Iggy Pop discusses “powerful and relentless” Taylor Hawkins
Iggy Pop is set to release his 19th studio album, Every Loser, at the beginning of next year. The record will feature many recognisable names, such as Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses, Travis Barker, and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who passed away earlier this year in a hotel room in Colombia, also contributed to the album. Pop discussed the legendary late musician’s contribution to the project with Audacy: “It’s an unbelievable energy that this guy has,” he said. “He also played me in a film. He was me in the CBGB movie, and a poster was his abs as my abs. He plays on two tracks (on the album, and) he made those come alive.”
He is referring to the 2013 movie CBGB directed by Randall Miller, which saw Hawkins take on the role of Pop. The film follows the progress of the New York venue from a country and blues music club to a vital part of the punk movement, helping to launch the careers of Patti Smith and Television.
The punk icon met Hawkins for the first time in 2015 when Pop supported the Foo Fighters at Milton Keynes Bowl. He revealed that until that moment, he didn’t “really understand fully what they did”. Offering more detail, he shared: “I stood there on the side stage and listened to that thing and listened to what [Hawkins] was playing and it was otherworldly.”
He continued: “It was advanced and powerful and relentless, and highly detailed all at the same time. He was a really intense guy, and had a lot of energy – like a puppy that was too big.”
Ahead of his new album, which will mark his first release as part of a new deal with Atlantic Records and producer Andrew Watt’s Gold Tooth Records, Pop said: “I’m the guy with no shirt who rocks; Andrew and Gold Tooth get that, and we made a record together the old-fashioned way…the players are guys I’ve known since they were kids and the music will beat the shit out of you.”
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