Why Chris Shiflett didn’t want Pat Smear in Foo Fighters: “You gotta be kidding”
It seems like Foo Fighters hold the record for being one of the least contentious acts in the history of rock and roll. While they might have their ups and downs behind the scenes, every show they’ve ever played usually feels like the band are just as stoked to play wherever they are as each member of the audience is seeing them perform. That’s not to say there wasn’t any tension, and when Chris Shiflett first joined, he was mortified by Pat Smear returning to the fold.
Granted, it’s not like Smear could ever consider himself an ex-Foo Fighter. Sure, there had been times when he wasn’t in the band, but his prolonged separation was a conscious choice on his part, saying that he was often too tired to commit to another tour of playing the same songs he had been playing for years.
Although the group continued on as a three-piece after trying and failing to get Franz Stahl acclimated on lead guitar, Shiflett was the answer to their prayers. He had the same punk rock background, but there was a lot more focus on melody this time around that appealed to Dave Grohl compared to Smear’s punk rock roots.
While Shiflett did have to go through one of the biggest fights the group ever had while making One by One, everything seemed to be running smoothly when they started the album In Your Honour. Everyone was on the same page. Songs were being written like clockwork, and Grohl had even started fleshing out the album with acoustic pieces on the back half of the record that showed their sensitive side.
When they took to the road to play the intimate side of the record, though, Smear got the call to come back, recalling in Back and Forth, “Every time a new Foo Fighters record would come out, I would get really excited and miss it so much. I always had in the back of my mind that I was going to come back. So in 2006, Dave called me and said, ‘Come play this acoustic tour with me.’”
It’s one thing to have a bigger group, but Shiflett was shaking in his boots at first, saying, “I didn’t actually know Pat, but I was aware that there were a couple of times when Dave had almost brought him back. And so, to me, Pat was just a guy that wanted my job. So when I found out about that, I was like, ‘You gotta be fucking kidding me.’”
It’s not like Shiflett didn’t have a point. It’s one thing to have two guitarists in a group to help fill out the sound, but turning them into a three-guitar assault is bound to clutter things whenever a group goes to make a record. As it turned out, though, there was more than enough space to go around when Smear properly rejoined the group for Wasting Light.
Even though it’s easy to find the moments where Smear creates a wall of noise with his instrument, Shiflett took on the role of being the technical wizard, usually playing a classic country-style lick that fits perfectly with the song, balancing out a cleaner sound with Smear’s dirty tone. Grohl might get a little lost in the mix while playing rhythm up the middle, but who needs to grandstand as a player when you have two guitar heroes at opposite ends of the stage?
