When he’s not rocking out with Foo Fighters, guitarist Chris Shiflett is exploring Americana and country music – but still playing with plenty of crunch
Chris Shiflett has been busy this year with the Foo Fighters, but the guitarist has also delivered a new solo record in which he has continued to stretch out into vintage-voiced Americana. This album, Lost At Sea, is produced by Jaren Johnston, frontman for roots rockers The Cadillac Three, and while its 10 countrified tracks are steeped in bluegrass and honky tonk, there’s a rock ’n’ roll tenacity that adds grit and spit where needed, cross-pollinating the sweet sounds of the South with the trailblazing fortitude typified by greats like The Rolling Stones and Thin Lizzy. Speaking to TG, Chris discusses the creative process behind the album, and explains why different projects call for different gear…
You’re playing hard rock with the Foos, but as a solo artist you embrace less overdrive for a different expression…
That rootsy acoustic-based stuff is a style of music I’ve been listening to for a long time. For my first two solo albums [2017’s West Coast Townand 2019’s Hard Lessons], I was trying to wrap my head around playing in that style. It’s one thing to make those records, but to go out and perform them live was much more challenging because I’m singing and playing. It was an evolution. I vividly remember having rehearsals and not being very comfortable without all that gain – playing solos on a Tele through a Deluxe Reverb sounded really ‘plinkety plunkety’ at first! It was out of my comfort zone.
In Foo Fighters you’re typically seen with your refinished ’57 Goldtop and a late-’80s Les Paul Custom with an Ace Frehley sticker…
“It’s funny you mention the Ace Frehley Custom. For years I’ve had that guitar relegated to drop D tuning. It’s the one I use for Everlongand Monkey Wrench; songs like that. But there are only a couple of songs with that tuning in the set, so I haven’t really played it that much recently. I was talking to my tech randomly and said, ‘Let’s put that thing back in standard.’ And since then I’ve been using it for pretty much half the set! I’ve worked it right back in.
But with your solo music, it sounds a lot more like Telecasters and Twins.
We made the record in Nashville scattered over the course of 2021. I would fly out there and it felt like strike missions because I was also getting busy with Foos touring. I’d have two or three days to bang out songs each time. And I was only ever flying in with one guitar, so my parts were pretty much done with a Custom Shop Butterscotch Blonde Tele. I’d bring that and a box of pedals, and my producer Jaren Johnston would plug me into whatever amp he had lying around. We weren’
