Dave Grohl has shared the story of how he first met Taylor Hawkins backstage and knew right away that they would be lifelong friends, he told Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
The Foo Fighters frontman explained that their first meeting happened at festivals and radio shows when both were touring in support of albums that came out around the same time as Alanis Morissette’s debut record. Hawkins was part of Morissette’s touring band at the time.
“Our first record came out around the time Alanis’ first record came out,” Grohl said. “So we were doing a bunch of those festivals and radio shows and things, but that was the first time I met Taylor, backstage.”
The connection was instant. “Here comes this blond, surfer dude, like, ‘Yo, dude, I love your band. You guys are so awesome. Yadda-yadda-yadda’,” Grohl recalled. “I knew, right then, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna be best friends for the rest of our lives’.”
Grohl made these remarks during an appearance on the late-night talk show.
Grohl’s memory of their first meeting took place in 1995 at a KROQ festival in Los Angeles, which also featured Sonic Youth, Radiohead, No Doubt and Garbage. The Foo Fighters released their debut album on June 26, 1995, just two weeks after Alanis Morissette released Jagged Little Pill on June 13, 1995.
At the time of their meeting, Hawkins was touring as Morissette’s drummer, a role he held from June 1995 until March 1997. Despite the instant bond they formed, Grohl was under the impression that Hawkins would not leave Morissette’s touring band, as she was a bigger act than Foo Fighters at the time. However, Morissette herself had suggested that Hawkins would be a good fit for the Foos, even asking him what he was “going to do when Dave asks you to be the drummer?” The band announced Hawkins would be its new drummer on March 18, 1997.
Hawkins died on March 25, 2022, in his hotel room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bogota, Colombia. After his death, the Foo Fighters and his family announced two tribute shows, which took place in September 2022. In March 2022, Grohl had admitted that Hawkins’ death “made me question everything about life”.
