Sonic Highways: Washington D.C.

About

For Foo Fighters eighth studio album Dave Grohl devised an ambitious plan - instead of recording the album in one or two locations at their own leisure, they would tour the United States and visit eight well-known recording studios, giving themselves just one week to record a song in each. Each studio would be located in a city with rich musical heritage and whilst there the band would explore that heritage, as well as Dave interviewing several prominent musicians from that area.

As a final twist, whilst the band hit each studio with a demo track in hand no lyrics were written, instead Dave planned to take direct inspiration from his interviews with locals and work those thoughts into the lyrics.

The final product was entitled Sonic Highways, both the resulting album and the eight part documentary series. The series initially aired in the US via HBO, a new episode each week.

Episode two first aired on October 24th, 2014 and was set in and around the nation's capital, Washington D.C. It covers not just the musical history but also explores the racial and political troubles in the area, from the assassination of African-American civil rights activist Martin Luther King in 1968 and the resulting riots to the Revolution Summer movement in the 1980s.

Several genres of music are explored including the rise of GoGo in the 1980s and the punk rock scene that Dave himself was part of a few years later. The episode also features the wider area around the capital including Dave's own home and upbringing in Virginia to the south.

Prominent musicians from the area interviewed in the episode include former Scream bandmates Skeeter Thompson and Pete Stahl, Trouble Funk, RDGLDGRN and Ian Mackaye.

Recording for Foo Fighters 'The Feast And The Famine' took place at Inner Ear Recording Studio, the obvious choice of which Dave Grohl notes produced "the entire soundtrack of my youth". The studio went through a few locations over the years but always owned by Don Zientara, who also features in the episode.

The episode concludes with a music video for the song shot in Inner Ear.