Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins made positive to indicate his idols how a lot he liked them. They impressed him to make a profession in music, so he paid homage to them ceaselessly. He was so enthusiastic round his heroes and was lucky to type tight friendships with all of them, together with The Police’s Stewart Copeland, Queen’s Roger Taylor, and Brian Might, and the members of Rush. Hawkins was “Mr. Fanboy.”
Taylor Hawkins was ‘Mr. Fanboy’ to all his idols
When Hawkins first began drumming as a child, he appeared as much as The Police’s Stewart Copeland and Queen’s Roger Taylor. In 2019, Hawkins informed the BBC concerning the first time he heard The Police.
“My brother handed me a replica of ‘Zenyatta Mondatta,’” Hawkins stated. “This was 1982. He goes, ‘If you wish to be good, it’s a must to play it like this man.’ My two first main inspirations — in all probability the 2 guys that formed a variety of what I do when I play drums in a rock band — are Roger Taylor and Stewart Copeland.”
Hawkins and Copeland turned shut buddies within the early 2000s. They frolicked and jammed collectively ceaselessly. Following Hawkins’ loss of life on March 25, Copeland informed Rolling Stone, “He was all the time Mister Fanboy, however that was a part of his shtick.
“‘OK, OK, Taylor, relax!’ One in every of his social methods was that at any time when we had been hanging out, he’d choose a Police T-shirt from his intensive assortment. When he frolicked with Neil, he’d have his Rush T-shirt on. He was 50 years outdated happening eight.
“He was a fan of everyone, an actual fanatic. Though he was a star, he was very serious about all the opposite folks, how they obtained there and what they do. He knew all of it — all of the various things that everyone might do. Each flammadiddle and rattamacue as performed by his heroes.”
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Hawkins shocked his idols
The Foo Fighters drummer additionally worshipped Queen. After seeing the band carry out for the primary time as a child, he was so amazed that he couldn’t sleep that evening. Nevertheless, his love for the band shocked guitarist Mind Might.
Might mirrored on the drummer’s love for Queen throughout an interview on My Planet Rocks. He stated he was shocked that Hawkins was such an enormous fan as a result of he was cooler than Queen.
“The humorous factor was, he turned out to be the best Queen fan on this planet,” Might stated. “That was all the time a shock to me as a result of he appeared to be so much cooler than we had been.”
Might loves that Hawkins helped unfold Queen’s music to a youthful technology. “I feel Taylor Hawkins single-handedly made Queen cool to a brand new technology. He knew all the pieces about us… all the pieces!
“At that time, he and (Foo Fighters guitarist) Pat Smear gave us an award at some ceremony – I can’t even bear in mind what it was now – however it turned apparent at that time actually early on that they knew all the pieces. They knew extra about us than we knew! It’s all the time been an incredible factor.”
Might requested Hawkins to contribute drums on the observe “Cyborg,” which he was honored to play. Hawkins had simply joined Foo Fighters. It was a full-circle second for him. Later, Roger Taylor gave Hawkins the snare drum he used throughout the Freddie Mercury AIDs consciousness live performance. It was considered one of Hawkins’ proudest possessions.
“A number of instances in London, me and Taylor in the midst of the evening walked to Freddie [Mercury’s] home and simply sat outdoors the gate,” stated Chad “Yeti” Ward, Hawkins’ drum tech from 2005 to 2019. “That was his hero.”
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The Foo Fighters drummer made a fan very glad a few days earlier than his loss of life
Hawkins managed to befriend almost all of his idols, together with Perry Farrell, Jane’s Dependancy frontman.
“What I liked about him is he wasn’t afraid to say he was a fan,” stated Perry Farrell. “There are a variety of males which can be afraid to say that as a result of they is perhaps envious of the opposite man’s expertise. They don’t wish to give him any gentle.
“Taylor didn’t have that drawback in any respect. If he thought you had been nice, he would speak about it. It was a really endearing, child-like high quality he had.”
Hawkins made positive his personal followers knew he liked them simply as a lot as his idols. Three days earlier than his loss of life, Hawkins made a fan very glad. On March 22, Foo Fighters canceled their live performance in Asunción, Paraguay’s capital metropolis, attributable to unhealthy climate.
Hawkins was in his lodge’s foyer when he heard drumming coming from the group of followers outdoors. When he investigated, he discovered nine-year-old Emma Sofía Peralta, who was enjoying her coronary heart out to Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender” and “Everlong.”
“That day was about to develop into the worst day of my life,” Peralta informed Rolling Stone, referring to the canceled live performance over Zoom (with translation assist from her dad, Julius), “and all of a sudden it turned one of the best day of my life.”
So, simply as The Police and Queen gave hope to Hawkins as a child, Hawkins gave hope to Peralta. Hawkins paid it ahead.
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