Dave Grohl is probably the busiest man in music at the moment. Making the most of the Foo Fighters official leave of absence, by playing drums on the new Queens of the Stone Age album, speaking at the forthcoming SXSW 2013, signing worldwide deals, hosting a radio series, and still finding time to plug the beejezus out of his directorial debut, Sound City: Real To Reel.
Including putting together a supergroup to end all supergroups, the Sound City Players, teasing plans that should the all-star lineup’s schedules allow it, he’d like to take his band on a global trek. Including a visit to Australia, with Grohl confirming, “we’re doing a Sydney show.”
As FasterLouder points out, the ‘nicest man in rock’ was recently interviewed by Los Angeles-based podcast crew, Nerdist, where Grohl confirms that he’s bringing the Sound City Players to Sydney to perform a concert as part of Sound City world tour.
“We’re doing an LA show, we’re doing a New York show, we’re doing a London show, we’re doing a Berlin show, we’re doing a Sydney show, we want to do South By Southwest with all these musicians,” Grohl reveals.
First put together to promote his rockumentary about the Sound City LA Recording studios where a number of classic albums were cut, the Sound City Players’ ranks contain major musicians featured in the film and soundtrack who have a history with the studio.
Namely featuring Grohl alongside Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mack), John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Rick ‘Jessie’s Girl’ Springfield, Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine), Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age), Chris Goss (producer), Lee Ving (Fear), Jessy Greene (Geraldine Fibbers), and the Wallflowers’ Rami Jafee.“Look at the chart of songs we have to fucking learn. It’s insane. I have to learn 50 songs in the next 10 days.” – Dave Grohl
On top of that, Sound City Players also features Grohl’s Nirvana/Foo Fighters bandmates Krist Novoselic, Pat Smear, Nate Mendel, Taylor Hawkins, and Chris Shiflett.
Love Rage Against The Machine?
Get the latest Rage Against The Machine news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Following their first ever performance together at the Sundance Film Festival‘s Park City Live gig, Grohl’s superstar troupe then played The Paladium in Hollywood at the end of last month, with a marathon two-and-a-half hour, 38-strong setlist.
Grohl tells Nerdist that international fans can expect similarly lengthy concerts, complete with the covers of its lineup’s material – including Fleetwood Mac, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Queens of the Stone Age, and even Australia’s own ‘Jessie’s Girl’ hitmaker, Rick Springfield.
“We’re learning all of [Rick Springfield’s] songs because we’re doing gigs where we’re going out with all the people from the Sound City movie and doing shows,” Grohl says. Adding that; “we’re doing a bunch of his songs, five or six of his songs – you know what it sounds like? It sounds like the fucking Foo Fighters with Rick Springfield singing.”
Grohl also revealed that the Sound City Players have rehearsed around 50 songs for their upcoming global tour. “You should go out there and look at the chart of songs we have to fucking learn. It’s insane,” says the Foo Fighter frontman. “I have to learn 50 songs in the next 10 days.”
“It’s funny, we don’t really consider this the Foo Fighters,” Grohl told MTV News. “We’re Rick Springfield’s backing band, we’re john Fogerty’s backing band. We’re not up there playing ‘Everlong’ every night, we’re just hoping our heroes get up on stage and play,” he says.
Full details of the Sound City Players’ world tour have yet to emerge, but with Grohl delivering his keynote address at SXSW 2013 in March, he’s not going to have much time to hide anything from the eager ears of the music world.
Grohl also recently told MTV News that he’s somehow managed to find time to begin work on the newest Foo Fighters record, the follow-up to 2011′s Wasting Light. ”We know exactly what’s coming next,” saying, “we have really awesome, big plans for the next album… I have the music for the next record and we’re going to start working on it once we finish doing all this stuff.”
Most will agree that with the prospect of Grohl’s all-star band rolling down under, that waiting for the Foos’ latest will be manageable.
You can view footage of the Sound City Players whipping through covers of Rick Springfield’s ‘Jessie’s Girl’, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Fortunate Son’, and Queens of the Stone Age’s ‘Hangin’ Tree’ from their debut show at Park City Live below; while you drool over the potential concert of the decade.
