No, seriously.

West Australian Copyright 2004 West Australian Newspapers, Ltd. June 18, 2004 Section: FEATURES Punching above his weight by SIMON COLLINS

As an amateur boxer Chris Shiflett qualifies around the lightweight or super featherweight division, but as a guitarist for the Foo Fighters he is anything but lightweight.

"I've had a few fights and I've been in training for years," says Shiflett from his home in Los Angeles. "I'd like to do some more but you have to be in the gym for, at the very least, a few weeks. You really want to be in training for a solid month before you go fight. That's the problem - I never have a solid month when I'm home."

The new album takes on board and assimilates a number of influences that the band soaked up while writing and recording. Rather than being cagey, Grohl is more than happy to act as tour guide. "One of our favorite, favorite, most favorite bands is a band from here in California called Queens of the Stone Age. They just made one of the most soulful, groove-orientated, heavy, hard rock albums you've ever heard," he explains. "It just felt like comfortable insanity and so we were listening to a lot of that. There was that heavy element. Then I'm a sucker for '70s solo recording artists. I really am. People like Andrew Gold who sang 'Lonely Boy' or Gerry Rafferty, who sang 'Baker Street' things like that. So, yeah, that had something to do with it too. That and a lot of death metal. So you can find your way in there somewhere."

Grohl's pop tastes have always been the line in the sand that's separated Nirvana's base from that of the Foo Fighters. But the notion that the shadow of Nirvana is now another age away from the backyard the Foos are currently plowing is not something Grohl will endorse.

That's because, rather than pummelling punching bags and speed balls with his hands, he uses them to play rock'n'roll with the almighty Foo Fighters. Shiflett says the band are having a relatively low-key year, only playing the odd show and rehearsing new material before they hit the studio in September to record the follow-up to One by One.

The Foos' most recent gig was in Portugal, with Shiflett planning to fly down to Australia to join his other band, Jackson United, for some east coast shows with Jebediah. (His other, other band is punk covers act Me First & the Gimmes Gimmes, by the way.)

"It's going to be a long flight," he sighs. "I've got to fly from Lisbon to London, from London to Singapore, from Singapore to Sydney and then from Sydney to Adelaide. I'm gonna feel like a ping-pong ball."

Jackson United have issued their debut album, Western Ballads, a collection of melody-splattered pop punk songs. Fans of Shiflett's day job will enjoy the sweeter side to the Foo Fighters' axeman. "I hope it's long term," he says of the project. "I hope we can make a bunch of albums. I mean, we're starting from nothing, basically we're starting from scratch. If it's successful, it'll be great. It'll be a dream come true.

"I'm just stoked that I get to go all the way down to Australia to do this tour and play a bunch of songs that I made up in my house two years ago."

Western Ballads was recorded with older brother Scott and his Face to Face bandmate, Pete Parada. Both have since left and three new members have filled Jackson United out to a quartet.

Shiflett admits they weren't all that flash when they debuted at last year's Warped tour. "We were so bad. I couldn't play and sing at the same time, so it was terrible. I couldn't remember the lyrics," he says. Too many blows to the cranium, perhaps. When they toured Britain for the first time last January, Jackson United were finally punching above their weight.

The combo was originally called just Jackson, Shiflett's nickname, but could not copyright the moniker. A letter from a gentleman called Michael Jackson - not THE Michael Jackson - demanded they change their name. So they added United, a nod to Shiflett's love of soccer. They already had band T-shirts mimicking the Arsenal logo, so the United add-on bolstered the link.

"When we played over in the UK people would give us shit about that every night," he says. "I thought we'd change the name to Jackson United to upset them even more." He's clearly keen to get into some real amateur boxing.

Despite having a nose that starts south before sharply turning west, Shiflett claims it is not the result of a well-timed uppercut. "This is just my nose, the one I've always had. It's got nothing to do with boxing. It's been bloodied but it's never been broken."