Chris Shifflet of Foo Fighters discusses his career, his love of Country Music, and his time with No Use For A Name in episode 2 of Medicine At Midnight Radio on Apple Music. You can listen below and see some quotes from the show. Fans can tune in to Medicine At Midnight Radio every day this week at 4:00p PST on Apple Music Hits at apple.co/FFRadio or anytime on-demand. The series continues tomorrow with Rami Jaffee’s episode. Medicine At Midnight Radio will include six hour-long episodes each hosted by a separate band member where they’ll explore their personal inspirations, musical journeys, and reflect on the creative process behind the album.
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Chris Shiflett Tells Apple Music Why He Loves Title Track “Medicine At Midnight”…
I really do love that song. It’s one of my favorites off the new record, because it just kind of reminds me of the way a lot of music sounded when I was a kid. That sort of late seventies through the early part of the eighties. Whatever was happening with recording technology at that point records just had a lot of warmth. And for a guitar player just those tones, like the slap delay on everything and I mean just that stringy Telecaster or stratty type of sound that we got to put a little bit of on that track really just makes me happy.
Chris Shiflett Tells Apple Music About The Rolling Stones’ Album ‘Some Girls’…
When I think of Telecasters and warm guitar tones and that slap back and that start and that whole thing, of course I go to my favorite all-time band, The Rolling Stones. And this album in particular, Some Girls, which came out in the late seventies when I was a little kid and it was one of those records it just seemed like you couldn’t get away from it. It was coming out of everybody’s car stereo and every open window.
Chris Shiflett Tells Apple Music About The First Time He Heard The Clash’s “London Calling”…
I can actually remember the very first time I ever heard that song. I was in my friend Nat’s car, we were driving to go camping. And he popped in London Calling on his car stereo. And I remember when that song came on it just struck a chord. And it turned me into kind of a fanatical Clash fan because I wasn’t really into the Class before that. It must’ve been around the 10th grade.
Chris Shiflett Tells Apple Music About Joining No Use For A Name…
…And then we all turned 18 or so we moved to LA and we were moving to the big city to make it man. But we moved down there and all the rock and roll stuff that we were into was kind of dead. And the alt rock stuff was starting to bubble up. And I played around LA for I don’t know, five and a half years something like that. And then I moved up to San Francisco and I got a job at Fat Records, which was kind of the epicenter of the punk rock stuff that I was listening to at that time was Fat Mike from NoFx’s label. And he gave me a job and I worked there for a few weeks and this band called No Use For a Name came in. And they were like, “Our guitar player quit and we’re leaving on tour on Monday. If anybody knows a guitar player let us know.” And I just kind of quietly sat there and Fat Mike came over to me after they left was like, “Dude, I know you play guitar. It’s cool that you work here and everything, but you should go play guitar for those guys.” So he kind of gave me the green light, I got the gig. I went on tour and it was kind of like, it was the exact same situation as when I joined the Foo Fighters. Joined this band, had to learn a boatload of songs on short notice and then just went out on the road with as much guys that I didn’t know. So it was kind of like a really good, it was the first time I’d ever done that. And then when I had did that again when joined Foo Fighters I was like, “I can do this. I’ve done this before.”
Chris Shiflett Tells Apple Music About Wearing a Jets To Brazil Shirt To His Foo Fighters Audition…
When I went to go audition for the Foo Fighters, I’d seen Jawbreaker open for them a couple of times. So I knew that they all kind of knew each other and Jawbreaker had even opened up for Nirvana I think on their last tour. So they weren’t a band anymore at that point, this was 1999. But the singer from Jawbreaker, Blake, had a new band called Jets to Brazil. So I wore my Jets to Brazil t-shirt thinking that that would earn me some cool points with the boys in the Foos. Like they’d know I knew what was up and wore that to the audition and nobody noticed. It just was nobody mentioned it at all. And then later that night we were all at the hotel bar having some drinks and Nate even said I think, “I never liked Jets to Brazil.” Or something like that. So it didn’t work at all, but I still managed to get the gig. So kids, if you’re listening wear you’re sneaky t-shirt to whatever audition you’re going to and you never know, it might have some effect on it. So I audition, I got the gig, we went out on the road, we toured hard for the third record for whatever, a year and a half or something. And then went to go make the next record, which was my first record with the band
Chris Shiflett Tells Apple Music What Drew Him To Country Music…
All right, that was the King of Bakersfield himself Mr. Merle Haggard with Working Man Blues. Damn, I love the guitar playing on that song. That style, that hard Telecaster sound man. That’s what drew me to country music in a big way. I think that’s James Burton on that track playing lead guitar, but I’m not sure. But Oh man, I just love that stuff. I remember after I got turned on to the all country stuff in the nineties it sort of led me to want to dig back deeper into the roots of what informed all those bands. And that led me to the Bakersfield sound and Buck Owens. And of course, Merle Haggard, like I just played. And even up through Dwight Yoakam and all the folks that were around the Palomino in the eighties and just so much great music. So there’s such a great history of West Coast country music over the years. And there’s a lot to draw from like I said that guitar playing, that style of guitar playing. I’ll just sit around on tour and woodshed trying to figure out James Burton licks and all the guys that played. Don Rich and all those cats. And that stuff it’s so different from what I do in the Foo Fighters, but I love it because it keeps me fresh and it keeps me sharp. So when we get back to Foo Fighters stuff and when we’re making records like Medicine at Midnight I never feel like I got cobwebs on my fingers because I’m always going off and doing all this other stuff in the breaks in the downtime.