The EP was recorded at Hotel Saint Cecilia in Texas, amplifying the band’s lore
On November 23, 2015, Foo Fighters released their Saint Cecilia EP. The record occupies a special, somewhat liminal place in the band’s catalog: part tour souvenir, part emergency broadcast, part love letter to loud guitars. Released as a free digital download, the five-song set was initially conceived as a thank-you to fans at the end of the Sonic Highways Tour, but it took on a much heavier emotional weight in the wake of the November 13 Paris terrorist attacks, to which the band ultimately dedicated the EP. Recorded quickly in October 2015 at Austin’s Hotel Saint Cecilia—fittingly named for the patron saint of music—during the Austin City Limits festival, the project became both a spontaneous experiment and a reaffirmation of the band’s basic identity as a riff-driven rock group.
The writing and recording of Saint Cecilia were unusually off-the-cuff by Foo Fighters standards. Rather than building another elaborate concept like Sonic Highways, Dave Grohl and company decamped to the boutique Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin and cut the bulk of the EP in a compact window between October 1 and 11, 2015, while in town for ACL. Grohl later described the process in the EP’s virtual liner notes as friends digging through old riffs and jamming, essentially using the hotel as a temporary studio, with vocals allegedly tracked in a bathroom, leaning into the rough-and-ready vibe. They weren’t starting entirely from scratch: several ideas were drawn from older, unused material, including “The Neverending Sigh,” which originated under the working title “7 Corners” back in the The Colour and the Shape era, making the collection feel like a time capsule of riffs and melodies that had finally found their moment. Additional overdubs were later completed at the band’s Studio 606 West in California, but the core performances preserved the immediacy of those hotel sessions.
Musically, the EP leans into two of Foo Fighters’ core modes: punchy, melodic rock anthems and more relaxed, mid-tempo tunes with a reflective streak. The title track “Saint Cecilia” is the obvious centerpiece, a bright, chiming rocker that plays like a cousin to earlier hits while featuring a cameo from Ben Kweller on background vocals—he reportedly happened to be passing by the hotel during recording and was pulled into the session. Tracks like “Sean” and “Savior Breath” tap a more overt punk energy, drawing on Grohl’s roots in the D.C. hardcore scene, while “Iron Rooster” and “The Neverending Sigh” slow things down, balancing swagger with a sense of wistfulness. The short running time—just 18 minutes—helps the songs hit like a quick, concentrated blast of what the band does best, without the over-thinking that some critics felt weighed down Sonic Highways.
The turning point in the EP’s story came when the Paris attacks forced Foo Fighters to cancel the remaining dates of their European tour, including a planned show at the Bataclan. Suddenly, what had been envisioned as a celebratory tour-closing gift took on a memorial dimension. The band released Saint Cecilia for free on their website and streaming platforms, explicitly dedicating it to the victims and framing it as a reminder that “music is life” and a symbol of resilience in the face of violence. Even the timing of the release became symbolic: it arrived the day after the November 22 feast day of Saint Cecilia, underscoring the connection between music, remembrance, and community.
Critically, Saint Cecilia was received as a bounce-back and a reaffirmation of Foo Fighters’ strengths. On Metacritic, it landed a solid 76/100, indicating generally positive reviews. Outlets like NME praised it as a promising signpost for the band’s next chapter, noting that—tragic context aside—the songs suggested the Foos were in good shape creatively. Consequence of Sound framed the EP as a “step back” in the best way, arguing that where Sonic Highways had felt like their weakest effort, Saint Cecilia found them returning to simple, heartfelt rock and sounding more energized and nostalgic. Spin went even further, calling it the band’s best record in years and emphasizing how the songs worked precisely because they weren’t trying to carry a massive concept on their backs. Even a more skeptical outlet like Pitchfork acknowledged the bracing punk-ish charge of “Sean” and “Savior Breath” and noted that the EP was livelier and edgier than the material on Sonic Highways.
Fan response, especially over time, has been notably affectionate. Among die-hards, Saint Cecilia is often cited as a sneaky-strong release—sometimes even called their best work since 2011’s Wasting Light. On Foo Fighters fan forums and Reddit discussions, listeners frequently describe the EP as underrated, praising the title track and “The Neverending Sigh” in particular, and arguing that the scrappy, loose feel brings them closer to the band’s early albums. Because it was released for free and arrived without the build-up of an album campaign, it has the aura of a cult favorite: a record that serious fans cherish even if casual listeners sometimes overlook it.
Commercially, Saint Cecilia is an odd case, because its primary version was a free digital release. That meant traditional sales numbers were never the central story. Even so, when the EP was pressed on vinyl and given a physical rollout in February 2016, it performed respectably on charts around the world. On the US Billboard 200 it peaked at No. 117, while on the genre charts it reached No. 16 on Top Rock Albums, No. 4 on Top Hard Rock Albums, and No. 12 on Top Alternative Albums. In the UK, it hit No. 35 on the main albums chart and debuted at No. 1 on the UK Vinyl Albums chart, reflecting strong demand among collectors for a physical edition of what had originally been a free gift. Elsewhere, the 12-inch EP charted in Austria, Belgium and Scotland, illustrating the band’s global draw even for a relatively low-key project.
The title track’s performance as a single provides the clearest quantitative snapshot of the EP’s reach. “Saint Cecilia” climbed to No. 3 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart, No. 2 on Canada Rock, and made appearances on various rock and alternative airplay rankings, including No. 12 on Alternative Airplay and No. 6 on Rock & Alternative Airplay. The song’s success yielded some career milestones: it became Foo Fighters’ 22nd Top 10 entry on the Mainstream Rock chart and their 29th song to reach the Top 20 on the Alternative chart, tying them with Red Hot Chili Peppers for second-most Top 20 entries behind U2 at that time. In terms of formal sales, the only widely reported certification for the EP is a platinum award in Brazil, corresponding to 40,000 units based on sales and streaming equivalents—again, impressive considering the project’s free-download origin.
Within the Foo Fighters discography, Saint Cecilia sits between two very different studio statements: 2014’s TV-tied concept album Sonic Highways and 2017’s more polished, arena-sized Concrete and Gold. Where the former was sprawling and high-concept and the latter leaned into pop-leaning production and high-profile collaborations, Saint Cecilia stands out as concise, unpretentious and almost fan-club-style in its origin. Because it repurposes riffs and song ideas stretching back as far as The Colour and the Shape era, it functions as a sort of mini-retrospective, showing how Grohl and the band can take fragments from different eras and weld them into something new that still feels distinctly Foo Fighters. The involvement of longtime associate Rami Jaffee on keys, the three-guitar attack of Grohl, Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett, and the late Taylor Hawkins’ drumming all underscore how fully realized the “classic” Foo Fighters lineup was by this point.
Perhaps most importantly, Saint Cecilia has taken on symbolic significance that goes beyond its modest length. It’s remembered as a gesture of solidarity, released at a moment when the live-music community was reeling, and as a reaffirmation of basic rock-band virtues: loud guitars, emotional release, camaraderie. Krist Novoselic, Grohl’s former Nirvana bandmate, even described the EP as a statement that the Foo Fighters were the biggest rock band in the world and praised it for being straight-ahead rock done very well. If Wasting Light is their late-career high-water mark and Sonic Highways their ambitious experiment, then Saint Cecilia is the small, heartfelt project that quietly proves why the band can still command arenas: when they strip away the extras and simply plug in, they still sound like themselves—and that’s exactly what many fans wanted to hear.
Foo Fighters – Saint Cecilia EP [RCA, 2015]
1. Saint Cecilia
2. Sean
3. Savior Breath
4. Iron Rooster
5. The Neverending Sigh