Watch Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins run through the rhythms of Foo Fighters song ‘Bridge Burning’
The transition away from the drums wasn’t the easiest thing for Dave Grohl to do. The legendary Nirvana percussionist elected to take up lead singer and guitarist duties when he formed Foo Fighters in 1994. That meant that he wouldn’t be playing drums during live shows, but on the band’s first three albums, Grohl was still in charge of the rhythms.
Grohl famously played all the instruments on the band’s 1994 self-titled debut album, Foo Fighters. The follow-up, 1997’s The Colour and the Shape, was originally recorded by the full band. However, after initial sessions in Washington state, Grohl elected to move production down to Los Angeles. He called guitarist Pat Smear and bassist Nate Mendel to join him, but he didn’t inform drummer William Goldsmith, with Grohl electing to re-record most of the album’s drum tracks himself.
“The conversation that I eventually had with William was that I really wanted him to stay in the band, and I really wanted him to be the drummer, but I was going to play drums on the record,” Grohl explained in the documentary Foo Fighters: Back and Forth. Goldsmith elected to leave the band, causing Grohl to look for a new person to man the drum kit.
He eventually found his answer in Taylor Hawkins, the touring drummer for Alanis Morisette. Hawkins and Grohl found common ground in music and attitudes, creating a lasting bond that influenced the Foo Fighters’ music. Grohl and Hawkins split drumming duties more or less evenly on 1999’s There Is Nothing Left to Lose, but by the time 2002’s One By One came out, Hawkins was the only drummer credited.
That didn’t mean that Grohl stopped having opinions about drums. As the band’s main songwriter, Grohl admitted that he still had strong thoughts about what rhythms should be played. “When I’ve written a song, I have kind of a clear idea of where the basic root accents should lie,” Grohl explained. “That’s a fancy way of saying I know what the drums should sound like in my head while I’m doing this thing.”
“That’s not necessarily fair to say that as a songwriter who is collaborating with other musicians,” Grohl admitted. With Hawkins, however, the tension wasn’t there. Instead, the two found their own way to work out drum parts. As a deleted scene from Back and Forth proves, the two don’t say much in terms of musical terms – they mostly just bash out rhythms on their hands and knees to show what they think.
In the clip, Grohl runs down the form of Wasting Light opener ‘Bridge Burning’ with Hawkins and producer Butch Vig. At one point, Hawkins asks Grohl’s opinion about a fill. The two then mirror each other’s movements, showing where they each think the hits should be. It’s not very technical, but it’s primal and immediate, just like the Foo’s music.
Check out Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins figuring out the rhythms for ‘Bridge Burning’ down below.
