Drum Talk - Foo Fighters - Taylor Hawkins

2023-04-24

Foo Fighters recently released a new song called "Rescued" without their original drummer, Taylor Hawkins, which is great to see. Kudos to Dave for having the strength to carry on. I know how it is to lose a friend and band member, it is extremely sad and painful.

When you lose a brother, friend, a band member, there are two outcomes for the band:

Outcome 1: You can retire the band, by starting a new band, or retire from music.

Outcome 2: Carry on, but with a replacement.

Outcome 1:

Famous examples that come to mind where bands decided to discontinue the band after a member had passed: John Bonham - Led Zeppelin, Freddie Mercury - Queen, Chris Cornell - Soundgarden, Kurt Cobain - Nirvana, Jimmy Hendrix, Chester Bennington - Linkin Park, I also want to mention Layne Staley - Alice In Chains, because I feel the new AIC are a different band compared to when Layne was there. However, the new AIC are making great music after Jerry managed to restart the band after a reunion show they played in honour of Layne, and thank God he did. He is a phenomenal guitarist and songwriter, we need him in our lives, his solo stuff is legit too. There are times where the member that had passed was so crucial to the sound of the band, that the band decided to call it quits without him/her. I know this is why Led Zeppelin called it a day, their live performances were very much dependent on the occasional improvisation, which can only happen when band members "click" after years of playing together, they develop a six sense.

Outcome 2:

The band continues in memory of the late member. Here we have Foo Fighters, one of the biggest rock bands in the world, with one of the most important musicians of our time, Dave Grohl. I am grateful they decided to continue. I am sure Dave has so much to give us still, so many songs to write, so many gigs to play.

Music has a lot of power, it's especially good at helping people cope with difficult situations, to me music can be a form of therapy. This is why I am always grateful when important musicians continue making music, they are blessing us with their melodies.

Now, to get to the point why I am writing this blog....

The reason I am writing this blog is, there is speculation around who the new drummer for Foo Fighters is going to be? The one shortlist I heard consisted of Atom Willard and Josh Freese. If I were to take the drumming on "Rescued" as a clue, I would say it was Atom Willard that played on that recording. It may have been Grohl that wrote the drums, but it sounded like someone else playing it in studio.

I know Atom from the work he did for The Offspring and got a good sense of his style there. Arom has a "minimal" style that is clean and simple, it should fit in well with Foo Fighters sound, but for me, the drummer with more pedigree is Josh Freese. Josh is a Session drummer well known over the world, he might be considered a "hired gun". He is super versatile and extremely talented, and I call him a Chameleon, because he can change his style to the music/band he is in. He played drums on A Perfect Circle's - Mer de Norms and Thirteenth Step, to name of few of his work. Those two albums alone makes him, to me, one of the best drummers alive today.

Regardless of who Foo Fighters choose as their drummer, we need to realise that the sound of the band is going to change, no one can replace Taylor, he was a great drummer and one of the most influential of modern rock drummers of our time. Long Live Foo Fighters.

I dedicate this blog to all my all-time favourite drummers that passed away too soon:

Joey Jordison (Slipknot),

The Rev (Avenged Sevenfold),

John Bonham (Led Zeppelin),

Neil Peart (Rush).

"May we forever graze on the Pasture Of Muppets"