Paul McCartney confirmed as guest on Foo Fighters album

By Scott Munro
( Classic Rock )
last updated

Dave Grohl reports that Paul McCartney plays drums on one Concrete And Gold track - but the former Beatle isn’t the album’s surprise pop star guest

Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters (Image credit: Brantley Guitierrez)

Foo Fighters have confirmed that Paul McCartney is one of the guest musicians on their upcoming album Concrete And Gold.

Vocalist and guitarist Dave Grohl previously confirmed that Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman would appear on the follow-up to 2014’s Sonic Highways – and now he’s revealed that the former Beatle will also guest on one of the tracks.

Grohl tells ET Canada: “Paul McCartney plays drums on one of our songs. He’s a pal. We’ve known him for a long time. He’s the most wonderful person in the world and a great guy.”

An unnamed member of the band adds: “He hadn’t even heard of the song. He comes in and Dave picked up an acoustic guitar and showed him real quick.

“He sat on his special drum set that his tech set up for him. I sat there with a drumstick conducting. He did two takes.”

The former Beatle previously worked with Grohl on the track Cut Me Some Slack, which appeared on the soundtrack to 2013 Grohl-directed documentary Sound City. McCartney is also recording a new studio album with Foos producer Greg Kurstin.

In June, Grohl said fans would be in for a surprise as Concrete And Gold featured “probably the biggest pop star in the world.” But he’s confirmed that is someone other than McCartney – but is remaining tight-lipped on their identity.

Grohl tells Rolling Stone: “This person is, I think, more than a pop star. It was sort of towards the end of the album and this person came up and said, ‘I’d really love to sing on your record.’

“I looked at Greg and said, ‘OK, come in tomorrow and we’ll figure something out.’ We found a backup part for this person to sing and we decided we were gonna make it our own dirty little secret and see if anyone can figure it out.”

Grohl also confirmed the pop star guest in question wasn’t Adele or Taylor Swift.

Concrete And Gold is available for pre-order via Amazon and iTunes.

Foo Fighters Concrete And Gold tracklist

  1. T-Shirt
  2. Run
  3. Make It Right
  4. The Sky Is A Neighborhood
  5. La Dee Da
  6. Dirty Water
  7. Arrows
  8. Happy Ever After (Zero Hour)
  9. Sunday Rain
  10. The Line
  11. Concrete And Gold

Foo Fighters remaining 2017 tour dates

Aug 19: Osaka Maishima Sports Island, Japan
Sep 10: Berlin Lollapalooza, Germany
Sep 19: London The O2, UK

Watch the Foo Fighters mind-warping new video, Run

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.