The Washington Post - USA (2022-03-27)

C8 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MARCH 27 , 2022

obituaries

BY MATT SCHUDEL

Taylor Hawkins, the longtime
drummer and rhythmic force be-
hind the Foo Fighters, a multiple-
Grammy-winning group that was
inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame last year, died while
the band was on a South Ameri-
can tour. He was 50.
The band announced his death
Friday on social media, but com-
plete details, including the date,
place and cause of death, were not
immediately known. The Associ-
ated Press reported that emer-
gency vehicles and police were
seen at a hotel in Bogotá, Colom-
bia, where Mr. Hawkins was said
to have been staying. News re-
ports indicated that medical as-
sistance had been summoned for
someone suffering from chest
pain.
The Foo Fighters had been
scheduled to perform Friday in
Bogotá. Mr. Hawkins had last
performed March 20 at a festival
in San Isidro, Argentina.
Mr. Hawkins was not the Foo
Fighters’ drummer when the
band was formed by Dave Grohl
in 1994, but after he took over the
drum chair in 1997 he became a
major part of the group’s live
performances and recordings. Af-
ter Grohl, he was perhaps the
group’s most recognizable mem-
ber, known for his humor, his
flying mane of blond hair and his
inventive, dynamic style of play-
ing the drums.
For two years in the 1990s, Mr.
Hawkins was the drummer for
Alanis Morissette, who was then
at the height of her fame, touring
in the wake of her hit album
“Jagged Little Pill,” which sold
more than 30 million copies.
Grohl, who had been the drum-
mer in Kurt Cobain’s seminal
grunge band Nirvana, was
launching the Foo Fighters after
Cobain’s death by suicide in 1994.
Although Grohl, who grew up
in Northern Virginia, was consid-
ered one of rock’s greatest drum-
mers, he decided to step out front
as a guitarist and singer with the
Foo Fighters. (The name came
from a book Grohl had read about
UFOs.)
While making the album “The
Colour and the Shape” (1997),
which contained one of the Foo
Fighters’ biggest hits, “Everlong,”
Grohl dismissed his drummer
and played the drum parts him-
self. He then asked Mr. Hawkins,
whom he had met at music festi-
vals, if he could recommend a
new drummer. Mr. Hawkins vol-
unteered for the job himself. He
and Grohl instantly became close
friends and musical soul mates.
“Upon first meeting, our bond
was immediate, and we grew clos-
er with every day, every song,
every note that we ever played
together,” Grohl wrote in a 2021
autobiography, “The Storyteller.”
He described Mr. Hawkins as his
“best friend” and “a man for
whom I would take a bullet.”
Mr. Hawkins had long been a
fan of the British group Queen

and its bombastic concerts and

had come of age with a slashing

California style, sometimes called

glam metal or alternative metal.

He brought a strength and com-

plexity to the drums, influenced

by Queen’s Roger Taylor, Stewart

Copeland of the Police and Ste-

phen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction.

“I went over to his little house

in Topanga Canyon,” Grohl told

Entertainment Weekly last year,

“he sat down and played for three

seconds, and the first time he hit a

snare drum, I knew it. I swear to

God. I was like, ‘That’s all I need

to ... hear. ... You’ve just given me

hearing damage for the rest of my

life in three seconds. You have to

be in the band.”

Mr. Hawkins admitted that

“technically I think [Grohl is]

better than me” on drums, but he

anchored seven Foo Fighters al-

bums, all of which were certified

platinum. He wrote several songs

for the band with Grohl or on his

own and was the lead singer on

some, including “Cold Day in the

Sun” and “Sunday Rain.” He and

Grohl often had extended duo

jams during the Foos’ concerts,

each driven on by the other.

“We become a little bit tele-

pathic onstage,” Mr. Hawkins told

Entertainment Weekly. (The

band’s other members most re-

cently included guitarists Pat

Smear and Chris Shiflett, bassist

Nate Mendel and keyboard player

Rami Jaffee.)

Mr. Hawkins contributed to all

12 of the band’s Grammy-winning

performances. A new album,

“Medicine at Midnight,” was re-

leased in February and is up for

three Grammys this year. The Foo

Fighters were scheduled to per-

form at the Grammy ceremony in

Las Vegas on April 3. (It was not

immediately clear whether the

group would cancel its appear-

ance.)

“I think Taylor really underes-

timates his importance in this

band,” Grohl told Rolling Stone in

2021. “Maybe because he’s not the
      original drummer, but, my God,
      what would we be without Taylor
      Hawkins? Could you imagine? It
      would be a completely different
      thing. ... Taylor’s insecurity push-
      es him to overachieve.”
      Oliver Taylor Hawkins was
      born Feb. 17, 1972, in Fort Worth
      and grew up in Laguna Beach,
      Calif. He said little about his
      family background except that
      his parents bought him a drum
      set when he was 10.
      “I was a fat, chubby, stupid kid
      who [failed] at everything and
      that nobody liked,” he said in


2022. “Then I started playing
      drums.” He won a high school
      talent contest and began playing
      in local bands before working
      with singer Sass Jordan and later
      with Morissette.
      Mr. Hawkins was known as
      free spirit with an engaging sense
      of humor. He appeared in many
      Foo Fighters’ videos, including
      one in which he was dressed as a
      female flight attendant. He was
      also in several side projects, in-
      cluding the “Dee Gees” (a Foo
      Fighters knockoff of the Bee
      Gees), and recorded several al-
      bums as leader of Taylor Hawkins
      and the Coattail Riders and a
      metal cover band called Chevy
      Metal.
      “I never wanted to be ‘just a
      drummer,’” Mr. Hawkins told Bill-
      board magazine in 2019. “I always
      wanted to write songs and sing.”
      As an actor, he portrayed punk
      star Iggy Pop in a 2013 feature
      film, “CBGB,” about an influential
      New York music club, and ap-
      peared in a recent Foo Fighters
      mock-horror movie, “Studio 666.”
      In 2001, Mr. Hawkins had a
      drug overdose while the Foo
      Fighters were on tour in England
      and was in a coma for about two
      weeks.
      “Everyone has their own path,
      and I took it too far,” he told
      Kerrang, a music website, last
      year. “I’m not here to preach
      about not doing drugs, because I
      loved doing drugs, but I just got
      out of control for a while and it
      almost got me.”
      Survivors include his wife
      since 2005, the former Alison
      Williams, and their three chil-
      dren. A complete list of survivors
      could not be confirmed.
      When the Foo Fighters were
      named to the Rock and Roll Hall
      of Fame last year, they were cel-
      ebrated for their “rock authentic-
      ity ... in-your-face guitar riffs,
      monster drums and boundless
      energy.”
      During the induction cer-
      emony, Mr. Hawkins said to
      Grohl, “Thank you for letting me
      be in your band.”

TAYLOR HAWKINS, 50

Longtime drummer, writer, vocalist for the Foo Fighters

KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES/IHEARTMEDIA

Taylor Hawkins drums with the Foo Fighters during a January 2021 performance. Mr. Hawkins took over the drum chair three years after

the band was formed in 1994 after volunteering himself for the job when group founder Dave Grohl asked him for a recommendation.

JOHN AMIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

From left, Mr. Hawkins with fellow Foo Fighters Grohl, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett in 2005. Mr.

Hawkins also had been the drummer for Alanis Morissette at the height of her fame in the 1990s.

GARY HERSHORN/REUTERS

Grohl and Mr. Hawkins accept a Grammy Award for best rock album, the Foo Fighters’ “One by One,”

in 2004. M r. Hawkins contributed to all 12 of the band’s Grammy-winning performances.

“I think Taylor

really

underestimates his

importance in this

band. Maybe

because he’s not the

original drummer,

but, my God, what

would we be

without Taylor

Hawkins? Could you

imagine? It would

be a completely

different thing. ...

Taylor’s insecurity

pushes him to

overachieve.”

Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters

founder, to Rolling Stone in

2021

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