Foo Fighters

The final copy was a 12 track demo consisting of, "This Is A Call," "I’ll Stick Around," "Big Me," "Alone + Easy Target," "Good Grief," "Floaty," "Weenie Beenie," "Oh, George," "For All The Cows," "X-Static," "Wattershed," and "Exhausted." B-sides "Winnebago," "Podunk," "Ozone," and "How I Miss You" were later found on singles from "This Is A Call," "I’ll Stick Around," and "Big Me." He took his newly recorded, demo and brought it to a tape company and had 100 copies of his demo put on promotional only tapes. He sent these out to his friends and record companies, but unfortunately, they spread like wild-fire. The only problem now, was that with no actual band, he couldn’t even begin to think about a tour. So he called up his friend Pat Smear(guitarist) from his former bands, Scream and Nirvana. Pat was soon one of the next members of Foo Fighters, along with William Goldsmith(drummer) from a band known as Sunny Day Real Estate, and Nate Mendel(bassist) also from Sunny Day Real Estate. The touring began in early 1995. Most of their "fans" out in the audience were former Nirvana fans, wanting to see what the hell was going on. "This Is A Call" became an insc0c0c0t hit with radio stations, and singles were put out before the album was released on July 4, 1995. BBC Sessions produced a cover of the Angry Samoans "Gas Chamber," a slow version of "Floaty," "Winnebago/Wattershed," the first recording of "Up In Arms," "Alone + Easy Target," and "How I Miss You." They continued to tour through spring and early summer of 1996 before going back into the studio to begin recording their comeback album, The Colour and the Shape.

Many new songs were written and played during the S/T tour (My Hero, Enough Space, Up In Arms, and a song called Chicken Derby whose title was later changed to My Poor Brain) that would end up on The Colour and the Shape. The band ventured to Bear Creek studios to begin the recording sessions. After recording "Doll," "Up In Arms (Slow)," "Monkey Wrench," "Hey, Johnny Park," "My Poor Brain," "Wind Up," "My Hero," "See You (acoustic)," "Enough Space," "February Stars," "Everlong," "New Way Home," and "The Colour And The Shape," William Goldsmith quit the band, claiming that Dave recorded over some of his drum tracks, leaving them drummerless. The band scrapped every song recorded except for "Doll," "Up In Arms (slow)," and "The Colour and the Shape." Then, they went to another studio, Grand Master Recorders, Ltd., in Hollywood, CA, to finish recording. "Monkey Wrench," "Hey, Johnny Park," "My Poor Brain," "Wind Up," "Up In Arms (fast)," "My Hero," "See You," "Enough Space," "February Stars," "Everlong," "New Way Home," and "Dear Lover," were completed. Later, Dave went to Washington D.C. to record "Walking After You," all by himself (all instruments played by him). The finished album consisted of 13 tracks: "Doll," "Monkey Wrench," "Hey, Johnny Park," "My Poor Brain," "Wind Up," "Up In Arms," "My Hero," "See You," "Enough Space," "February Stars," "Everlong," "Walking After You," and "New Way Home." The album was released May 20, 1997. Not much later, Taylor Hawkins joined Foo Fighters as the new drummer.

In the late summer of 1997, rumors started to rise involving Pat Smear leaving the band. September 4, 1997 the rumor proved to be true when Pat left at the MTV Video Music Awards after playing his last song with the Foo’s: Monkey Wrench. New guitarist Franz Stahl was introduced by Pat seconds after "Monkey Wrench" was finished. Franz strapped on his guitar and went right into "Everlong."

BBC Sessions produced a cover of Gerry Raffordy’s "Baker Street," Killing Joke’s "Requiem," and Jamie Starr’s "Drive Me Wild."

In the spring of 1998, the Foo Fighters, found themselves back in the studio recording a song for the Godzilla soundtrack. This would later prove to be one of the few songs recorded by the Dave, Taylor, Franz, and Nate line-up. The song A320 was completed and released on the Godzilla Soundtrack in May of 1998.

In the early summer of 1998, the Foo Fighters were once again sitting in a studio to record for another soundtrack. This time, they were preparing to re-mix "Walking After You" completely. This proved to be the most emotional Foo Fighters song ever recorded. Dave was crying while singing his part for it. This was later released in June on the X-Files Movie Soundtrack, "Fight The Future."

The Foo Fighters remained touring until late 1998, when they were asked a very good question. "So when’s the third album coming out?" It had been almost two years since The Colour and the Shape came out, and the fans were getting sick of waiting. They took about a two month break, then they re-entered the studio in early-middle spring of 1999. Recording of the Foo Fighters third album, "There Is Nothing Left To Lose," was completed in the Late Summer of 1999. It was recorded in Dave's basement in his studio. Tracks recorded and kept for "There Is Nothing Left To Lose" are: "Stacked Actors," "Breakout," "Learn To Fly," "Gimme Stitches," "Generator," "Aurora," "Live-In Skin," "Next Year," "Headwires," "Ain't It The Life," and "M.I.A.." The tentative release for "There Is Nothing Left To Lose" is November 2 of 1999.

Once again, rumors started arising concerning Franz. The rumor was that Franz was about to quit Foo Fighters in the middle of mixing for the new album. On June 29, 1999, these rumors proved themselves true, and Franz left Foo Fighters, leaving them with only one guitarist. Woodstock was dropped, and a guest guitarist was needed for future touring. The Foo Fighters found their guitarist, just before their first concert of '99. Chris Shifflet came from a band known as "No Use For A Name," and was hired soley for touring. It has been stated that if things go well with Chris, then Dave wants to "up" him so to speak to a full fledged member of Foo.