The latest Foo Fighters release might be a bit "meh," but it at least created some awesome moments that bridged the gap between generations of rock. The latest example of that was Joe Walsh's turn with the band on Friday night's episode of Sonic Highways. The Eagle pitched in on "Outside," and recently sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss the experience.
"It was really a hoot to go to Rancho De La Luna [in the Joshua Tree desert] and record with everyone playing at the same time," Walsh said. "I had almost forgotten how, and it's just the basic way we used to do it. You just went for the best take. You didn't fix everything on it.
"They just had this blank palate in the middle part of the song. They said, 'When you're ready, go. We don't care what you do, just make sure we like it.' So, I did, and I went minimal on it. I didn't want to play screaming-fast guitar all over it, because the desert does that to you. You know, if we had been in Manhattan, I would've played twice as much. But out in the desert, I just kind of laid some spatial stuff in there with some effects and stuff. I think it came out really good."
Walsh also had a special appreciation for the way the group ran things in the studio.
"Dave [Grohl] is very methodical, not dictatorial," Walsh said. "They're kind of a community, and he leads the charge. They're very thorough and constantly asking each other, 'What do you think?,' and I love that kind of chemistry. I've been in all kinds of various arrangements of chain of command, and I was very comfortable — and everybody was — and I think the music shows that. I'm an honorary Foo Fighter, I guess. Or alumni or something. I'm proud to be one."
Grohl also recently spoke with Rolling Stone about the L.A. experience, and offered up an anecdote about the band's classic 1997 album The Colour and the Shape.
