Friends of the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins have claimed he was uncomfortable with the intensity of the band’s touring schedule once the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.
According to a number of friends, Hawkins reportedly expressed unease about the band’s touring schedule, saying that he struggled to keep up with the physical demands of the job, which often forced him to play three-hour concerts night after night.
The 50-year-old drummer, who was found dead in his hotel room in Bogotá on March 25 before a show that night, is said to have spoken to Foos frontman Dave Grohl and several friends about his concerns.
The Rolling Stone report includes several denials from Foo Fighters officials. The publication said it has repeatedly requested interviews from Hawkins’ family members and his bandmates to substantiate the claims, but Hawkins’ family declined to comment. Foo Fighters and their management didn’t want to be interviewed either.
Taylor Hawkins (Image: Alamy)
The report claims that ahead of the Foo Fighters’ post-pandemic comeback, which began last June with vaccinated performances in LA and New York’s Madison Square Garden, “Hawkins was hesitant to return to the streets and wasn’t sure if he would.” it would be able to remain a full-time member if they continue touring at this rate”.
Although he kept himself physically fit, friends claimed that Hawkins found it uncomfortable to maintain such a high level of performance. “He had a heart-to-heart with Dave [Grohl] and, yes, he told me he ‘can’t fucking take any more’ — those were his words,” Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, a close friend of Hawkins’s for decades, told Rolling Stone.
“I guess they came to terms, but it seems like the touring schedule got even crazier after that.” A Foo Fighters rep denied that Hawkins ever addressed those issues, saying, “No, there never was a ‘ Heart to heart’ – or some sort of meeting on that subject – with Dave and [Silva Artist Management].”
Hawkins’ longtime friend and former boss, singer Sass Jordan, added: “Honestly, I think he was just so tired. Tired from the whole game.”
“Finally talking to Dave and really telling him that he couldn’t and wouldn’t do that anymore, that was liberating for him,” a colleague and friend of Hawkins’s said, asking to remain anonymous. “That cost damn balls. It took me a year to find the courage to do it.”
While Hawkins’ friends who were interviewed argued he wanted a change, a Foo Fighters representative said: “He never informed Dave about it [management]’ of anything like that.
Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins perform live in 2022 (Image: Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images)
Elsewhere, several friends have claimed Hawkins passed out on board a plane in Chicago, despite news reports anonymously describing him as a “member of the Foo Fighters” at the time.
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith claimed, “He just said he was exhausted and he collapsed and they had to pump him full of IVs and stuff. He was dehydrated and all sorts of things.”
After the incident, Smith claims Hawkins told him, “I can’t do this anymore.”
When asked if Foo Fighters had commented on allegations that Hawkins passed out on the plane, a rep said, “That’s not true.”
Hawkins told Rolling Stone last June that he was struggling with the band’s return to live music in the wake of the pandemic. “I’m really nervous about tonight,” he said on the day of the group’s first comeback show in June. “I have a lot of stage fright – Major, Major, Major. Like, today is like, I’m in hell right now.
In late March, an initial toxicology report found that multiple drugs, including opiates, antidepressants and marijuana, were found in Hawkins’ system at the time of his death.
Earlier this month, Pearl Jam paid tribute to Hawkins during a concert in LA by covering the Foo Fighters’ 2005 song “Cold Day In The Sun.”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers also recently paid tribute to Hawkins during their headlining set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.