NO ONE WOULD have blamed Dave Grohl if he’d called time on the Foo Fighters last year. The sudden, shocking death of drummer Taylor Hawkins – aman Dave called “my best friend” – in March 2022 was the kind of body blow many people would struggle to recover from. The loss of the singer’s mother, Virginia, a few months later only compounded his personal agony. Yet the fact that he’s elected to continue the band shouldn’t really be that unexpected. Foo Fighters themselves were partly Dave Grohl’s attempt to find a light in the darkness of the aftermath of Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain’s death. But unlike the Foos’ shiny, breezy, ultimately optimistic self-titled 1995 debut, their 11th album, But Here We Are, is 48 minutes of raw, bruised intensity.
‘It came in a flash / It came out of nowhere / It happened so fast / And then it was over’ are the first words Dave sings on propulsive opening song Rescued, his voice edged with hoarseness as a barrage of drums erupts out of nowhere. ‘Cathartic’ is an overused word, but it really does sound like 18 months’ worth of pent-up emotions being uncorked at once.
Musically, But Here We Are is heavier and denser than anything the Foo Fighters have released in the last 25 years – not Probot heavy, but still a world away from Times Like These. Guitars buzz and rage like wasps in an upturned jam jar, bearing the clear imprint of Hüsker Dü – the cult 80s hardcore icons beloved by the singer. He plays drums on every track, hitting them as hard as he did back in the Nirvana days, each beat powered by grief, anger, hopelessness and defiance.
Of course, this is a Dave Grohl record. Despite everything, his unerring sense for massive melodies and huge tunes hasn’t deserted him. The title track is a shredded-throat roar of defiance designed to be hollered out in festival fields around the world. Under You is a stadium-ready anthem that could easily sit next to Monkey Wrench or Best Of You in the Foos live set, at least if you don’t listen to the lyrics. ‘There are times I need someone… There are times I just don’t know what to do,’ he sings like a man lost without a map in a world that doesn’t make sense.
Naturally, Taylor Hawkins and Virginia Grohl are all over There are countless lump-in-the-throat moments. is a gentle respite featuring a prominent vocal from Dave’s daughter Violet –he sings plaintively.
