photo by: Chris Bradshaw

Featuring: Bad Brains, Royal Blood, The Kills, Mike Watt, Matt Pinfield, Dan Catullo, The Struts, Danny Clinch, The Joy Formidable & Rockin’ 1000.

July 1995: With sand still stuck between my toes and salt water pouring down my face I open the door to a green Volvo station wagon and sit down in the back seat. I find my cousin stationed up front radiating with what appears to be an invaluable gem that he just unearthed. “It’s Foo Fighters” he said, “Dave Grohl from Nirvana’s new band. “While you all were taking one more wave, I ran down the boardwalk to check out the local record store. I got the last copy of this CD.”

He continues to unwrap the jewel case that to this day I marvel at. A tan-ish backdrop displaying an antique raygun with ‘Foo Fighters’ subtly draped across the top. He pops the CD in and wait a second – a static laced, plug a chord into an old amp that you hope works sound is the first thing you are met with. Then, about six seconds in, if you listen closely, you hear one of my favorite parts of the entire record. Dave Grohl, now at the mic, takes a quick breath before breaking into a non-distorted E chord with the lyrics, “Visiting is pretty” in tow. It’s now only 10 seconds deep into this curious adventure of something Fighters, I am 14-years-old and totally intrigued.

Prior to the band’s release of their seventh record, Wasting Light, they put out a riveting rockumentary called Back and Forth. Shortly into the history of the band, Grohl explains how after performing with Tom Petty on SNL he was asked to join Petty as the band’s drummer. He declined. Instead – opting to pursue this project, which at the time was a solo venture of Grohl PLAYing all the instruments on songs he had written over the years, and then recorded in Seattle at Robert Lang Studios. He mentions after hanging up the phone telling Petty & co he respectively passes, he says to himself, “OK, let’s see what happens.” You know that quick breath I just mentioned before the launch into “This Is A Call”? I feel that’s the “OK, let’s see what happens” Grohl is referring to in Back and Forth.

And away we go. There are then lyrics referencing finger nails, and this could be a secret, and then this is a call to – ALL.

All – a very important word in the history and fabric of the Foo Fighters. Yes, the lead word in what would eventually become one of the band’s biggest hits and thunderous show openers with “All My Life”, but also a method they would apply subconsciously to much of what they do. Their songwriting is applicable to the masses. Regardless of genre, geographical location, male/female, race, ethnicity, you can relate to what the Foo Fighters are saying through their authenticity. Whether it’s “If everything could ever feel this real forever” or “Gotta get to sleep somehow, banging on the ceiling.” You just simply feel it.

And then you see the band live hoping to celebrate these songs you love to listen to and sing at the top of your lungs. Whether you’ve seen Foo Fighters in a small dark club, opening for Mike Watt in 1995 on one of their first official tours, rockin’ Roseland ballroom, PNC Arts Center, the TD Garden, Wembley Stadium or Wrigley Field, the same thing has always happened. You dance and celebrate that feeling Foo Fighters give you. It would have been impossible to project with that short breath on “This Is A Call” would come a fire launching into such a Colour and Shape that not only navigates each Sonic Highway with grace, but also carves paths of their own for all to join in on.

Then there’s the undeniable charisma. From drummer, Taylor Hawkins’ wide array of board shorts to the hilarious catalog of music videos, Foo Fighters write the book on engaging personalities collectively. How do you blend not taking yourself too seriously with music that moves mountains?

“It’s your voice. Cherish it, respect it, nourish it, challenge it, stretch it, scream it until it’s fucking gone. Because everyone is blessed with at least that,” said Grohl during his 2013 SXSW keynote. And therein lies your answer.

To me, one of the most powerful moments of any show is when the lights go down and the band first takes the stage. But how about… when the lights go down and you start to hear growls and screams from behind the curtain of “Are you readdddddddyyyyyy” before Foo Fighters literally sprint on stage slamming power chords in stride? Oh, hell yes, only Foo’s can pull that off and inject that spirit into each and every person’s veins in attendance.

From the first gig in a friends small place in Seattle, to the aisles opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers, to the Cheese and Grain, to people’s garage (literally), to a field in Cesena, Italy, to a throne, to a van tour… Foo Fighters continue to push their creative boundaries to new limits. Their efforts tireless and their reasoning always sincere.

Over 12 million Foo Fighters records have been sold and 12 Grammy Awards rock the mantles of 606 (11 for music, 1 for the Back and Forth doc). Still, you feel the stage walkway the band is arm-in-arm on atop this article is simply a pathway to another stage still to be uncovered. Where the upcoming 10th record that we eagerly await will lead the way to new and uncharted Foo adventures.

“But, Honestly”, it’s a band with a collection of music that we so deeply need and connect to during this challenging time. Foo Fighters were supposed to have just wrapped up the first leg of their Van Tour to kick off the celebratory 25th year. Pray for tomorrow but for today all I want is to be home. Plans may have postponed but the music has not, and we know…that it’s times like these we learn to live again, it’s times like these we give and give again, it’s times like these we learn to love again.

With this in mind, I have had the great pleasure to collaborate with 10 Foo friends who, here, share some of their favorite moments and illuminate the boundless inspiration of the one and only Foo Fighters. To Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffe – thanks for all you.