BURNING TO THE SKY

Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground

Rock and roll is not a business known for long careers, or the longevity of its stars. Yet Taylor Hawkins, the powerhouse drummer of the Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl’s musical soulmate, seemed to have both. He survived a two-week druginduced coma in 2001 and seemed to be the picture of health—or at least as healthy as you can be when you are living the rock and roll dream.

So, when his death, at 50, was announced on March 25 of this year, the world of rock music was in genuine shock. It seemed impossible that the man who had sung a perfect, powerful cover of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” to a massive audience at Lollapalooza five days earlier could be gone.

Taylor Hawkins’s rise to being the drummer in the pre-eminent rock band of its time is an extraordinary story. It also has a Canadian connection. Hawkins’s first big gig was as a touring drummer for Sass Jordan, a Montrealbased singer/songwriter familiar to any listeners of Canadian rock radio. In 1995, Hawkins began touring with Canadian singer/songwriter Alanis Morisette as she ascended into superstardom on the back of her album Jagged Little Pill. Video of this time shows Hawkins thrashing his drum set with a ferocious intensity, yet that grin so many would come to love can be clearly seen under the beach bum hair. Somewhere during his time with Morissette, Dave Grohl and Hawkins became acquaintances. When the original drummer of the Foo Fighters quit, Grohl turned to Hawkins for advice on who might be good for the job. Hawkins recommended himself, and the rest is history.

The Foo Fighters would become one of the most successful acts of the late 90s and 2000s, and continue to be a massive live draw. Hawkins was not only a key part of the band as a drummer, but was often given the chance to sing a cover by an artist or band he adored. And make no mistake, Hawkins was a massive fan of rock and roll, and idolized many of the drummers that fuelled the music he grew up on. A few of his major influences included Neil Peart of Rush, Phil Collins of Genesis, Ringo Starr of the Beatles, and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. But his two favourites were Roger Taylor of Queen and Stewart Copeland of The Police. Hawkins and Copeland would eventually become friends, although Hawkins never got over his fandom. “Whenever I’d meet up with him somewhere, he’d be wearing his favorite Police T-shirt from his extensive collection,” Copeland told Variety. “[If Hawkins were] hanging out with Neil? He’s got his Rush T-shirt on. He studied all of those drummers and had all their chops.”

While Hawkins could mimic the incredible power and precision of players like Neil Peart and Stewart Copeland, he was very much his own musician in the Foo Fighters. He would match the freight-train intensity Dave Grohl could churn out, and then turn around and pick up brushes for an acoustic jam.

While I was only a casual fan of the Foo Fighters music, I’d always loved how they paid glorious tribute to the bands they enjoyed. And they had the most catholic of tastes when it came to music. In researching this column, I watched several hours of YouTube videos, mostly live, but some recorded in studio. Perhaps the one that left me the most joyful was a video of the Foos (under the name Dee Gees) doing a cover of Andy Gibb’s 1978 disco-era smash “Shadow Dancing.” This is not a song I ever thought we’d see the Foo Fighters cover, but they do it so well, with Hawkins singing it perfectly and without a whiff of camp—all while he played those beautiful Bee Gees’ beats. As always, Hawkins was paying the ultimate in respect to the music he loved.

Godspeed Taylor, you were an angel flying too close to the ground.