CHRIS Shiflett has been the backbone of Foo Fighters for 20 years. Joining in 1999, he's played on every record since 2002's One By One.
To many fans, he's as important as founder and creative mastermind Dave Grohl, who started the group to fill the void left by Nirvana following Kurt Cobain's death.
But Shiflett, a shaggy-haired punk rock veteran and surf fan, has another side – one he explores outside of Foo Fighters' stadium-sized template. Shiflett is a country music aficionado and spends his downtime exploring the genre's past, present and future.
He even has a podcast – Walking The Floor – where he has interviewed the genre's stars since 2013.
"Working solo, it's really different," he explains. "When you are the songwriter and the singer, of course it's a different role. In the Foo Fighters I am there to support Dave's vision. That's my job.
"I go and he's got a song idea and we are all trying to come up with something that complements that idea. But this is a different thing. It lets me decompress."
The night prior to our meeting Shiflett played at the Mumford and Sons-owned venue Omeara in south London, the latest in a string of intimate UK tour dates.
"I didn't know what to expect coming over here. It's been such a treat," he says, smiling. "You can tell as soon as you get out on stage if anybody has ever heard your songs.
"But it's been f****** great, man. I can see people in the crowd singing along to songs from the last record, so it's nice. It feels like a good energy."
It's not Shiflett's first visit to this side of the pond, of course; he has played numerous times in stadiums across Britain and Ireland.
But this time he comes bearing new fruits – a collection of intensely personal songs from his forthcoming album entitled Hard Lessons. Songs like Fool's Gold and Liars are "diary entries" pulled from his lived experience.
"They happened," he says with a grin that could be mistaken for a grimace.
And even when his lyrics are not straight autobiography, Shiflett's music remains intimate.
"You pull from your own experience to make them ring true," he adds.
Hard Lessons is an unfussy record. It was written and recorded quickly and efficiently with some of Shiflett's most trusted musical partners, including Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb in Nashville.
"I really wanted to make a record while I was still on the road. That was a challenge, to sell that to my wife," he says, chuckling. "Instead of taking those days off I'm going to be in Nashville recording, I told her. That didn't go over real well, but she got it."
Shiflett is a rarity in the rock world. A lead guitarist with an almost invisible ego.
Away from Foo Fighters, his music is more introspective, a reflection on his personal life: marriage, values, the state of the world.
"Family, touring, travelling, being gone," he recalls. "I wrote a lot of these songs when I was way from home. I'm not sure anyone else will hear it in it – but I hear a loneliness, a longing. That's how I hear it."
"And of course, you can't help it, the state of the world in the last couple of years. It gets in here.
"We are living through f***ing crazy, bats*** crazy times. There's no way around that. That's going to get in there too."
And while Shiflett is political, he is reluctant to make big statements in his music. He's become more reluctant to voice his opinions – on Donald Trump, on Bernie Sanders, even on Brexit – because of the backlash celebrities face when their words are "twisted" out of contest.
"I don't think that's the style of who everybody is [in Foo Fighters]. "When people ask me my opinions on politics I'm happy to voice my opinions on things. But that's dangerous territories these days..."
He is, however, happy to speak up about the threat of climate change.
"Why is that a partisan issue?" he asks, exasperated. "They've been raising the alarm bells since I was a little kid. Even before that."
He continues: "That's how propaganda works. They spent a lot of money to convince half our population that it doesn't exist."
Shiflett has always cared about the environment, working with Al Gore to raise awareness of climate change. But becoming a father to three sons has spurred him on.
"Having kids makes you more aware of everything," he says. "It just makes you a more reflective human being. It's such a corny sounding cliche – but you want your kids to be healthy and well.
"What world's going to be left for them?"
Shiflett says he is trying to teach his children to be good people.
But he has a different piece of advice for his 18-year-old self.
"Don't take it all so seriously," he smiles. "When I was 18, I thought every moment of every day was the make or break moment that was going to change my life forever.
"I'd just say, cruise a little bit, buddy. Don't stress so hard."
:: Hard Lessons is out on June 14.
