Butch Vig Discusses New Foo Fighters Album

[FMQB.com] In an interview with MTV News, producer Butch Vig discusses the making of the highly-anticipated new Foo Fighters album, due out this Spring. Vig discussed at length how Dave Grohl decided to record the as-yet-untitled new album in his own garage, rather than the Foo Headquarters in California. Vig says, "We got a drum kit and put it in there, and [Grohl] started banging on it, and I was like, 'Wow, it's really intense sounding,' because it's a small garage, just drywall, you know? And then he said, 'Cool, well, here's another thing: I want to do it on tape, 24-track tape. I don't want to use any computers.' And I said, 'Look, I totally understand this, [but] it's going to be a lot of work, because you guys have got to play really good.' Because you can fix anything with computers, Auto-Tune everything until it becomes perfect, and he said, 'I want the record to sound rawer and somewhat imperfect. As good as we play, that's how good the record will sound.' And, you know what? It sounds great. They're f**king badass players. It's an honest record. It sounds real."

Vig (who of course produced Nirvana's Nevermind) also discussed the reunion of Grohl and his former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novaselic, who plays on a new song titled "I Should Have Known." He told MTV, "We had Krist Novoselic come in and play bass [on the song], and I'm not exactly sure what the song's about, but to me, it seems there's definitely some references about Kurt Cobain, and it's one of the most primal, raw things the Foo Fighters have ever done, and I think it's one of the best tracks on the record. It's distorted and raw, and Dave, the take on the vocals is like the first take he did at the end of the song. He's just blowing his lungs out. ... We played the record for some people yesterday, and the whole record is great, but that song, God, it's quite an emotional roller-coaster ride when you hear it."

He continued, "When Krist came up to Dave's house, we sort of sat down and it was like, 'Holy sh--, man, we hadn't been in a room together — the three of us — in almost 20 years.' So Krist did his bass overdubs, and he added a little accordion part at the start and end of the song, and then we just sat around and shot the shit for three or four hours. Dave and I were sipping on some wine, and Krist started drinking some bootleg whiskey, and it was great. ... One story would lead to another story, and it was an amazing experience, just to be there, to open up all these things you may have forgotten about. It was really a pretty special part of the album."