RIP Taylor Hawkins

On Friday, March 25, we received the terrible news that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has died at 50 years old.

A statement from the band reads: “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”

No cause of death is currently known, but the Foo Fighters were due to perform at the Estéreo Picnic Festival in Bogotá, Colombia, on Friday night. We offer his wife Alison, their three children, his bandmates and many fans all of our love and support.

This writer recalls the first time I saw Hawkins perform like it was yesterday. It was, in fact, the Phoenix Festival in England, 1996. The Foo Fighters were on the bill that day, but Sunny Day Real Estate’s William Goldsmith was drumming for them. Hawkins was performing on the same stage, later that same day, drumming for Alanis Morissette.

Morissette was on top of the world at the time — it felt like everyone knew every single word to every single song on the Jagged Little Pill album. Yet Hawkins still stood out, from his stool at the back of the festival stage. His head moving maniacally like a blonde Animal. It felt like a comfortable fit when he was announced as the new Foos drummer the following year.

Hawkins had previously been a member of the OC prog band Sylvia, and he had drummed on tour with Canadian rocker Sass Jordan. Over the years, he played live and/or recorded with the members of Queen, Coheed & Cambria, and Slash, among many others. He had a hard rock cover band called Chevy Metal, and a side project called the Birds of Satan. He also had a solo project, humbly called Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders.

But it is his work with the Foo Fighters that he’ll forever be remembered for. The first album he recorded with the band was 1999’s There is Nothing Left to Lose, and the last was last year’s Medicine at Midnight — his eighth and the band’s tenth.

The live arena was where Hawkins really excelled. He was in a band with a drummer-turned-singer in Dave Grohl — the pressure could have told — yet he stepped up the plate and hit perpetual homers.

He could sing too. Anyone who attended Chris Cornell’s tribute show at the Forum a couple of years ago saw him front Soundgarden for “I Awake” and “The Day I Tried to Live” in place of a sick Mike Patton, and simply excel.

That was the last time I saw Hawkins perform live and the whole experience seems terribly poignant tonight, as I write this.

Hawkins was a brilliant soul, a mass of beautiful energy, and he will be missed but his music will live on.

RIP Taylor Hawkins

 

 

 

 

Photo available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.