rock band
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins dies while on tour
Drummer Taylor Hawkins died aged 50. Photo: Amy Harris/Invision via AP/dpa
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Having just appeared in a horror comedy with his popular rock band Foo Fighters, news of Taylor Hawkins’ death while on tour shocked the music world.
He had a job that many might have envied him for – or not, because his task was quite delicate. Taylor Hawkins, who died unexpectedly at the age of 50 while on tour in Colombia, had been the Foo Fighters drummer since 1997.
And their frontman Dave Grohl, once a drummer for the grunge rock icons Nirvana, knew his way around drums, cymbals and hi-hats better than almost anyone else, he still liked to sit down at the drum kit himself.
A demanding boss, that’s for sure. But Hawkins became a fixture in the US hard rock band, which was awarded twelve Grammys and was popular around the world, and even one of the best drummers in the world. More than that: In contrast to colleagues who dutifully set the pace behind their “shooting gallery”, sweat profusely and otherwise belong to the lesser-known band members, this musician, born on February 17, 1972, was a real show star with his own artist profile.
On Saturday night, the Foo Fighters pointed out their drummer’s great ability and engaging charisma in their Twitter message about Hawkins’ death: “His musical spirit and his infectious laughter will live on among all of us forever.” The always chummy band also shared their deep sorrow: “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins.” According to the music journal “Metal Hammer”, he leaves his wife Alison and three children together.
The US musician was found dead in a hotel in the Colombian capital Bogotá, the news magazine “Semana” initially reported online on Friday (local time). The band was supposed to perform at the Estereo Pìcnic music festival there. It was initially unclear how the performances of the Foo Fighters would continue – quickly on Saturday there was talk of canceling the South American tour. A German date for the band, who were inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” in 2021, is planned for June 8 in Berlin.
First name borrowed from role model
Although Oliver “Taylor” Hawkins was a native Texan, he grew up with lots of sand and sun in Laguna Beach/California, as the Internet encyclopedia Allmusic writes. He chose his stage name based on one of his drummer role models: Roger Taylor from the British mega-band Queen. Stewart Copeland (The Police) and Phil Collins (Genesis) also influenced the musician, who first emerged in the 90s as a member of songwriter Alanis Morissette’s («Jagged Little Pill») live band.
Grohl, who was just starting out with his second band, Foo Fighters, recruited him from this drummer job. “Me and Dave, we seemed like two long-separated brothers in a crazy way,” Hawkins recalled last year, according to NBC. “We had a similar vibe.” After the band’s second studio album “The Color And The Shape” in 1997, Hawkins was part of it – and despite some drug problems (allegedly due to his stage fright), he remained a constant in the band, which quickly became very popular because of their easy-going carefree attitude.
Despite the huge success of the alternative rockers with hits like “Best Of You”, “My Hero”, “Learn To Fly” or “All My Life”, Hawkins saw himself – not entirely unusual for drummers, see Ringo Starr, Phil Collins or Grohl himself – as an underestimated songwriter. So in 2004 he started his side project Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders, with whom he fronted and sang on several albums. In 2014, the drummer founded another project with the metal band The Birds Of Satan, in which Grohl was also involved.
The relationship between the two musicians, who at some point thought far beyond their Kärrner work as a drummer, always seems to have been close. At concerts, Hawkins and Grohl would sometimes have drummer duels, or swap places on drums, guitar and vocals. Hawkins also took on the role of singer on the Foo Fighters single “Cold Day In The Sun”. And just this February, Grohl brought his weird horror comedy “Studio 666” to US cinemas, in which the Foo Fighters play the leading role – and in which Taylor Hawkins also appears prominently.
The early death of this US musician at the age of 50 is a reminder of the bloodletting that the grunge rock generation had to suffer with many sad cases: starting with Kurt Cobain (Nirvana/1994) via Layne Staley (Alice In Chains/2002) and Chris Cornell (Soundgarden/2017) to Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees/2022). All were born since the mid-1960s and rose to fame as young savages in the ’90s.