With the Foo Fighters set to hit Australia for six huge stadium shows this Nov/Dec, for the very first time, fans will also get the chance to catch guitarist, singer, songwriter Chris Shiflett performing songs off his new album Lost At Sea and previous records over two special sold out solo acoustic shows in Melbourne and Sydney.
As Chris Shiflett tells Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips over a zoom call, “Doing acoustic solo shows is so different … you’re really in it with the crowd, people are right there and you are riding the energy of the room.” In this video interview, Chris discusses his career, gear, the new solo album Lost At Sea and his new podcast Shred With Shifty.
MORE ABOUT CHRIS SHIFLETT’S LOST AT SEA ALBUM
Punk veteran. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Americana and rock songwriter. Modern-day guitar hero. For more than 25 years, Chris Shiflett has blurred the lines between genre and generation, balancing his full-band projects with a thriving solo career.
He turns a new page with Lost at Sea, a solo record that builds a bridge between Nashville — where Shiflett has become a frequent visitor, performing on the Grand Ole Opry one minute and collaborating with Music City tastemakers like Jaren Johnston and Dave Cobb the next — and his native California. Caught halfway between the honky-tonk saloon and the punk-rock dive bar, Lost at Sea is both eclectic and electric, making room for alt-country crunch, guitar-driven grit, and sharp songwriting. Tying that mix together is Shiflett himself: a musical Renaissance Man whose influences are every bit as wide-ranging as his resumé.
Named “Americana’s biggest rockstar” by Rolling Stone, Shiflett has played a crucial role in shaping the sound and scope of modern-day rock music as a longtime member of the Foo Fighters. He joined the band in 1999, after kicking off his career playing guitar for seminal pop-punk groups like No Use For a Name and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Foo Fighters quickly made use of his instrumental chops, with Shiflett contributing to era-defining hits like “All My Life,” “Times Like These,” and “Best of You.” While flying the flag for modern rock & roll, he also made time to pursue projects outside of the band. Groups like Jackson United and Chris Shiflett and the Dead Peasants found him in the driver’s seat, establishing his credentials as a frontman, while the long-running Americana podcast Walking the Floor found him shining a light on his heroes and contemporaries, its 200+ episodes highlighting the storytellers, songwriters, and road warriors of contemporary roots music.
Two critically-acclaimed solo albums, 2017’s West Coast Town and 2019’s Hard Lessons, marked Shiflett’s own entry into the Americana world, mixing classic Bakersfield influences with greasy guitar riffs, Marshall amplifiers, and country-rock rasp. Years later, Lost at Sea finds him bridging the distance between West Coast Town’s honky-tonk homage and Hard Lessons’ overdriven crunch. Shiflett recorded the majority of the album in Nashville, working with producer/collaborator Jaren Johnston — frontman of the Cadillac Three, as well as the songwriter behind nearly a dozen Number 1 country hits — and a small cast of Americana all-stars. Among them were fellow guitar slingers Charlie Worsham, Tom Bukovac, and Nathan Keeterle, all three of whom laced the record with fiery fretwork. He also teamed up with a number of co-writers, partnering with Kendell Marvel, Cody Jinks, and others to fill Lost at Sea with storylines that pack as hefty a punch as the music itself. “Black Top White Lines,” a riff-heavy rocker that barrels forward at highway speed, was written with Johnston and John Osborne, while “Carrie Midnight Texas Queen” — a nostalgic track whose shuffling swagger conjures up images of boot-scuffed Austin dancehalls — was penned alongside Nick Autry and Cary Barlowe.
“We wrote a lot of these songs during the lockdown,” recalls Shiflett, who spent much of the pandemic at home in Southern California. “Then I began making trips to Nashville to work with Jaren. He and I have a lot of overlap, in terms of the music we like. We made a guitar-centric record that encapsulates everything I’ve been listening to over the years, from the most country songs I’ve ever recorded to punk rock and even songs that sound like a California version of The Clash.”
Lost at Sea showcases the full range of Shiflett’s abilities. There are harmonized guitar solos worthy of Thin Lizzy, amplified country anthems, and roots-rockers steeped in Tom Petty’s influence. The breakneck pace and palm-muted guitars of “Parties” salute Shiflett’s early days within the Bay Area punk scene, while “Damage Control” — with its layers of reverb, pulsing percussion, and Echoplex tape delay — flirts with the atmospheric dub music that Lee Scratch Perry introduced. Everything is grounded in melody. Shiflett nods to his heroes throughout, but he charts his own territory, too, whipping up a diverse sound that’s distinctly his own.
A road warrior since the mid-1990s, Chris Shiflett continues to juggle multiple projects. Lost at Sea is his most personal moment to date, stocked with genre-bending country songs that never fail to reach beyond the format’s boundaries. Call it arena Americana. Call it California alt-country. Call it whatever you’d like. For Shiflett, it’s just the latest stop on the road that goes on forever.
Chris Shiflett Solo dates:
TUESDAY DECEMBER 5 – THE WORKERS CLUB, MELBOURNE (18+)
THURSDAY DECEMBER 7 – THE GREAT CLUB, SYDNEY (18+)
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 21 – WHAMMY BAR, AUCKLAND, NZ
frontiertouring.com/chrisshiflett
CHRIS SHIFLETT – WEBSITE
FOO FIGHTERS DATES:
Wednesday 29 November
HBF Park | Perth, WA
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (2pm local time)
Ticketmaster.com.au
With special guests The Chats and Teenage Jones
Saturday 2 December
Coopers Stadium | Adelaide, SA
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (1.30pm local time)
Ticketek.com.au
With special guests The Chats + Body Type
Monday 4 December
AAMI Park | Melbourne, VIC
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (1pm local time)
Ticketek.com.auWith special guests Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers + Hot Milk (UK)
Wednesday 6 December
NEW SHOW!
AAMI Park | Melbourne, VIC
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (1pm local time)
Ticketek.com.au
With special guests The Chats & Teenage Jones.
Saturday 9 December
Accor Stadium | Sydney, NSW
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (11am local time)
Ticketek.com.au
With special guests The Chats + Hot Milk (UK)
Tuesday 12 December
Suncorp Stadium | Brisbane, QLD
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (3pm local time)
Ticketek.com.au
With special guests The Chats + Hot Milk (UK)
Saturday 20 January 2024
GO Media Stadium Mt Smart | Auckland, NZ
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (11am local time)
Ticketmaster.co.nz
With special guests ??? + Dick Move
Wednesday 24 January 2024
Orangetheory Stadium | Christchurch, NZ
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (2pm local time)
Axs.com.au
With special guests ??? + Dick Move
Saturday 27 January 2024
Sky Stadium | Wellington, NZ
Licensed All Ages
On sale: Thursday 15 June (12pm local time)
Ticketek.co.nz
With special guests ??? + Dick Move