Dave Grohl on why Foo Fighters set album release date despite pandemic

Foo Fighters are still moving forward with plans to release their new album, Medicine at Midnight, on February 5, 2021, months before there's any possibility that they'll be able to tour in support of it.

The album began coming together while Foo Fighters were still on tour in support of their previous record, Concrete & Gold. Dave Grohl and company were determined to break new ground on their 10th studio album.

But while many artists are holding the line with full-length releases in light of the restrictions on concert touring, Grohl explained his band's resolution to move forward in a new interview with Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke.

The band began recording Medicine at Midnight in September of 2019. The album was totally done, mixed and mastered by this past February, just in time for the band's touring plans to be blown up by the pandemic.

"Artwork was done, T-shirts were being made, equipment was on the trucks. We were good to go. And then everything just kind of shut down and then it was months and months of trying to decide when we would release it," Grohl recalls.

Like just about everyone else, the Foo Fighters took a wait-and-see approach for the first several months of the pandemic. By late this past summer, the band began to ask what they were really waiting for.

"I'm like, 'Man, you know we make this music for people to hear it. We don't just make it so that we can go hit the road,'" he continued.

Whereas the initial delay was with the band's plans in mind, the decision to set a release date was for the fans.

"People need something to lift their spirit, something to give them some feeling of like relief or escape. ...I don't know when we're going to hit the road, but we need to give the music to the people because that's why we make it."

Listen to the full conversation with Grohl via the player at the top of this page.

Watch the official music video for the Foo Fighters' new single, "Shame Shame," above!

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission