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Jul 17, 2023 Web Exclusive By Ian Rushbury

When Dave Grohl entered Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, alone, in late 1995, he was working through something. The suicide of his Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain, unsurprisingly tipped Grohl into depression, and for months he struggled to even pick up an instrument. He turned down offers to join Danzig and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, choosing to slowly get into a suitable headspace to create. The resulting album—the debut record by Foo Fighters, but in reality, a Grohl solo album—served as both a calling card and a cathartic release. In the face of adversity, he had found his muse. Sometimes history repeats itself in terrible ways.

When Taylor Hawkins passed away in 2022, Grohl had lost the Yin to his Yang. Grohl was the ebullient, larger than life, family-friendly rock star, while Hawkins was Mr. Rock and Roll, with all the baggage that title entails. To pile on the misery, Grohl lost his mother Virginia Hanlon Grohl later that same year. To deal with these losses, Grohl went back into the studio. This time part of his grief was shouldered by his bandmates who have helped to make the resulting album, But Here We Are, a powerful and consistently great rock and roll record.

The shadows cast by the deaths of Taylor Hawkins and Virginia Grohl could have spun Foo Fighters into a maudlin narcolepsy. Instead, the band have been galvanized into action. Starting with a call to arms. “Rescued” clatters into view like all the great Foo Fighters songs. “It came in a flash / It came out of nowhere / It happened so fast / And then it was over.” Rarely, if ever, has this band sounded so tight, together, and purposeful.

Of course, there is introspection. In “The Glass,” Grohl sings “I had a vision of you, and just like that/I was left to live without it.” The sadness in the lyric is tempered by a strident and purposeful musical accompaniment and manages to be both poignant and uplifting. “Show Me How” is a revelation—a beautifully delivered, mid-tempo song that Todd Rundgren would have been proud to have written. More of these, please.

With But Here We Are, Foo Fighters have entered another phase of their career. The band that started as a vanity project for a musician coming out of a malaise has blossomed into a multi-faceted and versatile band. Sometimes beautiful things can grow in the most inhospitable terrain. (www.foofighters.com)

Author rating: 8.5/10