CREDIT: FOOFIGHTERS.COM
The newest studio release by the Foo Fighters, Sonic Highways, will be released in November, but is available for pre-order online. This is the band's eighth studio album.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Lately, I’ve been thinking about history – it was likely around this time 20 years ago that a young Dave Grohl was booking time at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, looking to shake a lasting depression by occupying himself recording some of the songs he had demoed over the years.

No one, least of all Grohl, expected the unwitting solo album – simply titled Foo Fighters – to garner the attention it did. But as people became interested in the project and the infant band that it conceived, he did what he’s always done and threw himself into his work. Now 20 years later, Grohl is busier than ever, with several film projects under his belt and on the cusp of a highly-anticipated new album release.

Widely available November 10, Sonic Highways is the latest labour of love from Grohl and the Foo – bassist Nate Mendel, drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarists Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear – a concept album recorded in illustrious studios in eight different music cities across the United States: Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle and Washington, DC.

The album artwork was revealed with the announcement, a gorgeous photo-realistic cityscape featuring recognizable landmarks from the eight cities combined to form a unified skyline. Vinyl editions of the album will feature one of these nine detailed images, while CDs will feature the entire cover.

If that wasn’t enough, the announcement of the new album earlier this month came notably close to another from the Foo Fighters’ camp – that of the October premiere of their documentary series Sonic Highways on HBO in the States. Described by Grohl as a “musical map of America,” each episode casts a light on one of the eight studios in which the band would record their coming album, examining untold stories of the people and recordings that would go on to inspire the music on Sonic Highways the album.

“This album is instantly recognizable as a Foo Fighters record, but there’s something deeper and more musical to it,” Grohl said in a statement. “I think that these cities and these people influenced us to stretch out and explore new territory, without losing our ‘sound.’”

The show will debut on October 17 and starts on Fridays at 11 p.m., giving the spotlight to four studios before the album drops. It’s unlikely that the episodes themselves will feature glimpses of the music to come, however, if history has taught us anything it’s that we should see a new Foo Fighters single released on radio and online by the time the show premieres, less than a month before the album release date.

Speaking of history: early in 2011, before the release of their previous album Wasting Light, the Foo Fighters invited the crew of George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight to Los Angeles for a preview. Sipping coffee in the control room, the band played tracks from the record and described making the album with producer Butch Vig, their recording setup in Grohl’s garage and the virtue inherent in analogue tape recording.

“I think it was the most fun we’ve ever had making a record. It was so easy ... so informal that it made everything kind of fun,” Grohl said at the time. “I would want to do it that way again, but I don’t think my wife would let me.” Coincidentally, both the Sound City and Sonic Highways projects since then have taken Grohl and the band almost as far away from that home studio as possible in the United States.

Sonic Highways is already available for pre-order online at foofighters.com.

For more on the Foo Fighters and their Sonic Highways projects, visit foofighters.com online or follow along on Twitter @foofighters. Vinyl collectors take note: the band’s website is said to be the only place you can select your choice of the nine possible album sleeves, so consider placing your order directly or take your chances in stores.

And for more of the latest music news, album streams and concert previews, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Here’s to a great school year ahead, I’m out of words.