“He can’t quit”: The show that made Taylor Hawkins almost walk away from Foo Fighters
Losing Taylor Hawkins was a gut-punch felt all across the world of rock and roll. His truly infectious charm was something anyone with a passing interest in the Foo Fighters could feel, and those who were closer probably had firsthand experience with. One can only imagine how it must have felt for Dave Grohl to lose a man who wasn’t just his musical lieutenant but one of his best friends in the world.
It says a lot about how truly beloved the man was that his generational drumming ability was almost taken for granted in the face of his sheer affability. This is a man whom Grohl himself gave up his drum stool for, and as William Goldsmith will tell you, if you weren’t at Grohl’s level, he would let you know that fact, which is harsh but fair.
After all, there’s a pretty compelling argument to put Grohl in the top ten drummers in the history of rock, despite the fact that he’s been singing and playing guitar a lot longer than he ever was a drummer for. In the early days of the Foo Fighters it was a genuine problem for Grohl as he would track the drums on Foos records himself, then have to audition drummer after drummer who could barely hold a candle to him.
Then he found Taylor Hawkins, a man who could match him beat for beat, was comfortable being a second-in-command, and was as nice a man as you could possibly meet in rock and roll. He was worth his weight in gold. The only other issue was that Grohl wasn’t just a superlative rock drummer; he also loved drumming with every fibre of his being, arguably more than being a frontman.
Why did Taylor Hawkins consider leaving the Foo Fighters?
One can tell by the sheer number of times he’s taken time away from his main project to take up the sticks for his buddies. The first genuinely high-profile version of this was when he stepped away from the Foos in 2001 to drum for Queens of the Stone Age during their Songs for the Deaf imperial phase. This made for some of the most compelling concerts of Grohl’s entire career, and Taylor Hawkins absolutely noticed how much joy his singer was getting out of this.
In an interview with Rhythm magazine conducted in 2003, Hawkins talked about how this felt. He said, “It was like seeing your ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend. But when I realised how great Dave was with them I thought ‘Well, maybe Dave should play drums; maybe he’s not enjoying being the front guy anymore and this is just the next phase of his long and wonderful music career and mine will be something else…’”
Of course, they then rehearsed the very next day, and Hawkins was reminded that Grohl loves being a frontman just as much as a sideman. He’s damn near just as good at it, too. Hawkins took one look at this and thought, “He can’t quit doing this”. And y’know what? He was absolutely right about that. A reminder, if one was needed, that if we can find a friend like Taylor Hawkins, we should hold on to them while we can.
