UK Foo Fighters is a

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

tribute band A tribute act, tribute band or tribute group is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act. Tribute acts include individual performers who mimic the songs and style of an artist, such as Elvi ...

, formed in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK in 2007.

History

UK Foo Fighters originated from a Harrogate covers band called Speedsta that gained popularity between 2004 and 2007, playing tracks from bands such as

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums with ...

, QOTSA and

Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals), Adam Zind ...

. The covers of

resonated with audiences and eventually attracted the attention of local promoters and festival organisers. The first ticketed show as a tribute band to Foo Fighters was at a small nightclub called Daddy Cools in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. After a period of playing local gigs and festivals from 2007 to 2012, the band was invited to tour further afield in 2013 at various O2 Academy venues throughout the UK, owned and operated by the

Academy Music Group Academy Music Group (AMG) is a leading owner-operator of music venues in the United Kingdom. They operate a number of medium-sized venues, the majority of which (until January 2009) took the name Carling Academy after their sponsor Carling. Som ...

. On 10 September 2014 at Concorde2 in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...

invited UK Foo Fighters frontman 'Jay Apperley' to perform '

White Limo "White Limo" is a song by the American rock band Foo Fighters. It is the second single from their seventh studio album ''Wasting Light''. The single was released on March 28, 2011 as an iTunes digital download. Composition In an interview with ...

' off the

album '

Wasting Light ''Wasting Light'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on April 12, 2011, through Roswell and RCA Records. Wanting to capture the essence of their earlier work and avoid the artificiality of digital recording ...

'. On 29 March 2015,

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

magazine reported on the

iHeartRadio Music Awards The iHeartRadio Music Awards is a music awards show that celebrates music heard throughout the year across iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide and on iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia's digital music platform. Founded by iHeartRadio in 2014, the eve ...

10 Best and Worst Moments. Best Wish Fulfilment Fantasy; "Many performances were punctuated by short video interviews where accomplished artists recounted their "journey." The best anecdote came courtesy of the

, who told the story of a European gig attended by a tribute band called UK Foo Fighters. Exhausted from the tour, Dave Grohl recognized his British counterpart in the crowd and invited him onstage to perform "White Limo." Apparently, the guy killed it." In June 2015,

were forced to pull shows in London, Edinburgh, and

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

due to a broken leg that frontman

had sustained. UK Foo Fighters were approached to play London & Edinburgh dates.

Gigwise ''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England. History Gigwise was launched in 2001 ...

reported, "already booked a train to see Foo Fighters? Here’s the solution: tribute band UK Foo Fighters will play next door for you.”

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

reported, “

tribute band book charity gigs next door to

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

for disappointed fans." On 9 June 2017,

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

released three short films for

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

in the run-up to the

, each one featuring tribute acts to the three Glastonbury headliners that year:

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

. The first was entitled ‘My Hero: UK Foo Fighters’ featuring the UK Foo Fighters tribute band. On 15 June 2018, UK Foo Fighters played the ‘Opening Ceremony’ performance for the WUKF World Karate Championships in front of thousands at

Dundee Ice Arena Dundee Ice Arena is a multi-purpose ice rink arena located in the Camperdown area of Dundee. The arena has a capacity of 2,400 seats making it the fourth largest ice rink arena by capacity in Scotland after the Braehead Arena, Murrayfield Ice Ri ...

. On 28 September 2019 – UK Foo Fighters performed at the 92nd

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

2019 alongside

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

The Pigeon Detectives The Pigeon Detectives are an English indie rock band from Rothwell in Leeds, West Yorkshire, who formed in 2004. The band have released five albums from 2007 to present. They performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2006, where they we ...

, Litany and

The Feeling ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. On 4 November 2019, by invitation, UK Foo Fighters entered BBC Maida Vale Studios in London to record a live session with the infamous Simon Askew. On 14 March 2022, UK Foo Fighters kicked off their 2022 tour and 15th anniversary at the city's venue, with a near-sell-out crowd in high spirits throughout the evening. On 4 March 2024, London's

O2 Academy Brixton Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...

announced reopening on Friday 19 April with Nirvana UK (tribute to

) and The Smyths (tribute to

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

), followed by Friday 26 April with Definitely Mightbe (tribute to

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

) and UK Foo Fighters (tribute to

Band members

;Current members *Jay Apperley (as

) – vocals, guitar, (2007–present) *Ollie Button (as

Taylor Hawkins Oliver Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 – March 25, 2022) was an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, with whom he recorded eight studio albums between 1999 and 2021. Before joining the band in 1997, he ...

) – drums, vocals, (2020–present) *Hurricane Henderson (as Chris Shiflett) – guitar, vocals, (2020–present) *Ricky Collins (as

Pat Smear Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles-based punk band The Germs and for being a rhythm guita ...

) – guitar, (2021–present) *James Wade (as

Rami Jaffee Rami Jaffee (born March 11, 1969) is an American musician. He is best known as the keyboardist for the rock band Foo Fighters, whom he initially joined in a touring and session capacity in 2005. Jaffee has contributed to six of the band's studi ...

) – piano,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, (2022–present) *Joseph Phipps-Pearson (as

Nate Mendel Nathan ‍Gregor ‍Mendel (born December 2, 1968) is an American musician best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters, as well as a former member of Sunny Day Real Estate. He has also worked with musical acts The Jealous So ...

) – bass guitar, (2023–present) ;Former members *Arron Warner – bass guitar, (2007–2019) *Jamie Valentine – guitar, vocals, (2010–2020) *Alex Bailey – drums, vocals (2010–2020) *Nick Wight – keyboards, (2013–2020) *Gareth Jenkinson – bass guitar, (2019–2022) ;Other musicians *Paul Winn – harmonica *Sarah Collins – vocals *Katie Lofthouse – vocals *Alice Barrott – vocals *Natalie Rawel – vocals *Abby Chapman – vocals *Leanne Stenson – vocals *Zoe Mayers – vocals *Hannah Robinson – vocals

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
British rock music groups Foo Fighters