Foo Fighters Guitarist Releases Solo Album

The Foo Fighters’ guitarist Chris Shiflett recently released a solo album during the two-year hiatus the Foos have been on. The album, called Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants, features more of a rockabilly sound than the top grossing alternative band. The album is even a departure from the sound of his old punk band, No Use For A Name, or his part-time gig with the punk cover band Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. Speaking on how the album came about to Classic Rock magazine, Shiflett said, “I can’t say that I grew up on this music, because I’m from California and it was Aerosmith and KISS for me. But then my older brother got me into the Rolling Stones and Elvis. From there, I discovered Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, then the Replacements, X, and Wilco. I just wanted to get a record made. But now I’ve got this bunch of really good musicians together for the live dates, and I’m really enjoying what we’re doing. So, I’ll try to keep them together for the next album.” The album attempts to replicate a more warm, analog sound, as Shiflett mentioned to Classic Rock. “I hate the way records sound these days – too much technology. To me that destroys music. Hearing the mistakes is part of what music is. We tried to maintain that philosophy throughout.”
 The Foos will be returning later this year to record their next album, says Shifflett, but he’s hoping to get some shows in beforehand. “If I hadn’t been relaxing so much I’d have gotten our debut album out a year ago, and given us a chance to tour. As it is, I’ve just done a run of dates locally (California), but we start recording the new Foos album in September and that will probably take us through the autumn. There might be time for me to do some more gigs around the end of year. But then we’ll probably be into Foo Fighters touring schedule that’ll stretch into 2012.” Hear some tunes, pick up the album, or read more, check out his Myspace page. Recommended Listening:

• Strung Out On Foo Fighters (EP)
• Ordinary Hereos: The String Quartet Tribute to Foo Fighters (Reissue w/ 4 new tracks)
• Shape and Colour of My Heart: TheString Quartet Tribute to Foo Fighters