Dave Grohl Admits He Wasn’t Expecting Taylor Hawkins Would Like To Be The Drummer Of Foo Fighters

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl recalled the time he contacted Taylor Hawkins to be the drummer of his band yet confirmed that he was surprised that Hawkins was willing to leave Alanis Morissette‘s touring band for him.

The founder and frontman of Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl initially started his music career by playing drums for Scream back in 1986 while he was only 17 years old. Following Scream’s disbandment, Grohl joined Nirvana yet they also had to call it quits when their lead singer Kurt Cobain passed away at the age of 27.

After losing Cobain, Grohl took a short break from his music career to figure out what to do with his life. Soon later, Dave started his one-man project, Foo Fighters, and recorded several songs in which he sang every vocal and played every instrument. While working on Foo Fighters’debute album, Dave recruited Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith, and Pat Smear. Goldsmith was later replaced by Taylor Hawkins, who was the drummer of Alanis Morissette’s touring band.

Recently, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins joined a conversation with Entertainment Weekly and answered questions about the time when Taylor first joined Foo Fighters. During the interview, Hawkins explained why he actually decided to leave Morissette’s band and how he enjoyed listening to Foo Fighters’ music before being a part of the band. Taylor stated that Alanis decided to go in a slightly less aggressive direction which seemingly not the same direction he wanted to go.

As a response to his remarks, Dave admitted that he wasn’t expecting Taylor to be willing to leave Morissette’s band since they were packing stadiums around the world. Yet, he implied that he understood Hawkins’ need to have more experience as a drummer since he was also a former drummer himself. Grohl resembled drummers to sharks who will die if they stop moving or in their case playing at gigs.

Here is what Taylor Hawkins stated about the time he left Alanis Morissette’s band to join Foo Fighters:

“Here’s what happened. I had met Dave and Nate and Pat and William, the original drummer, on the road with Alanis Morissette, because that’s who I was playing with when the first Foo Fighters record came out.

And at that time, I knew Alanis was probably thinking about going in a slightly less aggressive direction, especially the way we were playing live. Because if you saw us, it was Alanis singing with like, Jane’s Addiction playing her songs. Which really worked great; we were great!

But I heard that the Foo Fighters’ drummer had quit and they’re looking, so I called a friend who knew Dave; this was before cell phones. I got ahold of his number and I said, ‘Hey, I heard you guys are out of a drummer right now.’ And Dave said, ‘Yeah. Do you have any good recommendations?’ And I was like, ‘Well how about me you asshole?‘”

Dave Grohl chimed in and explained why he wasn’t expecting Taylor to join Foo Fighters:

“I thought he would never leave Alanis’s band. At the time, they were packing stadiums around the world. And what, he’s going to jump in our red Dodge van and play the fucking Viper Room again? But within the community of musicians, especially in Los Angeles, there’s a Rolodex that goes around.

Drummers know drummers, and drummers are always looking for a gig. Drummers are like landscapers – you need your fucking yard cut, they will come over. It’s true. And drummers are also like sharks. If they stop moving, they’ll fucking die.”

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