Foo Fighters - But Here We Are
But Here We Are
Release Date: June 2nd, 2023
Label: Roswell Records/RCA
Producers: Foo Fighters, Greg Kurstin
Review by Jared Stossel
On March 25th, 2022, the Foo Fighters released a statement that Taylor Hawkins had passed away. For anyone reading the statement, it was a complete shock. It came out of nowhere, and you could feel a collective sadness throughout the world. It seemed impossible that a giant such as Hawkins would leave this world before the rest of us. Touring plans were suspended indefinitely. Just a few months later, founder lead vocalist and guitarist Dave Grohl would lose his mother, Virginia. By the end of the year, the band released a statement informing fans that they were going to continue, but that they would “be a different band going forward.” Given the gravity of the situation that had been thrown at them that year, I think that’s an understandable statement.
But Here We Are is an album that finds the Foo Fighters confronting sadness head-on, and working through the grief rather than letting it consume them. It is a brutally honest album, and one that the band has described as the “first chapter of the band’s new life”. It has parallels to the band’s self-titled debut (written and recorded entirely by Grohl in the early 90s), in the sense that they are both albums about processing grief. This time around, Foo Fighters is an established band that has Grammys, accolades, dozens of world tours, and millions of fans around the world. In 1995, there were no expectations with Foo Fighters. There was a certain freedom. This time, things are different.
The band reunited with producer Greg Kurstin, whom the band has been working closely with since 2017’s Concrete & Gold. Instead of recruiting a studio drummer or friend to fill in, Grohl stepped behind the kit once more to play all of the drum parts. I can only imagine how cathartic a recording session this was. He plays beautifully throughout the band’s ten tracks, with some of the best performances recorded to a Foo Fighters album from bassist Nate Mendel, guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett, and keyboardist Rami Jaffee all making appearances.
There is an energy on But Here We Are that is unlike any I’ve ever heard on a Foo Fighters album. It is the sound of a band of brothers working through grief-stricken emotions and an unprecedented situation, and it is strikingly beautiful. Listeners are launched headfirst into the mindset of the band, with the energetic “Rescued” acting as a grand opening. “Under You” and the album’s title track harken back to the post-grunge era of the band, while “Hearing Voices” works through the brink of craziness that one feels during moments like this.
“The Glass” has a stadium-ready chorus prepped and ready to go as Grohl sings “I had a vision of you/And just like that/I was left to live without it/left to live without.” You can practically see the lighters (or in this case, iPhone flashlights) in the air. “Nothing At All” feels the closest to channeling Nirvana as Grohl has ever gotten, channeling the sound that launched him and his brothers into the upper echelons of rock. A groove-laden drum beat, accentuated by reverb-tinged guitars, swells into an explosive grunge-like chorus that will cause mosh pits filled with rockers of all ages to open up. “Show Me How” finds Grohl duetting with his daughter, Violet, an atmosphere of trippy guitar effects and lyrics about the feeling of being lost.
The piano-driven “Beyond Me” feels signals the beginning of the end of But Here We Are Now, where the most emotional punches are saved for last. The last two songs, “The Teacher” and “Rest”, may be the most emotionally heavy songs Grohl has ever written, a send-off to both Hawkins and his mother, with the lyrics “you can rest now” reverberating out of the speakers with assured confidence and profound sadness. Yet even in times like these, the Foo Fighters show how resilient they are, and you can’t help but revel in the excellence of their art.
There are five stages of grief: anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But Here We Are works through these feelings in ten, each step more emotional and impactful than the last.
