FOO FIGHTERS TALK GRANDIOSE NEW ALBUM ‘MEDICINE AT MIDNIGHT,' 25 YEARS OF BEING A BAND, INDIA AND MORE

The American rockers’ bassist Nate Mendel opens about the making of their 10th record, which released this month

- DAVID BRITTO

When we get on a call with American rock band Foo Fighters’ bassist Nate Mendel to talk about the band’s upcoming 10th album Medicine at Midnight (out this February), it’s right when Joe Biden is being sworn in as the 46th U.S. President. Over the phone from his home in Los Angeles, Mendel says, “It’s a very emotional day in my house right now.”

The band have never let their political views get in the way of their music and have mentioned in the past that they play to everyone. However, they’ve shown their support towards events such as Rock The Vote and the Democratic National Convention in 2012 and were even on the bill for Biden’s I Will Vote concert this past October and even on the lineup for the current President’s virtual inauguration celebration.

Mendel and his bandmates – vocalist-guitarist Dave Grohl, drummer Taylor Hawkins, guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett and keyboardist Rami Jaffee – spent late 2019 and early 2020 working on the forthcoming record with American producer Greg Kurstin (who also produced the group’s 2017 release Concrete and Gold) at a rented house in Encino, Los Angeles. However, due to COVID-19, the Foo Fighters had to cancel their 25th-anniversary tour plans last year and even pushed the release of Medicine at Midnight to 2021. “After a few months [of the pandemic], we got ourselves together and figured out when to release the album, and then got together and did stuff for the band,” says Mendel.

In this interview with Rolling Stone India, Mendel talks about making the new album in a haunted house, being a band for a quarter of a century, staying optimistic about touring India someday and more.