In everyone's lifetime they will have a band or artist that has been the soundtrack to their life. We will swap and change music tastes but there will always be that one, for me it is the Foo Fighters.
For 27 years I have listened to the Foo Fighters, they were the soundtrack to the best parts of my life, meeting Sian for first time, going to Zakynthos, opening Oceanic Bar, going on Total Wipeout, meeting Sian for the second time, going to Canada with Sian to name but a few and for 25 of those years Taylor Hawkins was their drummer.
Would there ever be a drummer as good as Dave Grohl? The answer to that is yes, Taylor Hawkins.
It's a weird thing knowing someone from afar. I've never met him, I've never spoken to him but yet I felt like I knew Taylor Hawkins. You watch videos, you see documentaries, you listen to interviews and you build up a connection.
Taylor Hawkins had his demons. During a trip to London in 2001 Taylor overdosed on heroin and was in a coma for 2 weeks. This was a wake up call and Taylor admitted that was a changing point for him but it is quite easy to slip back in to the drug world even through anti-depressants and pain killers.
On 25th March 2022 Taylor Hawkins passed away.
I woke up that morning around 8.30am after a restless night of sleep, took a drink of water, put on my glasses, picked up my phone and checked it for the days news. Before I had even hit the news page there on my google trending page I saw the name "Taylor Hawkins - Foo Fighters" that was it, no other headline.
I thought to myself "Shit, he's left the band" but then my honest thoughts kicked in "No, I bet he's died from drugs". Again, it goes back to this weird connection of knowing someone really well from afar, "definitely drugs" I thought and that was before even seeing any headlines.
The headline read "Taylor Hawkins found dead in Bogota hotel room". It shows the greatness of the man to have a headline without naming the band, Foo Fighters. I sat there in bed not knowing if it was real, fake news or a joke as they had just released a horror film "Studio 666". Taylor and Dave were goof balls, always messing and joking around like a comedy double act so it just didn't seem real.
Sian came in to bedroom after just getting out of shower and I told her "Taylor Hawkins has died", there was a pause and Sian replied "Shut up" in disbelief. Sian must have thought the same as me as she is just as big a fan as I am. I could see she was trying to process it the same as I had. It was shock I think on both parts.
He was found to have 10 different drugs in his system, pain killers, anti depressants and marijuana, along with the drugs Taylors heart was enlarged to twice the size of a man his age.
We have lost other great artists to this sort of drug related incident, Prince and Michael Jackson to name but two. These artists work so hard and long that pain starts to creep in to their bodies, this leads to depression from the pain so they take pain killers. Those pain killers start to have no effect and they turn to anti depressants which in turn leads to stronger pain killers then stronger anti depressants until it gets to a point that the cocktail of drugs is an overload just to get through the day.
Taylor Hawkins played the drums with such ferocity it was like every last drop of energy has to be applied through his drumsticks and feet. It was mesmerizing to a point of questioning, How? How can someone play the drums with such expert technique but look like a madman flailing his drumsticks everywhere with such power and precision. Dave Grohl himself was cut from the same cloth.
A band is usually defined by the lead singer but in the Foo Fighters case it was also defined by Taylor Hawkins on the drums. That sound, that precise rhythm and the feeling for perfect adlib drum rolls along with being quite a good singer.
Taylor Hawkins in every interview I have seen him give came over as humble, happy, your every day dude who loves and lives life to the full with the band and his family going about his day to day business just getting on with things, he wasn't a media begging, limelight hogging, talentless moron like most of the....and I use this word very very loosely "celebrities" these days, he did his job, he did it well and kept himself and his family private.
I myself can never see the Foo Fighters ever touring again as Taylor was such a huge blinding light in the band. If this is the case I can totally agree with that decision, without Taylor having the bands back it would never be the same, the dynamic of the band is all 6 musicians, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee and the most awesome glue binding them together making them a tight band, Taylor Hawkins.
Sian on that Saturday had booked a surprise night out for me which was an amazing night, she had paid for us to see "War of the Worlds" live on stage, it was awesome. Before the show Sian had also paid for a pre-show bar. In the bar was a DJ playing all rock music. I asked him to play "Times like these" by the Foo Fighters in memory of Taylor who had passed away that morning. The song came on, Sian and I raised our drinks to the sky and said "To Taylor". As the lyrics started I began to tear up, such a sad sad loss of talent that will never be seen again and at young age, only 50.
The lyrics that made me tear up were these:-
"I, I'm a new day rising, I'm a brand new sky to hang the stars upon tonight"
The lyrics rang true, Taylor wasn't just a star he was so huge he was the sky to hang the stars upon.
To the band, his wife and children and all the Foo Fighters fans worldwide he leaves a hole in peoples lives that will never be filled and we hope that time will be a healer, he has left all of us an amazing legacy with his music and videos that he will never be forgotten.
Rest In Peace Taylor.
