When you find the sound you’re looking for in a rock band, there comes a point where you might want to play it safe. Rather than risking upsetting your label or fans by venturing in a completely different direction, many of the biggest bands settle into a pattern where they can almost do no wrong in the studio. While some argue that Foo Fighters fall into this category, Dave Grohl has the ability to stretch creatively whenever he wants, even if it means producing something unusual like ‘Statues’.
By the mid-2000s, Grohl didn’t seem afraid of anything anymore. Half of the hardest parts of any band had to be done in public, in his case, so the fact that he had a group where everyone was on the same page was good enough. Then again, In Your Honor was still a big jump for them to take on.
Since he had spent most of the writing sessions making calm acoustic tracks in his house, Grohl figured that he would release both of them at the same time. While the first disc of the double record is some of the most anthemic rock songs the band put to tape, the flipside is where things get a bit more sensitive, like the mellow groove of ‘On the Mend’ and ‘Friend of a Friend’.
If it worked across a double album, why not condense the whole thing into one record? Although Echoes Silence Patience and Grace was still indebted to the band’s stadium-rock sound, ‘Statues’ was almost too saccharine for its own good.
The whole song shies away from the loud guitars in favour of piano, but for someone who had followed the band for a while, this was a breath of fresh air. After spending half their career blowing out their fans’ eardrums every time they took to the stage, this is what a piece like ‘Everlong’ might have sounded like if it was played on the keys. It’s not exactly Elton John-levels of brilliance, but Grohl is still very much in his element.
Despite still having a great track record, Grohl hesitated to put the song on the record, saying, “It was just a simple melody with a piano track. I got a piano a year and a half ago for my birthday, and I had never played one before. Someone pointed out middle C to me, and I took it from there. I was quite nervous about putting it on the record because it’s a big departure – then I thought, ‘What the fuck? That’s exactly why we should put it on the record.’”
For all of the punk rock street cred that Grohl could have lost from some so-called “fans”, this is the kind of move everyone wants to see out of their favourite artists. As opposed to just sticking in a lane, Grohl was never afraid to just play around with a song and see what happens with it, always trying to push himself a little bit when he entered the studio.
That attitude is also a core part of what helped Foo Fighters survive some of their hardships later, with Taylor Hawkins’s death. Most bands would be unable to make their way through that kind of darkness, but since Grohl tested his emotions whenever he went into the studio, he knew he could fall back on his muse to help him through almost anything.
