According to multiple reports, the album was recorded in a period of personal upheaval for frontman Dave Grohl, who is 57 years old. The recording process was notably swift, completed in a matter of weeks, with Grohl demoing more than 50 songs for the project. According to BBC News, Grohl described the intended process: 'You write something really quickly, and the next day you record it and it's done. That's the photograph, that's the one moment that you catch.'
The album draws on a range of influences, including Massive Attack, Pink Floyd and Bad Brains. One track, 'Of All People', was inspired by an encounter Grohl had with a drug dealer he knew in Seattle in the 1990s. According to BBC News, Grohl described knowing many people whose lives suffered from buying those drugs. Grohl has been largely drug-free since he turned 20, though he was admitted to hospital in 2010 for overdosing on caffeine. According to BBC News, bass guitarist Nate Mendel described the album as capturing the band's core sound: 'This is how our band sounds. This is what we do.'
This is how our band sounds. This is what we do. We can do other stuff too, but this feels comfortable.