurora’ was never (initially) going to be on There’s Nothing Left To Lose, and yet it ended up getting on and it’s my favourite on the album,” admitted Grohl later.
‘Live-In Skin’ followed with its seductive rolling bass and liquid melody, while ‘Next Year’ offered his take on The Eagles with jangling guitars and camp fire harmonies that are one step away from being a trucking soundtrack.
‘Headwire’ was somewhat surreally reminiscent of The Police thanks to its shimmering guitar motifs, while ‘Ain’t It The Life’ luxuriated in slide guitar-drenched, trad-country rock. The mellow mood was smashed with ‘MIA’, the band’s final slab of visceral, guitar drenched rock. If slightly reminiscent of Foreigner, it still managed to capture that Foo Fighters essence
There Is Nothing Left To Lose was an important album for Foo Fighters because it taught them how powerful music could be without resorting to dynamics, histrionics or grunge. The power for this mellow, contemplative set came from the sheer level of emotion and the arrangements the band used to convey these feelings.
Part of the reason for the albums relaxed atmosphere was simply due to the way it was recorded. The laid-back environment of Alexandria and the lack of pressure from the record company created a notably more relaxed recording schedule.
“We had demo-ed maybe twelve or thirteen songs and then threw them away. Went ‘No!’” explained Grohl. “We took it easy on that album. It was spring time and we would wake up, have breakfast, go out and shoot hoops for a couple of hours, come inside, listen to what we had done the night before, maybe put down a guitar track, and go have a BBQ. It was really, really mellow and it was great. One of the things about the album that I love so much is it sounds very mellow.
(It) was kind of a response to all the music that you were hearing on the radio. You were hearing albums that were so incredibly produced, people just taking advantage of ProTools. Auto-tune on the vocals, drumming that was obviously looped, and shit like that. It’s cheating basically… I mean I know that there are bands that we have toured with like that. I watched the singer struggle to stay in tune every night. Then their new album comes out and it’s fuckin’ like Pavarotti. That’s not him, that’s Bill Gates… Well, kind of.” (21)
If one thing stood out on the album it was the mark that Hawkins had placed with his own drumming style. His rhythmic approach was far more subtle than Grohl’s, while he
was able to move from brutally pounding to gently stroking with the ease of a well-oiled machine. It was a factor that gave There Is Nothing Left To Lose a whole new dimension compared to the band’s previous albums.
“William was a bit too influenced by my own style and Taylor was influenced by a lot of other drummers,” explained Grohl. “Taylor is pretty much an individualist,” said Mendel, “which is fine by me. That the songs work out and sound good, you’ve got to have a certain style, sure, but Taylor has a very individual touch and he’s really doing his own thing but always keeps it within the frame of the song. It’s hard to explain, his style is a bit rougher, edgier.”
“He’s got a different drive,” concluded Grohl. “He’s faster, the guy’s hyperactive and an unbelievably powerful drummer who’s favouring a rather complicated style. He’s stressing different parts of the songs that William did, but he’s always within the context of the song, you know.” (22)
The press response to There Is Nothing Left To Lose was mixed, with many finding the mellow Foos hard to take. However, there were plenty that were ready to heap huge amounts of praise on the band.
“If not quite as bold as its title implies, There Is Nothing Left To Lose nonetheless marks a departure, with greater emphasis on melody and actual singing,” wrote Rolling Stone’s Greg Kot, “(where once he was) blessed with a vocal range that consisted of two tones – conversational and catastrophic.”
In the UK, Kerrang! Initially complained that “compared to The Colour And The Shape, this is a very one-dimensional album,” before going on to lavish the album with belated praise! “Grohl has seemingly discovered where his biggest strength lies – tugging at heart-strings rather than slashing at powerchords – and has decided to focus on that instead of trying to do everything all at once. Relaxed, tuneful and mature, what There Is Nothing Left To Lose lacks in variety and aggression, it makes up for in big-hearted tenderness. Foo Fighters have hit the mark once again.”