Foo Fighters’ guitarist Chris Shiflett talks side projects, cowboy hats and Glastonbury

FOO Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett sings about love for his new country-inspired side project ... with the help of Nashville’s finest.

Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett. Picture: Supplied

CHRIS Shiflett has some explaining to do. Before leaving his Los Angeles home to tour, the Foo Fighters guitarist left copies of his new solo record West Coast Town on the desk in his study.

It could loosely be described as a country record — it probably sits better under the broader Americana umbrella, with a healthy dose of vintage rock’n’roll. Like all good records in this ballpark, there’s some fighting songs and there’s some drinking songs.

As he arrives at his hotel to kick off his solo run of shows, he receives a text from his wife Cara.

“She said she was reading the lyric book and ‘you seem to have written a bunch of songs about us fighting and a bunch of songs that are clearly not me,’” he says.

Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett is releasing a country-rock album, West Coast Town. Picture: Supplied

“Well you know I’m a 45-year-old man so I might be writing about a relationship from when I was 22. That’s how songwriting works.

“You don’t want the truth getting in the way of a good song.”

Shiflett has always had something on the go when Foo Fighters are between records and tours.

There have been reunions with his punk bands No Use For a Name and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and side projects including Jackson United and his country side projects.

His Walking the Floor podcast has featured more than 50 episodes with Shiflett interviewing musicians and behind-the-scenes movers and shakers including Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale, Brad Paisley and Lucinda Williams.

New songs started coming when Foo Fighters finished their last world tour in late 2015 after a few months of surfing, doing the school run for his three sons and hanging out.

Cowboy hats have become Chris Shiflett’s new look. Picture: Supplied

After interviewing Grammy-award-winning producer Dave Cobb for his podcast series, he asked the sonic architect for Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton if he would work on his new record.

Shiflett admits to suffering some nerves walking into the Nashville recording sessions with Cobb’s musicians.

“I’m an insecure motherf---er and I barely knew him from the interview we did. You are always wondering if your songs are going to be good enough,” Shiflett says.

“My wife told me just to listen to what Dave had to say about them and not to try to run the show. It was important I told myself that.”

Besides a longtime fascination with country music and the people who make it, Shiflett says playing guitar in this milieu keeps him on his toes.

He admits to suffering some nerves walking into the Nashville recording sessions. Picture: Supplied

It is a different discipline to the rock stylings he has grown up playing and he jokes he concentrates so intensely on busting out country licks he sometimes forgets to breathe.

The physicality of the playing isn’t the only difference between his country sideline and Foos day job. The mosh pit is a more orderly affair.

“We’ve done shows in the past where line dancing will break out,” he says.

“It’s the craziest thing because it’s almost like a pit at a punk rock show but really organised. You don’t want to be messing with the big dudes in the cowboy hats when they get their line dancing on.”

Cowboy hats are one of the guitarist’s vices.

“I was saying to a friend in my band the other day that I have to get a decent hat rack because they are all over my house and all bent out of shape,” he says.

Foo Fighters are set to release a new record later this year and the band headlines Glastonbury in June. Picture: Supplied

While his association with Foo Fighters may help sell tickets to his solo shows, Shiflett admits hitting the road to promote his solo records is an indulgence due to the economics of touring.

He does it for the thrill even if he isn’t likely to make a cent out of a run of shows.

“It’s challenging. I couldn’t take this out for two years unless we got a lot more popular than I am. I still feel like I need to do it,” he says.

While he would love to bring his country project to Australia, Foo Fighters commitments loom.

There will be a new record later this year and the band headlines the Glastonbury festival in the UK in June.

It will be the first time Shiflett has played the legendary event as he wasn’t a member of the Foos the last time they played there in the late 1990s and they cancelled their previous booking when Dave Grohl broke his leg in 2015.

“I’m excited because I’ve never been to Glastonbury; it’s the stuff of legends.”

Hear: West Coast Town (SideOneDummy Records/Cooking Vinyl Australia) out now.