Foo Fighters - But Here We Are (Album Review)
Foo Fighters - But Here We Are
Released: June 2, 2023
Line Up
Dave Grohl – lead vocals, guitar, drums
Rami Jaffee – keyboards
Nate Mendel – bass guitar
Chris Shiflett – guitar, backing vocals
Pat Smear – guitar
Online
So here we are. Fifteen months or so after the sudden death of drummer Taylor Hawkins, we have a new Foo Fighters album. I have to admit, part of me didn’t think we would get here. Maybe the loss of Hawkins as musician, confidant, and friend would be too much. Maybe Dave Grohl would decide there was no Foo without that smile behind the drum kit, ala Led Zeppelin when John Bonham died. Instead, like Bon Scott’s death-inspired AC/DC’s Back in Black, the band have quickly reloaded and released an aptly named record that both grieves and celebrates their missing piece. For recording Grohl is back behind the kit for the first time since 1997’s The Colour and the Shape. Because, as this album’s very existence demonstrates, the Foo Fighters are a family bonded by their shared love of rock n roll.
That family effectively includes producer Gary Kurstin, whose pop sensibility continues to guide the Foo Fighters sound as it has through Concrete and Gold and Medicine at Midnight. Kurstin has helped the band experiment with pop and disco grooves though their distinctive soft-loud-soft-very loud dynamic is still intact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e9nRnOMjIQ
The surprise first single ‘Rescued’ put to bed any concerns the band would undergo any radical reinvention without their drummer. It’s a great opener with lyrics that reflect their grief, or more abstractly a relationship ending, but also offer hope when Grohl sings “bring me back to life.” There’s a lot of this, you’ll be looking for references to Hawkins at every turn. But Grohl has suddenly lost central bandmates before and he knows his way through. A tune like ‘Under You’ works fine whether you want to think about Taylor, Kurt, your own loss, or your most recent ex. Thus we hit on the power of the Foos - they write songs that everyone can relate to. It’s also a song that recalls the band’s earliest punk influences when it was just Dave recording everything.
It’s not a total nostalgia trip though as Kurstin’s influence means that pop sheen of the last two albums remains intact. ‘Hearing Voices’ has a great acoustic intro and outro with the pre-chorus being the loud part before a softer part focused on Grohl’s croon. It’s less jarring than Medicine to Midnight, where the band flirted with funk and disco at times but continues the shift they’ve made with Kurstin’s guidance. The title track ‘But Here We Are’ is a bit more traditional with a grooving riff and Grohl getting shouty and gruff. Elements of that funk do appear on the verses of ‘Nothing At All’ but the chorus is classic Foo. Man I love it when Dave Grohl screams...
‘The Glass’ stopped me in my tracks… I don’t know why. Something about the phrase: “and just like that, I was left to live without you.” Then I started thinking about family members who have passed away overseas this year and yep, it’s a mess. Big stadium rock song that will hit you in the feels.
Also worth noting is ‘Show Me How’ in which Violet Grohl duets with her father. The harmonies are tremendous, recalling Dave’s terrific performance on ‘Walking After You’. They have a great harmony together, with the melancholy lyrics you have been expecting from the album. This is followed up with ‘Beyond Me’, a soulful rock ballad about grief and acceptance. Rami Jaffee leads the way on piano with the band bringing the rock on the hook. Phones are going to light up stadiums on this one.
Beyond reading every lyric as a tribute to Taylor, the musical hallmark of But Here We Are is the ten-minute-long ‘The Teacher’. Never one to drift too far from influences, Grohl has challenged himself to write his own version of a Rush song. It does quite hit the prog highs of that band’s illustrious catalogue but it’s captivating in its own way. There’s twists and turns through moods and tone with some really great drumming. You can really hear the three guitars too, even though it’s very much in the realm of Foo Fighters rock n roll, rather than a radical departure. Still, I dig them doing something to stretch themselves. Would I take a four-track 50-minute prog concept album? I would be curious for sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MF6trC529M
After all the twists and turns of ‘The Teacher’ we end with Dave solo on ‘Rest’. It’s beautiful and grim, with lyrics like “laying in your favorite clothes, chosen just for you.” It’s incredibly raw, the moment fans around the world will share in a collective sigh and tears. The first section would be enough but grief isn’t clean, and Dave is joined by distortion and percussion as he repeats the song’s refrain - “rest, you can rest now.” I’m glad they saved it for the end because I don’t know how you’d get through the album if they didn’t.
This is an album that is impossible to separate from the context of its creation. It’s a celebration of the Foo Fighters as a continuing band and family, one that acknowledges their personal grief and that of their fans. Taylor Hawkins’ spirit is present in each and every song, though it's far from a morbid and melancholy affair. I really didn’t enjoy Medicine at Midnight but found this much more palpable. There’s a lot of what fans love about Foo Fighters on But Here We Are, even if one of the central pieces is lost to us all.
Foo Fighters – But Here We Are tracklisting
- Rescued
- Under You
- Hearing Voices
- But Here We Are
- The Glass
- Nothing At All
- Show Me How
- Beyond Me
- The Teacher
- Rest
Rating: 8.5/10
But Here We Are is out now via Roswell Records. Get it here
Review by KJ Draven (Twitter and Instagram) and dedicated to the Fernadez and D’aprano families.
