Foo Fighters return with a loving final sendoff before But Here We Are, the band’s 12th studio album, releasing this Friday, June 2nd. “The Teacher” is a psychedelic and somber homage to both the group’s late drummer Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl’s mother, Virginia Grohl, who passed away in August of 2022. Clocking in at an astonishing 10 minutes and 4 seconds, the track is the band’s longest to date but utilizes every second of its run-time wisely, crafting a beautifully heavy hard rock ballad in proper Foo Fighters fashion: with sizzling guitars, breakneck drumming, and the unmistakable wash of Dave Grohl’s broken screams.
Along with their musical epic, the band released a coinciding short film for the song. Directed by Tony Oursler, the video features a wildly diverse array of shots ranging from clips of Grohl as a child to distorted, black and white fractals of a house, to illustrated hallucinations of colorful shapes in Grohl’s garden and on the band as they perform. The cinematic chaos seems very appropriate however, mirroring Grohl’s memories and moments with his loved ones as he desperately tries to find a path forward; recovering from the loss of two of the closest people in his life.
But Here We Are marks a transitional time for the band, as it is their first LP without Hawkins. Earlier this month, drummer Josh Freese — a veteran of Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle and more — was brought into the fold as a permanent member and will now embark with the Foo Fighters on their 2023 tour in promotion of the new album. Listen to “The Teacher” and watch the short film below, learn more about Josh Freese in this New York Times piece, and get tickets to their upcoming tour here; there is no Philly proper date at the moment, but Foo Fighters will play Asbury Park’s Sea.Hear.Now festival in September.