Watch Taylor Hawkins perform ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ with Supergrass
Back in the 1990s, Foo Fighters toured with Supergrass for a short string of shows in Europe. At the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert, behind-the-scenes footage from that tour was shown to the crowd ahead of Gaz Coombes and co’s performance. According to Jason Sudeikis, Hawkins was a huge fan of the band and regarded their 1999 self-titled album as one of his absolute favourites. This footage of Hawkins performing ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ captures the drummer at one of his most joyful moments.
Supergrass played a string of four immense arena shows with The Foo Fighters. By that time, the group had already released their breakthrough 1994 single, ‘Caught By The Fuzz’, a song in which frontman Gaz Coombes recalls being caught with cannabis at the age of 15 by local police. During a conversation with The Observer, the singer recalled driving along in his beaten-up Ford Fiesta when he got pulled over. “I stuck the hash down my pants,” he said, “But I had it in a little metal tin. I was standing on the pavement, and the tin just went all the way down my trousers and landed on the pavement with a ting. The copper went, ‘What’s that, son?'”
Thanks in part to the support of John Peel, vinyl copies of the single quickly sold out. This, in turn, attracted the attention of Parlophone Records, who signed Supergrass and re-released the single the following autumn. The track perfectly captured the feeling of adolescence and established Supergrass as one of the most refreshingly oddball groups on the scene.
Though greatly influenced by British acts like The Kinks, The Who and Inspiral Carpets, Supergrass’ also found a significant American listenership. As drummer and backing vocalist Danny Goffy recalled: “Tays has always been a bit of a fan of the band, and he was by the side of the stage watching us, and we just sort of beckoned him to come and play ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ at the end [of the show], and he came and played it about 500mph.”
Danny then decided to charge Hawkins from stage left and knock him from his stool, leaving the pair cackling with glee in a pile on the floor. “That was amazing,” Hawkins said when he got backstage, “fucking amazing.”
