Foo Fighters announce new album & festival

After weeks of teasing, unveiling new songs live, and octogenarian hilarity, Foo Fighters have finally unveiled the title, cover and tracklisting of their ninth studio album.

Writing on social media, Dave Grohl explains: "Remember that "break" we were taking? Well... we lied. We just spent 6 months making a gigantic new Foo Fighters album."

The always tongue-in-cheek Grohl describes their new opus in the following humble terms: "I wanted it to be the biggest sounding Foo Fighters record ever. To make a gigantic rock record but with Greg Kurstin’s sense of melody and arrangement… Motorhead’s version of Sgt. Pepper… or something like that."

The LP, out 15th September, sees the Foos partner with the aforementioned Kurstin (who has produced the likes of Adele and Pink) for the first time. The unlikely allegiance came about after Dave heard Kurstin's solo band The Bird & The Bee on his car radio some four years ago and "became obsessed! ...It blew my mind."

> Concrete and Gold. Out 15 Sept.
> Pre-order & get priority access to pre-sale tix https://t.co/suKUyMbGTI to find out how. #ConcreteandGold pic.twitter.com/zWBpHg6tPq > > — Foo Fighters (@foofighters) June 20, 2017

After meeting and becoming friends over shared musical influences, Grohl thought of Kurstin when the Foos began discussing their next album: "So I think maybe Greg is the guy that we ask to be our producer because he’s never made a heavy rock record before and we’ve never worked with a pop producer".

The band then secretly booked into Hollywood’s esteemed EastWest studios (used by everyone from The Beach Boys to Slayer and AC/DC), and emerged with an album of what Dave describes as, "an album that will undoubtedly fry stereos from here to Fukuoka. Start saving your speaker money now. Sorry, it's big."

Concrete and Gold tracklisting:
1. T-Shirt
2. Run
3. Make It Right
4. The Sky Is A Neighborhood
5. La Dee Da
6. Dirty Water
7. Arrows
8. Happy Ever After (Zero Hour)
9. Sunday Rain
10. The Line
11. Concrete and Gold

Not content with announcing a new record, Grohl also wanted to throw the ultimate "backyard party for 50,000 people", and thus the concept of Cal Jam 17 was born.

The Cal Jam 17 lineup:

In the hand-written note posted on Cal Jam 17's social media, Dave explains "What better way to celebrate our biggest sounding album ever, than to invite 50,000 of you to come throw down with 22 of our favourite bands Oct 7th... That's right, we throw one hell of a party, you know..."

> https://t.co/PYBY7hU7Jr #CalJam17 pic.twitter.com/mRP2Mpwg4J > > — Cal Jam 17 (@caljamfest) June 20, 2017

Held at the Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernadino California, the festival boasts a diverse lineup that includes the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Cage The Elephant, Royal Blood, The Struts, and The Obsessed. As well as musical merriment, the site also bizarrely features a water park, mobile recording studio, and 'Foo Fighters Rock 'n' Roll Museum'. 

The Foos have also announced a full-scale October to December US tour, following on from Cal Jam 17, but as yet have not announced any UK dates. Watch this space...