There’s a good chance that the death of Taylor Hawkins is going to take years to fully sink in. Even with almost a year removed from his passing and the tribute shows going well around the world, most of us aren’t going to really feel his absence until it’s not there on the next Foo Fighters record.
It’s even more sad now with the context that Taylor had planned to stay with the Foo’s well into old age.
In an interview taken a few months before his passing for a documentary entitled Let There Be Drums, Taylor had mentioned that he hoped that the Foo Fighters would go on and on, and that he couldn’t imagine a world where Dave wouldn’t call him up to play drums when they are in their ‘70s.
Speaking after the fact about the documentary, director Justin Kreutzman talks about how much energy Taylor brought to the set whenever he showed up, telling Variety that:
“It’s crushing. Originally when you watch that, he’s talking in the context of bands like the Grateful Dead and musicians from the ‘60s who are still playing together. Now, the tone of all that has changed just by circumstances.
Hearing Taylor talk about his family and his kids watching him play — all those moments that are joyful and fun — now have this real sadness to them.”
Though the movie may have originally just been about the wild antics that happen to drummers amid living the rock star lifestyle, Justin was also the first to say that Taylor really flipped the script of the entire documentary because of just how genuine he was, saying further that “During his interview, he asked me, ‘How stable did your home life seem?’
That’s when I was like, ‘Well, people need to know the guy behind the camera.’ And that’s why I begrudgingly put myself on screen. He was just asking me a question, not for the documentary. But that’s when the light bulb went on. I had my 20 questions for each drummer, but they also had questions for me. So we traded stories.”
The Foo Fighters Song That Was Written About Taylor Hawkins
Although Taylor might not be with us in the physical sense anymore, it’s humanizing to see him in this light instead of just the madman playing the drums behind Dave Grohl.
When you hang up all of the rock star extensions, Taylor might be only second to Grohl in being one of the most genuine guys in the world of rock music.