Foo Fighters – Skin Back Alley

Listen as Dave Grohl streams early Foo Fighters demos

21/04/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

As well as being the Official Ambassador for this year’s Record Store Day, Dave Grohl had a limited edition release of his own to talk about as part of the global event.

The former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters mastermind released his own EP, Songs From The Laundry Room, which collected together 4 early demos, some of which would later become staples of the Foos canon.

The tracks are lo-fi early versions of “Alone + Easy Target” from 1992, “Big Me” from 1994, a cover of Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America” from 1991 and the previously unreleased “Empty Handed”, also from ’92.

The songs were recorded in the home studio of Barrett Jones who would go on to produce the Foo Fighters debut album. Jones shared some of the recordings with Grohl during the filming of Foos documentary series Sonic Highways.

“He was putting on songs that I’d recorded, fuck, I don’t know, 25, 26 years ago?” Grohl tells Rolling Stone. “I had songs I had no recollection of, which is weird. It’s almost like seeing a snapshot of yourself, passed-out drunk at a party. You’re listening to a song like, ‘Oh, my God, what was I thinking?'”

Find out what Grohl was thinking by taking a listen to the tracks via the stream below. Grohl estimates that he has another 15 to 20 unreleased songs that may surface in the future.

Foo Fighters confirmed for Glastonbury

19/02/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Foo Fighters will play a headline set at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

Dave Grohl revealed the news whilst accepting the Best International Band award at last night’s NME Awards.

In a recorded video message Grohl said: “Sorry we couldn’t make it tonight, but we will be seeing you over the summer at some big outdoor festival that nobody knows we’re playing – it’s Glastonbury. So we’ll see you at Glastonbury. Thanks a lot everybody.”

The Foos will play the Pyramid Stage on Friday 24th July. It will be their first appearance at Glastonbury since 1998.

Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis said of the news: “We feel incredibly lucky to have confirmed the Foo Fighters for the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this year. Very few bands have the power to unite and energise a crowd like Foo Fighters do. We can’t wait for them to rock Worthy Farm on Friday night.”

The Foos are also set to tour the UK in May, with confirmed dates as follows:

May 25th: Sunderland Stadium Of Light
May 27th: Manchester Emirates Old Trafford
Jun 19th: London Wembley Stadium
Jun 20th: London Wembley Stadium
Jun 23rd: Edinburgh BT Murrayfield Stadium

Foo Fighters play charity bash with all-star guests

12/01/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

In case you missed it this weekend, Foo Fighters were joined onstage by a host of prominent rockers on Saturday night as part of their “An Evening With Foo Fighters in the Round” show.

The gig was laid on to raise money for three music-related charities and doubled up as a 46th birthday bash for Foos mainman Dave Grohl.

The Rock School Scholarship Fund, MusiCares and Sweet Relief will all benefit from the proceeds of the show.

Guest musicians on the night included Alice Cooper, David Lee Roth, Trombone Shorty, Joe Walsh, Perry Farrell, Zakk Wylde, Nick Oliveri, Slash, Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D, and Paul Stanley.

You can watch footage of Foo Fighters and Alice Cooper performing his classic hits “School’s Out” and “I’m Eighteen” below:

Foo Fighters are set to return to the UK this summer as part of their Sonic Highways tour. They’ve confirmed five stadium shows in May and June:

May 25th: Sunderland, Stadium Of Light
May 27th: Manchester, Emirates Old Trafford
Jun 19th: London, Wembley Stadium
Jun 20th: London, Wembley Stadium
Jun 23rd: Edinburgh, BT Murrayfield Stadium

Foo Fighters to play five UK stadium shows in summer 2015

13/11/2014 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Foo Fighters have announced five stadium shows for summer 2015.

The band announced last night that they will play at Sunderland’s Stadium Of Light, Manchester’s Emirates Stadium, London’s Wembley Stadium and Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium in May and June, with support coming from Iggy Pop and Royal Blood.

Tickets for the gigs will go on sale on the 21st of November at 10am, with a special pre-sale taking place two days before.

The news comes hot on the heels of the release of Foo Fighters’ latest album, Sonic Highways, that went on general release on Monday. A documentary series of the same name that follows the making of the album is currently airing on BBC Four in the UK and HBO in the US.

Foo Fighters will play:

May 25th: Sunderland – Stadium Of Light
May 27th: Manchester – Emirates Old Trafford
Jun 19th: London – Wembley Stadium
Jun 20th: London – Wembley Stadium
Jun 23rd: Edinburgh – BT Murrayfield Stadium

Check out the Foos’ latest song, “What Did I Do? / God As My Witness”, below:

Taylor Hawkins: U2 album “sounds like a fart”

11/11/2014 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Birds of Satan bandleader and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has said what many of us were thinking anyway.

As reported by Consequence Of Sound, the sticksman has suggested that U2’s new album, Songs Of Innocence, “…sounds like a fart any way you listen to it.”

Earlier this year, U2 gave away their new album for free, with it being automatically downloaded in to iTunes user’s libraries whether they wanted it or not. The resulting uproar saw Apple having to rush-release a ‘removal tool’ for disgruntled music fans to get rid of the unwanted LP.

Says Hawkins: “What happened to U2, man? I don’t think people are that hyped on them. The album is so marred by that whole sort of Orwellian 1984 extreme that it just kind of sounds like a fart any way you listen to it.”

“I think they probably thought it was gonna be a great idea, ‘Here’s the deal – everybody who has an iPhone, gets your record. And they get it for free’”

“And they thought, ‘Well that’s pretty awesome,’ but they didn’t really take into consideration the Big Brother feeling that kind of goes along with it. You couldn’t get rid of it and they actually had to come up with an app to get rid of it. That’s horrible.”

Foo Fighters released their own new offering, Sonic Highways, this week. A documentary series of the same name is currently being broadcast on BBC Four in the UK and on HBO in the US. The programme follows the band as they travel around the USA, recording a new song in different cities across the country.