At age 13, Chris Shiflett made a decision that would forever alter the course of his life. He had been playing soccer for two years, but decided to change his career path to music. As a big-haired heavy metal kid, Shiflett idolised Ozzy Osbourne’s legendary shredder, Randy Rhoads, and learned to rock on a black Takamine Explorer. He joined his first band at the age of 14, in 1985. Another 14 years later, in 1999, he auditioned for the role of lead guitarist in Foo Fighters during his four-year tenure with punk rockers No Use For A Name. In his 2021 memoir, The Storyteller, Dave Grohl praises Shiflett as “the man who saved our band in our most desperate time of need”.
Three months after the tragic and untimely death of their longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters released their latest album on June 2, 2023 - the poignant But Here We Are, with Dave Grohl behind the studio kit. In the years previous, when Hawkins was still living life like “a tornado of hyperactive joy”, in Grohl’s words, Foo Fighters would record a Bee Gees tribute album and make a horror movie,
