Releases Album

There is Nothing Left to Lose

The third Foo Fighters album saw a change of pace both in terms of how it was recorded and the music itself. Dave Grohl built a studio in the basement of his Virginia home and without any distractions from management or a record label he, Nate Mendel and Taylor Hawkins spent four months recording ‘There Is Nothing Left To Lose’. Guitarist Franz Stahl had departed the band during pre-production for the album and the band elected not to replace him at this stage, instead recording as a trio for the time being. In the producer's chair was Adam Kasper who Grohl had worked with a number of times previously.

The home studio was constructed in an “old school” manner with no scientific acoustic tests and no cutting edge modern technology, some walls lined with sleeping bags for soundproofing. Recording equipment followed the same M.O. with vintage analog gear selected wherever possible, recording to analog tape through a Neve console.

Between important barbeques and other social activities, an album would gradually get made, Kasper pressing record whenever the moment felt right. Preserving these easy-going vibes for as long as they could, the trio took their sweet time crafting the album and wrote songs in the moment, at their home-cum-studio. When it came to the drum tracks, duties were shared between Grohl and Hawkins.

This laid-back approach was reflected in many of the songs recorded, with several soft-tempo, classic rock style tracks produced such as ‘Ain’t It The Life’, ‘Aurora’ and the hit single ‘Learn To Fly’. Make no mistake, though, the album still has plenty of hard-hitting rock songs, from the opening track ‘Stacked Actors’ to the equally raucous ‘Breakout’.

The record peaked at number 10 in both the US and UK album charts and also netted the band their first ever Grammy Award, winning the gong for Best Rock Album at the 2001 ceremony. The comic music video for ‘Learn To Fly’ also saw them take home the Best Short Form Music Video award.