The HBO Original Series, Foo Fighters Sonic Highways premieres Friday, October 17 at 11PM, only on HBO.
DAVE Grohl has an open invitation to the White House.
The Foo Fighters frontman and filmmaker didn't believe it either when President Barack Obama first suggested he could "just come over". Bring the family. Hang out.
He tested the invite after he was granted an interview with the President of the United States for his Sonic Highways documentary series.
The series both shines a light on the rich musical history of eight key cities of America and captures the making of the much-loved rock band's eighth record.
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Eight songs recorded in eight weeks ... How Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways was created. Picture: Ringo Starr Source: Supplied
Grohl wanted to talk to the country's boss about America as the land of dreams. And pick his brain about music, particularly after spying a hefty volume of Bob Dylan's lyrics in a White House library during a previous visit.
Their conversation aired in the first episode of Sonic Highways filmed in Chicago where they also recorded the album's opening track Something From Nothing.
"We talked about music for a while and afterwards he said 'Bring the family next time, just come over'. And I said 'Oh yeah, I'll just come over to the White House. And he said, "No, really. Come on over'," Grohl says, sitting in the band's Studio 606 in suburban Los Angeles.
"So a couple of weeks later, I had my daughter on a daddy trip, just the two of us, and I told her she could go anywhere in the world, and she said Virginia (Grohl's birthplace).
"I asked her if she wanted to go to the White House while we're over there. So we went to the White House. Believe me, I understand it's nuts."
Inspired by his interviews ... Dave Grohl wrote the lyrics for each new song on the final day. Picture: Kevin Mazur Source: Supplied
It would have been nuts for Grohl and his band mates to contemplate such an epic undertaking as Sonic Highways 20 years ago when he formed Foo Fighters in the wake of Kurt Cobain's death, bringing the curtain down abruptly on his former band, Nirvana.
The idea was to record a song in famed studios in Chicago, Washington D.C., New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Seattle and Austin.
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Fear of creative malaise may have fuelled Grohl's vision but it was the success of his film Sound City, about the influential LA studio where everyone from Neil Young to Nirvana recorded seminal albums, which cemented his desire to make the documentary.
The passionate music man wanted to inspire others to reconnect with the art form in an age where sound is ubiquitous.
Band of brothers ... Foo Fighters want to inspire fans to fall in love with music again. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied
"People would tell me they stopped listening to music because it's on the iPod or in the cloud and there's too much to choose from and to me, that just means you are not inspired to go and find it. You have to instil that motivation, get people inspired to fall in love with it, otherwise it's just a sound," he says.
"Not everyone said 'Wow, what a cool idea for a music series'. We got the foot in the door (with HBO) and we realised 'F---! Now we really have to do it because who else is going to f---ing do it?'"
With producer Butch Vig in tow, they spent a week in each city throughout May and June, with Grohl interviewing musicians and the musically minded from Buddy Guy to Nora Guthrie, the daughter of revered American folk singer Woody and sister of Arlo.
The band recorded the musical skeletons they had demoed back in Los Angeles and Grohl would write the lyrics on the final day, drawing phrases and stories from his interviews.
His four band mates Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear all agree the early sessions to write the music before they hit the road were tough.
Pre-production sessions were tough ... Foo Fighters' drummer Taylor Hawkins. Picture: Andrew Stuart Source: Supplied
"We demoed things six times and they wouldn't change. I could see this unfulfilled feeling in Dave a lot of the time. At one point he said 'This sounds like the record we threw away back in 2002 or whatever'," drummer Hawkins says.
"I remember going 'What's wrong, dude? What are you looking for? He got us to this point and pushed it and pushed it to the point of mental exhaustion about how to do these songs.
"I think in a way he meant to push us to the limit of what we could do and play as a band. And then let it go. You did all that prep and then it's 'Press record. You guys sound great'."
Once on the road, away from making lunches and doing the school runs with the children, there were plenty of good, hilarious and just plain awkward times.
Like the magnificent feast of whole pig stuffed with sausage and wrapped with bacon that was slow-cooked on a smoker by Zac Brown's chef.
Or playing a free street party with Arcade Fire and Trombone Shorty in New Orleans after recording in the legendary Preservation Hall, one of the homes of jazz.
Recording at the legendary Preservation Hall in New Orleans ... Foo Fighters' Chris Shiflett and Taylor Hawkins. Picture: Andrew Stuart Source: Supplied
Or hearing Nora Guthrie's stories about repeatedly telling Bob Dylan to go away when he kept turning up at the family home and asking to meet her father. Arlo eventually invited him in.
Perhaps the most awkward moment was when Grohl, Shiflett and Smear decided to visit a Bikini Barista, a coffee kiosk staffed by scantily clad staff, in Seattle.
Surprisingly their barista didn't recognise them.
Smear suggests she may have been too young to clock the famous rockers.
"We were so terrified, honestly, we hardly showed our faces. I ordered from the back of my head. It was altogether creepy," Grohl says.
Sonic Highways ceases to be about the pictures and about the stadiums when the series winds up and the world your winds up.
For a change, Foo Fighters will start rather than finish their musical race around the world in the southern hemisphere with stadium concerts, supported by Rise Against, in February.
They played some epic concerts lasting up to three hours to introduce their previous record, Wasting Light — so will four hours be the go for Sonic Highways, particularly as some of the album tracks clock in well over the five minute mark?
Sonic Highways recording sessions ... Dave Grohl and Pat Smear hang out in the Californian desert for Sonic Highways. Picture: Andrew Stuart Source: Supplied
The band members are horrified by the prospect.
"I like playing until they're done," Smear says.
HEAR: Sonic Highways is out on November 10. The series airs on Go!, Saturday, 4.30pm
SEE: Foo Fighters, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, February 24, ticketek.com.au; ANZ Stadium, Sydney, February 26, ticketek.com.au; Etihad Stadium, Melbourne, February 28, ticketmaster.com.au; Derwent Entertainment Centre, Hobart, March 2, ticketmaster.com.au; Coopers Stadium, Adelaide, March 4, ticketek.com.au and nib Stadium, Perth, March 7, ticketmaster.com.au.
Frontier Members pre-sale on November 11 (check frontiertouring.com for more details) with general public tickets available from 10am on November 13
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