To accompany the upcoming release of the Foo Fighters’ eighth studio album, Sonic Highways, the band has also partnered with HBO to create an original documentary, which has been described by Dave Grohl as a love letter to the history of American music. Coinciding with the band’s 20 year anniversary, the Sonic Highways TV series will inevitably be airing in the States on HBO during October, but the latest news is that UK fans will be able to see the documentaries at the same time as they’ve been confirmed to air on BBC 4.
Eight is the magic number for 2014 and the Foo Fighters as they celebrate their eighth full record release, which itself contains eight tracks, with the creation of 8 episodes for the documentary TV series. The series will start in the UK on BBC Four on Sunday 26 October 2014, while it premiers in the States on HBO a little earlier on the 17th October at 11pm. You can check out the trailer below to get a little preview of what to expect from the series.
On the face of things, Sonic Highways is largely a behind the scenes sneak peak at the making of Foo Fighters’ eighth album of the same name, which was recorded in eight different cities in the US – Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.. However, the intent is for the documentaries to also act as a musical map of America, as the band set out to chart the history of music in the US cities. For us, there a couple of notable missing cities in Detroit and San Francisco, but the eight chosen are clearly the ones that have the most meaning for Dave and the band.
Directed by Grohl, and featuring him and the band in the process of laying down the album, each episode chronicles the writing and recording of the eight-songs in the eight different American cities that they stopped off at. This is accompanied by a bit to delve under the skin of the musical heritage and history of each location to give us a flavour of the significant influence of each on the band and their own musical production.
Each episode will features appearances from local music legends who have managed to define the musical identity of the cities they live in, helping to shape the present and future of music in the USA. In terms of who to expect in the series, in Austin they’ll be talking to Dolly Parton, in Nashville it’ll be Willy Nelson, and in New York they met up with rapper and producer Chuck D. Other artists featured include LL Cool J, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Joan Jett, Buddy Guy, Mike D from the Beastie Boys and Bonnie Raitt.
For UK fans, there’s a bit of an odd reality in terms of the airing schedule for the series from the BBC, you’ll need to take into account. Only episodes one, two, seven and eight will broadcast directly on BBC4, while episodes three to six will be on the BBC iPlayer to view in November.
The Sonic Highways album itself will be released on Monday the 10th November 2014 and it’ll be available on CD, vinyl and digital download. The vinyl edition of the record will be release to include eight different cover designs that have been created specifically around each of the cities in which the album was recorded.
