Sonic Highways, Roswell Films, HBO
Oh my god. This series perfectly blends two of my very favorite things rock n’ roll and roadtrips. YES and YES. I’m so in. Narrated by Dave Grohl – of course I’m in. Sonic Highways is an eight episode HBO series that travels across this great nation to uncover the musical origin stories of some of our most impactful cities across all genres of music. The series digs into the influence each city’s culture and the music it birthed. Every episode begins with The Foo Fighters unloading their gear into a local studio. The design of each studio is absolutely unique, shaped and reshaped by their surroundings, which in-turn, shapes how the music sounds. I love this. I love the stories shared by the engineers and musicians who brought those collective sounds to life that have since become our collective soundtrack. The individuals who came together to create something, no matter how lost, cynical, wild-eyed, or hell bent. Every episode ends with The Foo Fighters playing a new track inspired by and recorded in each city. Whether you like the track or not, the sheer wealth of history, city insights, cultures, creators, and makers trumps whatever indulgence.
Must-see stops on the Sonic Highway include the following: Chicago’s Electric Audio, owned by Steve Albini (recorded In Utero among many others), who literally gambles to keep his studio doors open between jobs. Washington DC, a culture of punk and gogo funk, all converging at Inner Ear Studios, which is about the size of my first New York apartment. Nashville was pleasantly surprising, with the gorgeous, former Monument Studios, renovated to be a premiere recording venue, Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Studios. New Orleans was as beautiful, and full of heritage as you would hope, and dusted over with magic courtesy of Preservation Hall. Seattle, which of course, I was most looking forward, was as grey and gloomy as you’d hope, featuring Robert Lang’s cave-like Subterranean Studios. Another plus for the Seattle episode – it has the best damn typographic intro of the collection using Nirvana’s Negative Creep as the city’s track. So good, and so damn right.
Road trip season is upon us people, so if you have yet to gather your maps, or mark places to stop, check in with Dave and The Foos. Their journeying will likely bring out the road warrior in you. However, if the road is not for you, take in the inspiration, and the sheer-force-of-will makers' spirit.