HBO to Debut Documentary Series FOO FIGHTERS: SONIC HIGHWAYS, 10/17

As the 11-time Grammy-winning, 25-million-plus-selling Foo Fighters ready their eighth album for release on Nov. 10, Dave Grohl, the band's frontman - and accomplished director of the acclaimed feature-film documentary "Sound City" - delivers FOO FIGHTERS: SONIC HIGHWAYS, an unprecedented eight-part documentary series that digs deep into the heart and soul of America's musical identity.

Directed by Grohl, each one-hour episode is devoted to a different American musical landmark, chronicling the history, cultural environment and people that define each city's unique musical identity. With episodes set in (in alphabetical order) Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C., FOO FIGHTERS: SONIC HIGHWAYS features appearances from local LEGENDS who have become the musical and cultural ambassadors of those cities, including Buddy Guy, Joe Walsh, Dolly Parton, Rick Nielsen, Bad Brains, Chuck D, Gibby Haynes, Allen Toussaint and Gary Clark Jr., among others. Described by Grohl as a love letter to the history of American music, the series debuts FRIDAY, OCT. 17 (11:00 p.m.-midnight ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, followed by other episodes subsequent Fridays at the same time.

"I've pulled up the FAMILY TREE of American music and exposed its roots to find inspiration for the next Foo Fighters album. This is a musical map of America," says Grohl of the band's most ambitious effort to date. He further describes the album and series as the "chronicling of a journey to unravel the fabric of our musical identity, not only the MAKING OF our most ambitious album. This is 'Sound City' on steroids."

For the series and album of the same name, Grohl and bandmates Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear, along with producer Butch Vig, based themselves at a legendary studio integral to the unique history and character of each of these great American musical capitals. One song was recorded in each city, with Grohl, the band and the SONIC HIGHWAYS crew delving deep into local musical currents, discovering how each region shaped these musicians in their formative years, and showing in turn the impact those people had on the cultural fabric of their hometowns.

As with his 2013 film "Sound City," Grohl's unequaled passion for both the music he creates and the music that inspires its creation fuels the type of honest and trusting musician-to-musician exchange represented on the new record and HBO series.

All songs feature local LEGENDS sitting in, with every lyric written in an unprecedented experimental style: Grohl held off on putting down words until the last day of each session, so as to be inspired by the experiences, interviews for the HBO series, and other local personalities who became part of the process. Some of the other artists who participated include Charlie Gabriel, Nora Guthrie, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Trombone Shorty, Carrie Underwood and many more.

Episodes include:
Episode #1: "Chicago"
Debut: FRIDAY, OCT. 17 (11:00 p.m.-midnight ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates: Oct. 17 (1:00 a.m.), 18 (1:00 p.m., 1:45 a.m.), 19 (2:00 a.m.), 20 (11:00 p.m.), 21 (11:05 p.m.) and 23 (2:15 p.m., midnight)
HBO2 playdates: Oct. 18 (8:00 p.m.) and 22 (1:55 a.m.)

Chicago has been a mecca for such diverse acts as Cheap Trick, Etta James, Smashing Pumpkins, Herbie Hancock, Chicago and Kanye West. This episode chronicles the city's musical evolution from the blues of Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters in the '50s and '60s, to the quintessentially midwestern rock of Cheap Trick in the '70s and the punk rock of the '80s, as exemplified by Naked Raygun. At Electrical Audio studios, Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters connect with owner Steve Albini, a Chicago musical icon as a founding member of Big Black and Shellac, who produced and recorded Nirvana's third album, "In Utero." Later, they're joined by Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen to record "Something from Nothing," the first song on Foo Fighters' new album.

Episode #2: "Washington, D.C."
Debut: FRIDAY, OCT. 24 (11:00 p.m.-midnight)
Other HBO playdates: Oct. 24 (1:00 a.m.), 25 (3:30 p.m., 11:00 p.m.), 26 (2:00 a.m.), 27 (midnight), 28 (10:00 p.m., 12:30 a.m.) and 30 (2:45 p.m., midnight)
HBO2 playdates: Oct. 25 (8:00 p.m.), 28 (11:00 p.m.) and 29 (2:15 a.m.)

A transient town where few are born and raised, Washington, D.C. is in many ways a city of extremes. Starland Vocal Band, Marvin Gaye, Duke Ellington, Nils Lofgren, Chuck Brown, Henry Rollins, Fugazi and Trouble Funk all hail from D.C. In the early '70s, the music style go-go originated here, and has remained a local craze ever since. Dave Grohl sits down with Trouble Funk's Big Tony Fisher to talk about go-go, and explores its origins with Chuck Brown, the genre's undisputed godfather. He also chats with Don Zientara, owner of Inner Ear Studio, which the Virginia-raised Grohl says "produced the entire soundtrack of my youth," as well as with members of the punk band Bad Brains and Ian MacKaye of Teen Idles, Minor Threat and Fugazi, who all recorded at Inner Ear over the decades.

Dave Grohl made his directorial debut in 2013 with the critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning feature film "Sound City." A celebration of the human element in the creation and recording of music, it centered on Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Cal., where Grohl experienced his first major recording experience as drummer of Nirvana, in sessions that yielded the generation-defining album classic "Nevermind."

FOO FIGHTERS: SONIC HIGHWAYS is directed by Dave Grohl for Roswell Films, a division of Roswell Records, the label that releases Foo Fighters' music; written by Mark Monroe; executive produced by Dave Grohl, James A. Rota, John Ramsay; produced for HBO by Roswell Films and Therapy? Content, in association with Worldwide Pants.

To post a comment, you must register and login.