Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. There are many
Speaker 1: insane stories about the Foo Fighters, and you've likely heard
Speaker 1: most of them, and that's because Dave Grohl himself is
Speaker 1: an incredible storyteller. But there are a few stories that
Speaker 1: the band doesn't want told. Chief among them how their
Speaker 1: drummer Taylor Hawkins died, more specifically, the story behind the
Speaker 1: curious fact that it's been four years and we still
Speaker 1: don't have an official cause of death for one of
Speaker 1: the greatest drummers who ever lived. Why not? I have
Speaker 1: some ideas, and none of them take away from the
Speaker 1: fact that Taylor Hawkins and the Foo Fighters made great music.
Speaker 1: Unlike that music, I've played a few at the top
Speaker 1: of the show that wasn't great music. That was a
Speaker 1: not so preset loop for my melotron called ROMI has
Speaker 1: Two Trons MK one. I played you that loote because
Speaker 1: I can't afford the rights to heat Waves by Glass Animals,
Speaker 1: And why would I play you that specific slice of
Speaker 1: I don't even know what to call that, geez? Could
Speaker 1: I afford it? Because that was the number one song
Speaker 1: in America on March twenty fifth, twenty twenty two, and
Speaker 1: that was the day that Food Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died,
Speaker 1: creating one of the most unexplainable and recent mysteries in
Speaker 1: rock and roll. On this episode, the Incredible Story of
Speaker 1: Dave Roll, Dave Groll's incredible story telling great rock and
Speaker 1: roll in the mystery behind the death of Food Fighters
Speaker 1: drummer Taylor Hawkins. I'm Jake Brennan, and this this disgrace slams.
Speaker 1: Dave Grohl is commonly referred to as the nicest guy
Speaker 1: in rock and roll. It's a descriptor that Dave himself
Speaker 1: reportedly doesn't like. However, the Foo Fighters front man and
Speaker 1: former drummer for Nirvana and DC hardcore band Scream, has
Speaker 1: been on our radios and screens and in our record
Speaker 1: bins for the past three decades, entertaining us in some capacity,
Speaker 1: either on stage, in front of the microphone, behind the
Speaker 1: drums on record, or answering some interviewers questions with his
Speaker 1: four on the floor charisma and his toothy smile and
Speaker 1: well earned confidence, and well, he sure seems like a
Speaker 1: nice guy. I've never met Dave Grohl, but I have
Speaker 1: a lot of friends who have, and every single one
Speaker 1: of them says the same thing. Yes, he really is
Speaker 1: that dude. At the moment, that dude, Dave Grohl is everywhere.
Speaker 1: It seems. He's all over our feeds, in short clips
Speaker 1: and in memes, the former from his Zane Lowe Apple
Speaker 1: Music conversation, the latter from his Guardian newspaper interview. In
Speaker 1: both cases, he's promoting the new Foo Fighters album Your
Speaker 1: Favorite Toy, the band's twelve full length LP, and it's
Speaker 1: first with new drummer Elon Rubin, and carefully talking around
Speaker 1: the more controversial subjects from his in the Foo's recent past,
Speaker 1: namely the bust up between the band and their most
Speaker 1: recent drummer, Josh Freese. Punk Rocks Jim Gordon, a dude
Speaker 1: who has played with a who's who of rock, punk
Speaker 1: and pop, from The Vandals to Katie Perry, Devo, Weezer,
Speaker 1: Bruce Springsteen, Maya, Rudolph, Guns N' Roses, Joe Strummer, Paul Westerberg,
Speaker 1: The Offspring and a gazillion more and now nine inch Nails.
Speaker 1: Freeze toured with the Foo Fighters from twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: to twenty twenty five, and Josh Freese was understandably butt
Speaker 1: heard about being kicked out of the band, posting on
Speaker 1: Instagram in May twenty twenty five that the band called
Speaker 1: him in to let him know that they were quote
Speaker 1: going in a different direction unquote. He claimed that no
Speaker 1: actual reason was given for his firing, and Freeze went
Speaker 1: on to say that it was the first time he'd
Speaker 1: been fired from any gig in his forty year career,
Speaker 1: and that he was shocked and disappointed. Dave Grohl describes
Speaker 1: the conversation that the band had with Freeze, the one
Speaker 1: where they let him go, in typical nicest guy in
Speaker 1: rock and roll fashion, as follows. Basically, we called Josh
Speaker 1: and we were like, hey man, that was awesome. That
Speaker 1: was such a blast, Thank you so much, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna move on and find another drummer. After the dust settled,
Speaker 1: Freeze went on a passive aggressive rant on Instagram, listing
Speaker 1: with at least some humor, the quote ten possible reasons
Speaker 1: joshka booted, the joke apparently being what reason could there
Speaker 1: possibly be to actually fire Josh Freeze from any band,
Speaker 1: much less the Foo Fighters, a band that Freeze would
Speaker 1: eventually claim wasn't music that I resonated with. After all that,
Speaker 1: Dave Grohl told Zane Lowe. I think Josh said it
Speaker 1: best when he said that he didn't feel our music
Speaker 1: really resonated with him, and that's really important. And then
Speaker 1: there's a topic of Dave Grohl's recent Baby Mama drama.
Speaker 1: It's a most unchill modern rock and roll controversy, one
Speaker 1: that has caused culture vultures and fans alike to question
Speaker 1: Grohl's nice guy reputation. On September tenth, twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: the post appeared on Girl's personal Instagram page, saying quote,
Speaker 1: I've recently become the father of a new baby daughter
Speaker 1: born outside my marriage. I planned to be a loving
Speaker 1: and supportive parent tour. I love my wife and my children,
Speaker 1: and I'm doing everything I can to regain their trust
Speaker 1: and earn their forgiveness. We're grateful for your consideration toward
Speaker 1: all the children involved as we move forward together. Dave ouch,
Speaker 1: hearing this sucked as a fan, but it's hard to
Speaker 1: complain again as a fan knowing how hard this must
Speaker 1: have been to hear for the four women in Dave
Speaker 1: Gorohle's family, his wife and three daughters. So I don't
Speaker 1: really want to talk about it, and neither is Dave
Speaker 1: grol understandably. That said, part of the point of these
Speaker 1: recent interviews that Grole has done seems to be to
Speaker 1: let everyone know that he's spending a lot of time
Speaker 1: working on himself, going to therapy six times a week.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? If anything would make me insane,
Speaker 1: it would be talking about myself in in ten sessions
Speaker 1: for six out of the seven days in a week.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine what this process for Dave Grohl is like.
Speaker 1: This is a guy whose entire mission in life has
Speaker 1: been for the past thirty years to rock our faces
Speaker 1: off and to bring joy through his music to millions
Speaker 1: of fans across the globe. Sitting on a couch, turning inward,
Speaker 1: talking to a therapist about the things in one's life
Speaker 1: that have nearly destroyed you seems it's like the opposite
Speaker 1: of what Dave Grole was put on this planet to do.
Speaker 1: Dave Grohl is supposed to stand, not sit and on stage,
Speaker 1: not in a comfy chair, and destroy us, not talk
Speaker 1: about what's destroying him. Dave Grohl is a rock star.
Speaker 1: As a fan, I don't want to hear about Dave's
Speaker 1: problems or how he's dealing with them. I want to
Speaker 1: feel him melt my face with this hardcore arena rock
Speaker 1: animal from Electric Mayhem Energy. But I'm no utopian. I
Speaker 1: get it. Nothing is as it seems. And if you
Speaker 1: can't always get what you want, love the one you're
Speaker 1: with or whatever that's saying is. But what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say is Dave Grohl understandably needs to do whatever
Speaker 1: Dave grol needs to do for himself, his family, and
Speaker 1: for his public persona, and then keep himself wired together
Speaker 1: enough to continue bringing joy on stage and on record.
Speaker 1: And this, for better or worse, is where we're at
Speaker 1: with this dude, after three decades with him in our lives.
Speaker 1: To his credit, Dave Grohl has confronted his infidelity in
Speaker 1: these recent interviews within the context of his recent therapy,
Speaker 1: at least saying I have to be perfectly honest. Writing
Speaker 1: songs and writing lyrics about these things is sometimes enough
Speaker 1: as far as having a deeper, longer conversation about them.
Speaker 1: I still do reserve a lot of this for my
Speaker 1: own personal life. That's totally fair. I kind of wish
Speaker 1: he'd reserve it all for his personal life. But there
Speaker 1: is this rabid beast called public opinion, and the beast
Speaker 1: must be fed. It's clear Dave does not want to
Speaker 1: talk about this moment in his life, and who among
Speaker 1: us would. But this is just a moment that he's
Speaker 1: got to get through, and he will, and in another
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty five days and in another three
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five news cycles, we will barely remember
Speaker 1: any of this because by that time Sean Diddy Combs
Speaker 1: will be president or something equally ludicrous. Then there's the
Speaker 1: subject of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins's death, the third
Speaker 1: consequential subject that Dave Grohl and everyone involved with the
Speaker 1: Foos clearly doesn't want to talk about. In fact, the
Speaker 1: subject of how Taylor died just well, it doesn't even
Speaker 1: come up anymore, not in the pop music discourse, and
Speaker 1: most certainly not in recent Dave Girl interviews or in
Speaker 1: interviews with other members of the Foo Fighters, which is strange.
Speaker 1: Taylor Hawkins died on March twenty fifth, twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: a full four years ago, and we still don't know
Speaker 1: how he died. Is this pop music's greatest unsolved mystery? No,
Speaker 1: far from it. It's just that no one seems to care.
Speaker 1: Make that make sense? This wasn't the drummer for some
Speaker 1: random rock band struggling to make ends meet out there
Speaker 1: on the road. This wasn't some faceless session drummer either.
Speaker 1: And this wasn't even Josh Freeze. This was Taylor fucking Hawkins,
Speaker 1: one of the most charismatic, larger than life drummers of
Speaker 1: the twenty first century, a man whose unique presence and
Speaker 1: talent behind the kit was challenged by very few, but
Speaker 1: most ironically by a dude in his own band, Dave Grohl.
Speaker 1: And now he's gone, and we don't know why? Why not?
Speaker 1: You know how Keith Moon died overdosed in Harry Nilson's
Speaker 1: London apartment. We know how John Bonham died. He choked
Speaker 1: on his own vomit. Why don't we know how this
Speaker 1: latter day drumming icon died. Go ahead and google how
Speaker 1: did Taylor Hawkins die? The response you get will be
Speaker 1: the following.
Speaker 2: Taylor Hawkins died on March twenty fifth, twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: at age fifty in Bogatah, Columbia, due to a cardiovascular
Speaker 2: collapse following a reported chest pain emergency. A preliminary urine
Speaker 2: toxicology test found ten different substances in his system, including opioids, benzodiazepines, antidepressants,
Speaker 2: and THHC, though an official final cause of death was
Speaker 2: not publicly released.
Speaker 1: Okay, so he overdosed on drugs and died, right, well,
Speaker 1: go ahead and google, did Taylor Hawkins die from an overdose?
Speaker 1: The Google Gemini response you'll get will be the following
Speaker 1: excerpt from a Variety article from twenty twenty two, around
Speaker 1: the time of Hawkins's death, which says.
Speaker 2: As of late March twenty twenty six, an official cause
Speaker 2: of death has never been released for Foo Fighters drummer
Speaker 2: Taylor Hawkins. While investigators found substances in his system, authorities
Speaker 2: in Columbia have not officially classified his death as a
Speaker 2: drug overdose.
Speaker 1: Okay, now Google, is there an official cause of death
Speaker 1: for Taylor Hawkins? And the response you will get is no.
Speaker 2: An official finalized cause of death for Foo Fighters drummer
Speaker 2: Taylor Hawkins has never been publicly released.
Speaker 1: I don't get it. What are they doing? Are they
Speaker 1: trolling the conspiracy theorists here? Why hasn't an official cause
Speaker 1: of death ever been released? If you want an ice
Speaker 1: cream headache, you can go ahead and google that one.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna try to answer that question in this
Speaker 1: episode while at the same time telling you the story
Speaker 1: of nice guy Dave Grohl and the Mighty Foo Fighters.
Speaker 1: Dave Grohl is a great drummer, sure, and songwriter and frontman,
Speaker 1: but his greatest talent may be as a storyteller. We've
Speaker 1: all seen him back in the day on MTV disarming
Speaker 1: a nervous interviewer in some comfy late night chair, blowing
Speaker 1: the minds of the host and studio audience, talking shit
Speaker 1: to some podcaster, stunning some morning drive DJ, all with
Speaker 1: jaw dropping story after jaw dropping story featuring him. Dave Grohl,
Speaker 1: the nicest guy in rock and roll, right there at
Speaker 1: the center of our rock and roll fantasy. There's the
Speaker 1: one about Dave meeting Lemmy from Motorhead for the first time,
Speaker 1: and that time Dave made a pilgrimage to Pantera's Strip Club.
Speaker 1: Then there are all those stories about Dave experiencing some
Speaker 1: sort of UFO, and and there's that time he drank
Speaker 1: forty cups of coffee in one day, got chased by
Speaker 1: knife wielding junkies in Amsterdam, broke his leg on stage
Speaker 1: in Sweden, and returned with a doctor at his side
Speaker 1: to hold the bone in place so he could finish
Speaker 1: the show for his fans, and my favorite Dave showing
Speaker 1: up on the set of The X Files and talking
Speaker 1: his way into a role as an extra. It's not
Speaker 1: just the wild experiences that make these tales so interesting,
Speaker 1: it's the way Dave Grohl tells these stories. He's a natural.
Speaker 1: Songwriters are, of course, storytellers, and the best of the
Speaker 1: best know this and use one talent to enhance the other.
Speaker 1: And Dave Grohl seems hyper conscious of this skill. His
Speaker 1: Instagram handle is at Dave's True Stories. His twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two memoir is titled Storyteller. My point is, what the
Speaker 1: hell am I doing? If there's no way I'm going
Speaker 1: to do Dave Grohl's story or the story of the
Speaker 1: Foo Fighters justice. Nobody can tell Dave's story as well
Speaker 1: as Dave himself. But maybe I can fill in some gaps,
Speaker 1: some narrative drum fills, if you will. Nothing over the top,
Speaker 1: not so much Bron Dailer from Mastadon, but perhaps something
Speaker 1: a bit more Levon Helm from the band, Just some
Speaker 1: thoughtful emphasis to round out the story the front man
Speaker 1: is telling because, like I said, there's no telling Dave
Speaker 1: Grohl's story. Like Dave Grole, but like the punk rock
Speaker 1: snobs who only vibe on the first two Foo Fighters records.
Speaker 1: They're self titled nineteen ninety five debut in nineteen ninety
Speaker 1: seven's the color and the shape. When it comes to
Speaker 1: Dave Grol, the storyteller, I prefer his early stuff, going
Speaker 1: all the way back to the Melvins, the Pacific Northwest
Speaker 1: sludge heroes, to Nirvana, the heaviest band on the planet
Speaker 1: since Black Sabbath, a band whose leader King Buzzo's nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety two self titled solo effort features a spoken word
Speaker 1: rant by a little known musician at the time, credited
Speaker 1: in homage to Black Flag as Dale Nixon, but known
Speaker 1: to his friends in and around Seattle as Dave Grohl. So,
Speaker 1: Dave was in Olympia. He was staying at this guy,
Speaker 1: Kurt's house, a new friend of his. He was a
Speaker 1: singer in Day's new band, Nirvana. They were just starting
Speaker 1: with their second album, never Mind, and everything was going
Speaker 1: pretty good. Kurt. He was writing these great new songs.
Speaker 1: It within a couple of months, never Mind came out,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: And I guess radio DJ's really liked it or something,
Speaker 3: because they were constantly playing Nirvana and giving him lots
Speaker 3: of love making the money, you know, and Kurt was
Speaker 3: constantly harassed by the press.
Speaker 1: It was always getting high heroin the bad stuff. You know,
Speaker 1: he was in bad shape. The spotlight just got hotter.
Speaker 1: Kurt was really hurt, and I don't think he knew
Speaker 1: about fame before, but he had other demons, I suppose.
Speaker 1: So Dave was sitting on his couch now in his
Speaker 1: La apartment and he.
Speaker 4: Was reading you know, Maximum Rock and Roll and Flip
Speaker 4: Side or.
Speaker 3: One of those pulp things, and he hears the phone ring.
Speaker 3: There's a guy on the other end of the line,
Speaker 3: really going on.
Speaker 1: Kurt was in Rome, Kurt was in some hotel. He
Speaker 1: was really really doing bad. You know, he looked bad.
Speaker 4: Too, you know.
Speaker 1: On the phone.
Speaker 3: The guy puts his cards on the table and whatever.
Speaker 3: Davi's is reading his little punk magazine, but he's paying attention.
Speaker 1: He says, uh, he says, Kurt's dead.
Speaker 5: Dave hangs up, and he's standing there with the phone
Speaker 5: in his hand, and he hangs up like but that.
Speaker 5: The phone rings again, and Dave finally answers it and
Speaker 5: Dave doesn't know what to think.
Speaker 1: Dave says, is Kurt Cobaine really dead? And the guy says, no,
Speaker 1: I think he's alive. Imagine that. Imagine you're in the
Speaker 1: biggest band on the planet, as Dave Grohl was in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four in Nirvana, a band that had come
Speaker 1: out of nowhere from Olympia, Washington by way of Seattle,
Speaker 1: to outseell Michael Jackson to completely change the pop music
Speaker 1: game and music forever in your Dave Grohl, a twenty
Speaker 1: one year old hardcore kid from Virginia who just a
Speaker 1: few months earlier was playing in the DC hardcore band's
Speaker 1: Scream and living in Squalor, crashing on a friend's floor
Speaker 1: in La So insisting on a diet a convenience store,
Speaker 1: hot dogs and canned beans. And then you join Nirvana,
Speaker 1: and you make an incredible album, not just an incredible
Speaker 1: album musically, but one of those albums that changes music,
Speaker 1: that changes culture. Nirvana's never Mind, which Let's be honest,
Speaker 1: was strengthened because of the addition of Dave Groll's drumming
Speaker 1: that inimitable hardcore heaviness that Neanderthal disco is. Dave called
Speaker 1: it Part Black Sabbathsville Ward, part Sheeks Tony Thompson. Never
Speaker 1: Mind changed how kids listened to music, how they consumed music,
Speaker 1: how they dressed, how they thought. And now now you're
Speaker 1: Dave and you're hanging out with friends in sunny La
Speaker 1: one afternoon, and the phone rings and someone gives you
Speaker 1: the news that you're singer, your friend, your former roommate,
Speaker 1: your resident torture genius in your band, the reluctant voice
Speaker 1: of a generation, The heavily depressed and drug addicted Kirk
Speaker 1: Cobain is dead. But then they call back and surprise,
Speaker 1: he's alive. It was just an overdose or a suicide attempt.
Speaker 1: No one's really sure, but the point is he survived.
Speaker 1: But then, thirty six days later, on April eighth, nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety four, the call comes again, but this time with
Speaker 1: more finality. Kirk Cobain is gone for good, and the
Speaker 1: grief is as immeasurable as it is impossible to get
Speaker 1: a hold of. It snakes around inside of you. It's
Speaker 1: both a loose and intrusive. The only defense is movement work.
Speaker 1: And then another call, this one from none other than
Speaker 1: Tom Petty. The Tom Petty, the Man who'd been pummeling
Speaker 1: America with hit after hit, stretching back to the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1: There was an empty drum stool behind Tom on the
Speaker 1: sound stage at NBC Saturday Night Live Studio, and oh man,
Speaker 1: wasn't that exactly what Dave Grohl needed. Dave, with Tom
Speaker 1: Petty's Heartbreakers on National Television fit like a glove, and
Speaker 1: not the cheesy kind Vic Firth made for drummers, the
Speaker 1: kind Steve McQueen wore while he whipped around Laurel Canyon
Speaker 1: on his Triumph motorcycle. Dave Grohl playing drums for Tom
Speaker 1: Petty made all the sense in the world, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, it made no sense at all. Tom
Speaker 1: offered Dave the gig full time. Dave needed to think
Speaker 1: about it. There were the demos to consider, the songs
Speaker 1: he'd been working on with Barrett Jones, the producer Dave
Speaker 1: worked with alongside the Melvins under the pseudonym Dale Nixon.
Speaker 1: Dave was as inspired by those new songs as he
Speaker 1: was frightened by them. It was Dave out front, not
Speaker 1: behind the kid, center stage on mike and playing everything guitar, bass,
Speaker 1: drums and singing. Dave Grohl told Tom Petty there was
Speaker 1: a dream he needed to run down, and then he
Speaker 1: headed into the studio by himself. He had seven days
Speaker 1: to record an album of songs. He tracked four songs
Speaker 1: a day every day for four days straight. He took
Speaker 1: one day to record vocals, a couple days to mix,
Speaker 1: and on the seventh day, the burgeoning rock god rested
Speaker 1: and the Foo Fighters were born. At first, those songs
Speaker 1: amounted to just a demo tape for Day's friends to
Speaker 1: hear what he was up to after Nirvana, But in
Speaker 1: no time, Dave had a record deal. A band was
Speaker 1: put together to bring the songs on tour. Dave tracked
Speaker 1: down Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith the rhythm section from
Speaker 1: Subpop's Sunny Day Real Estate. Soon Pat Smear from the Germs,
Speaker 1: who had joined Nirvana back in nineteen ninety three, to
Speaker 1: join the Food Fighters for their live shows. The Foo
Speaker 1: Fighters first record took off. A follow up was needed.
Speaker 1: Dave went back into the studio, but this time with
Speaker 1: a band. But that was just the problem, or at
Speaker 1: least part of the problem. The drums were wrong. William
Speaker 1: Goldsmith couldn't deliver what Dave Grohl was hearing in his head,
Speaker 1: so Dave re recorded all the drums and the Foo
Speaker 1: Fighters Monsters second album, The Color in the Shape, was
Speaker 1: done a glorious rock and roll steaming Dave Grohl wasn't
Speaker 1: just the guy from Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, wasn't
Speaker 1: some one off solo vanity project. It was a band,
Speaker 1: a band fronted by one of the greatest rock and
Speaker 1: roll drummers ever, a drummer who sang and played guitar,
Speaker 1: fronting a band that now needed a drummer because Dave
Speaker 1: Grohl was also an inexperienced bandleader who, as he sang
Speaker 1: on The Color in the Shape, sometimes got stuck between
Speaker 1: the handshake and the fuck. William Goldsmith was out. He
Speaker 1: couldn't get over having his drum parts replaced, could you.
Speaker 1: But Dave Grohl knew a guy, another rock and roll animal,
Speaker 1: a man who could not only keep up with Dave
Speaker 1: Grole behind the kit, but a man with a spirit
Speaker 1: and charisma that somehow equaled Dave's own enter Taylor Hawkins,
Speaker 1: Dave Grole's reversal world rock and roll twin. Dave came
Speaker 1: from hardcore, Taylor from milanis Morris Set, but still they rocked.
Speaker 1: Dave referenced the Pixies Taylor queen, but still they rocked.
Speaker 1: Dave wrestled melodies, Taylor wrestled rhythm, but still well, you
Speaker 1: get it. Theirs was a match for the books, too
Speaker 1: good to be true. Taylor Hawkins's incredible playing in Presence
Speaker 1: was rocket fuel for Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters' ambitions. The
Speaker 1: first album Taylor played on, There Is Nothing Left to Lose,
Speaker 1: went platinum. Then in two thousand and one, Dave Grohl
Speaker 1: got another phone call. This time it was about Taylor.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this word word word, two
Speaker 1: thousand and one, Hollywood Sunset, Marquis Hotel, Dave Grohl's at
Speaker 1: the bar, fresh out of band practice with his buds
Speaker 1: and Tenacious d Jack Black and Kyle Gass's comedy rock band,
Speaker 1: which Dave was generously donating his drumming skills. Drumming a
Speaker 1: constant source of joy and sometimes source of anxiety for
Speaker 1: Dave Grohl. Finding a drummer not just to replace William Goldsmith,
Speaker 1: but essentially to replace what Dave himself had done in
Speaker 1: the studio behind the kit was no easy task until
Speaker 1: it wasn't. Taylor Hawkins appeared like one of those mirages
Speaker 1: in a bugs bunny car, out of nowhere and almost
Speaker 1: too perfect to be true. Taylor understood the mission to
Speaker 1: be the biggest, most badass rock and roll band on
Speaker 1: the planet, to bridge the gap between sweaty hardcore DIY
Speaker 1: basement club energy and arena rock energy, something that hadn't
Speaker 1: really been done before. Drumming was the mortar to build
Speaker 1: that bridge. After departing from Alanis Morissett's band and joining
Speaker 1: the Food Fighters, Taylor Hawkins told Spin Magazine in a
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven cover story that, in preparation for the
Speaker 1: food Fighters nightly six hour practices, quote, you have to
Speaker 1: be an athlete to play these drum parts, un quote,
Speaker 1: and that I play really hard and that's the key
Speaker 1: to playing drums for Dave Grohl. You've got to beat
Speaker 1: the shit out of the drums. His approach was spot on,
Speaker 1: and so was his vibe. Taylor Hawkins exuded rock star
Speaker 1: energy on and off stage effortlessly. Dudes wanted to be
Speaker 1: m and women wanted well, you've heard the cliche. So
Speaker 1: here he was bellied up to the bar at the
Speaker 1: Sunset Marquee on the receiving end of drink after drink
Speaker 1: from Hollywood's most beautiful women. Dave Grohl was not intimidated.
Speaker 1: He understood his role. Once a drummer, always a drummer.
Speaker 1: Theirs was a strange dynamic, a drummer with frontman good
Speaker 1: looks and a front man with an iconic drumming pedigree,
Speaker 1: and both with charisma despair. Dave set his gaze upon
Speaker 1: one of the friends of one of the bombshells competing
Speaker 1: for Taylor's attention. A beautiful blonde. You're my future ex wife,
Speaker 1: he told her. She wrote her number down on a
Speaker 1: scrap of paper and signed it Jordan, your future ex wife.
Speaker 1: After and on again, off again courtship, Dave was eventually smitten,
Speaker 1: and a new girl to complete this new incredible life
Speaker 1: was now part of the picture. But then in London,
Speaker 1: while the food Fighters were on tour, the phone rang
Speaker 1: Taylor Hawkins was in a coma heroin. The traumatic stringout
Speaker 1: back to Kurt was obvious, and Dave spiraled. He prayed
Speaker 1: in the streets on his walks back from Taylor's hospital
Speaker 1: to his hotel room. He contemplated quitting music altogether if
Speaker 1: this was the cost two dead bandmates, The Foo Fighters,
Speaker 1: after Day's experience with skyrocketing rock and roll fame in
Speaker 1: the late nineties, had a list of dues and don'ts.
Speaker 1: The list of dues play great shows, write great songs,
Speaker 1: start at the bottom and work your way up organically,
Speaker 1: and there was only one don't. Don't do heroin. Taylor
Speaker 1: Hawkins didn't listen, but thankfully Taylor Hawkins survived. Dave Grohl
Speaker 1: put the Foo Fighters on the shelf for a minute
Speaker 1: and joined Queens of the Stone Age to record their
Speaker 1: excellent album Songs for the Death. He was unsure whether
Speaker 1: the Foo Fighters would continue. Prior to Taylor's overdose, Pat
Speaker 1: Smear had quit the Foos. Franz Stall from Dave's old
Speaker 1: bands Scream replaced him. Franz fit on stage, but not
Speaker 1: in the studio. Franz was asked to leave the band.
Speaker 1: He was replaced by Chris Shifflett from No Use for
Speaker 1: Her Name. Chris's hardcore punk scene experience made him a
Speaker 1: natural fit. Pat smer was calling Dave pack kind of
Speaker 1: sort of maybe, wasn't going to be upset if Dave
Speaker 1: asked him back in the band. Chris was understandably freaked out.
Speaker 1: What the hell kind of band. Was this was even
Speaker 1: a band dysfunction in a revolving door of band members aside.
Speaker 1: The answer to that question was a loud yes. Not
Speaker 1: only were they a band, the Foo Fighters were now
Speaker 1: a band with three Grammys that had graduated to playing arenas.
Speaker 1: Two thousand and two the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival,
Speaker 1: Dave Grohl was splitting duties as drummer for Queens of
Speaker 1: the Stone Age and as frontman for Food Fighters for
Speaker 1: what Dave, Taylor, Nate, and Chris thought might be their
Speaker 1: last show ever. But it wasn't. They killed, and they
Speaker 1: reminded themselves of what they had together. They went back
Speaker 1: into the studio and came out with the Grammy winning
Speaker 1: album One by One with hits Times like These in
Speaker 1: All My Life. They followed that up with the two
Speaker 1: thousand and six album In Your Honor and an acoustic tour,
Speaker 1: which was Pat Smears's ticket back into the band, not
Speaker 1: to replace Chris Shifflip, but instead to play alongside both
Speaker 1: him and Dave. The band's next record, Echoes, Silence, Patience
Speaker 1: and Grace, now with an expanded lineup that included not
Speaker 1: only Pat Smear but Ronny Jaffy on keys proved that
Speaker 1: the Foo Fighters were no longer just a loud band
Speaker 1: that sometimes played acoustic sets. Now, like the biggest of
Speaker 1: the rock gods before them, Led Zeppelin and Queen, to
Speaker 1: name a few, the fos seamlessly incorporated ballads and power
Speaker 1: not only into their shows, but into the same songs.
Speaker 1: They were ready, not for arenas, not for festival, for stadiums.
Speaker 1: Wembley Stadium eighty five thousand people sold out two nights,
Speaker 1: then another great record wasting Light, followed up by Sonic
Speaker 1: Highways in Concrete and Gold. The only thing that could
Speaker 1: slow the band down was a global pandemic, which happened
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. After that, the Foo Fighters were one
Speaker 1: of the first major acts to get back on the road,
Speaker 1: headlining a stadium show in Australia on March fourth, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two. More dates were added a festival in South America,
Speaker 1: and that's where Dave Grohl was in Bogata, Columbia when
Speaker 1: his phone rang again. In the beginning, there was only music,
Speaker 1: a kick drum pounding to the rhythm of heartbeat, voices
Speaker 1: in the crowd shouting along with the band, guitar riffs
Speaker 1: ricocheting off the walls of the club, total harmony. But
Speaker 1: then some new sounds entered the concert, loud, rapid ones.
Speaker 1: They ricocheted off the walls just the same, and then
Speaker 1: they pierced through flesh, not music. Gunfire. Terrorists tore through
Speaker 1: the Battaklan Theater in Paris without a second thought. Three gunmen,
Speaker 1: three reloads each maybe four three minutes of a police assault,
Speaker 1: ten hours of sorting through dead bodies, and in the
Speaker 1: end there was no music, just silence. The Eagles of
Speaker 1: Death Metal concert ended too early on November thirteenth, twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: An attack during the show claimed the lives of ninety
Speaker 1: Paris burned with fear, grief, exasperation. That was in twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen at the Bottoclon concert Hall, a venue attacked by
Speaker 1: Islamic State terrorists and what has come to be known
Speaker 1: as the Paris Attacks. As a result of that tragedy,
Speaker 1: numerous concerts were canceled, including Foo Fighters concerts. Earlier that year,
Speaker 1: Dave Grohl had broken his leg on stage and was
Speaker 1: forced to perform subsequent shows seated on an epic throne
Speaker 1: made of guitars, but two shows were canceled because of this.
Speaker 1: The insurance companies that ensure big ticket concert events like
Speaker 1: Foo Fighters shows reduced the amount of money they believed
Speaker 1: the Foo Fighters were owed. Now, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: go into all the details here because I didn't get
Speaker 1: into this line of work to bore people to death
Speaker 1: with insurance payout policy talk, but basically, it's like this.
Speaker 1: Remember that time you got a bill from the hospital
Speaker 1: for like five thousand dollars or whatever, and you were like, cool,
Speaker 1: I've got insurance. I'm all set. The insurance company's going
Speaker 1: to pay five grand. But then the insurance company was like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, hold up, We're only going to pay
Speaker 1: two thousand, and you have to pay the rest because, well,
Speaker 1: you see, we looked into what happened to you and
Speaker 1: decided that the nature of your injury didn't conform exactly
Speaker 1: to what our policies cover. So you're out three grand.
Speaker 1: Now kindly go fuck yourself. And you're like, shit, where
Speaker 1: am I going to get three thousand dollars to pay
Speaker 1: these monsters? Well, that's kind of what the insurance companies
Speaker 1: did to the Food Fighters, except it wasn't overpaying the
Speaker 1: band for medical bills. It was about paying the band
Speaker 1: for the money they lost from being unable to perform
Speaker 1: for reasons beyond their control. Terrorism in a broken leg
Speaker 1: that happened in the line of work, the exact types
Speaker 1: of reasons a band ensures their concerts for. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't over five grand, it was over millions and millions
Speaker 1: of dollars that the Foo Fighters were now on the
Speaker 1: hook for. And I know what you're saying, Oh boohoo,
Speaker 1: Dave girls rich. So what he didn't get to buy
Speaker 1: another rocket ship or whatever. But that's not the point.
Speaker 1: Bands like the Foo Fighters employ hundreds of people, not
Speaker 1: just the band, but their crew, the roadies, the text,
Speaker 1: the truck drivers, and these people are working stiffs. And
Speaker 1: if the band doesn't get paid, these folks don't get paid.
Speaker 1: Why should Dave Grohl and his band have to go
Speaker 1: into their pockets to do the right thing and pay
Speaker 1: these folks while the greedy insurance companies continue to get
Speaker 1: rich by screwing their customers. So the Foo Fighters sued
Speaker 1: their insurers, and they must have had Lloyds of London
Speaker 1: over the barrel, because Lloyd's of London eventually settled, which
Speaker 1: brings us to Bogata, Columbia in twenty twenty two, The
Speaker 1: Foo Fighters were in South America at the headline a festival.
Speaker 1: The show was canceled due to weather and the band
Speaker 1: was spinning its wheels in a Bogota four seasons hotel
Speaker 1: with nothing to do. Fans were gathered outside, and Taylor
Speaker 1: Hawkins was among them, hanging out, taking time to pose
Speaker 1: for a photo with a nine year old female fan
Speaker 1: who was also a drummer, who had lugged her kit
Speaker 1: down to the street outside the hotel tell to bang
Speaker 1: out Taylor Hawkins and Dave grollbeats on her drum set,
Speaker 1: and by Taylor's estimation, she was pretty damn good. But
Speaker 1: Taylor was antsy, and it wasn't just because he was
Speaker 1: trapped in a hotel in a foreign country with nothing
Speaker 1: to do. Friends of Taylor's, including ex Soundgarden and then
Speaker 1: Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, told Rolling Stone magazine that
Speaker 1: Taylor had expressed to Dave Grohl prior to those twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two tour dates that he could no longer keep up, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: he had a heart to heart with Dave and yeah,
Speaker 1: he told me that he couldn't fucking do it anymore.
Speaker 1: Those were his words. Un quote. In that same Rolling
Speaker 1: Stone article, unnamed representatives for the Foo Fighters denied that
Speaker 1: Hawkins ever raised these issues, saying, quote, No, there was
Speaker 1: never a heart to heart or any sort of meeting
Speaker 1: on this topic with Dave and Silva artist management. So
Speaker 1: who's lying and why? And why does this matter? On
Speaker 1: the issue of who's lying? Matt Cameron came out against
Speaker 1: this Rolling Stone article after it was published, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: my quotes were taken out of context and shaped into
Speaker 1: a narrative that I had never intended. Okay, what about
Speaker 1: the quotes from Taylor's other friends in the article who
Speaker 1: support what Cameron had said? Were their quotes taken out
Speaker 1: of context to shape a narrative as well? I've read
Speaker 1: the article many times, like, very closely, and here's what
Speaker 1: I think that Rolling Stone magazine did something it no
Speaker 1: longer does that often anymore actual music journalism. And a
Speaker 1: bunch of people who spoke to Rolling Stone's reporters didn't
Speaker 1: like how the article turned out and cried foul. Just
Speaker 1: because you don't like how the chef cooked your steak,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that it's not steak. But okay, why
Speaker 1: does this matter? It matters because after Taylor Hawkins allegedly
Speaker 1: expressed to his band leader and boss that he wanted
Speaker 1: to pull back on touring, and was reportedly, as the
Speaker 1: Rolling Stone magazine claims via an unnamed source, given assurances
Speaker 1: that the band would have a lighter schedule going forward.
Speaker 1: The band did not have a lighter schedule. They had
Speaker 1: sixty gigs on the schedule, plus a one off in Australia.
Speaker 1: This all after playing forty shows the year prior, including
Speaker 1: a gig in December at which Taylor Hawkins's friends allege
Speaker 1: that Taylor collapsed on a plane. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Speaker 1: drummer Chad Smith said that Taylor quote was exhausted and
Speaker 1: collapsed once again. A rep for the Foo Fighters denied this,
Speaker 1: but according to Rolling Stone, Chad Smith went on to
Speaker 1: say that Taylor told him quote, I can't do it
Speaker 1: like this anymore. Chad Smith also denounced how his comments
Speaker 1: were represented by Rolling Stone Magazine. Okay, but facts are facts.
Speaker 1: All these sources friends of Taylor Hawkins went on record
Speaker 1: to state that the drummer felt he could no longer
Speaker 1: continue with the band due to their extensive touring responsibilities.
Speaker 1: One of them claimed that Taylor had collapsed from exhaustion
Speaker 1: during this time period. Another, an unnamed source, claimed Taylor
Speaker 1: was given assurances that the band would have a lighter skeede,
Speaker 1: but the facts proved that the band did not have
Speaker 1: a lighter schedule, just the opposite. How's this for another fact?
Speaker 1: Taylor Hawkins revealed in twenty twenty one that his doctor
Speaker 1: told him he had an enlarged heart. His heart was
Speaker 1: enlarged not from being unhealthy, but from being too healthy.
Speaker 1: From bashing the shit out of the drums behind Dave
Speaker 1: Grohl for sixty shows a year, from practicing for six hours,
Speaker 1: six nights a week, from being a fucking athlete. The
Speaker 1: average age for an athlete to retire, by the way,
Speaker 1: is twenty nine years old. In twenty twenty two, Taylor
Speaker 1: Hawkins was fifty years old. And yeah, sure, rock and
Speaker 1: roll drummers like Taylor's heroes Roger Taylor from Queen and
Speaker 1: Stuart Copeland from The Police are still performing at ages
Speaker 1: seventy six and seventy three, respectively, and the Rolling Stones,
Speaker 1: as Charlie Watts, tore it up until he died at
Speaker 1: the age of eighty. But these drummers were from a
Speaker 1: different generation, and they played a style of music way
Speaker 1: less physically demanding than the drumming required to perform in
Speaker 1: the Foo Fighters or in most big rock bands from
Speaker 1: the nineties. We are entering unknown territory here. As drummers
Speaker 1: like Taylor Hawkins and Chad Smith and Matt Cameron look
Speaker 1: to the future to figure out how they're going to
Speaker 1: continue their careers on the road, they can't look to
Speaker 1: the past for a roadmap, because what's being demanded of
Speaker 1: them physically at their age has never been demanded of
Speaker 1: any drummer before. Based purely on the style of music
Speaker 1: they play compared to the less aggressive style of music
Speaker 1: played by aging classic rock drummers, there simply isn't a precedent.
Speaker 1: These drummers are the first to get there, and the
Speaker 1: first to attempt to keep up with their bandmates at
Speaker 1: an age that makes it nearly impossible. All due respect
Speaker 1: to Roger Taylor, Stuart Copeland in the late great Charlie Watts,
Speaker 1: but there's no fucking way any of them could have
Speaker 1: pulled off a Foo Fighters gig past the age of
Speaker 1: forty nine. And by the way, in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: Matt Cameron quit Pearl Jam for this exact reason. Back
Speaker 1: to what I believe are the facts. Taylor Hawkins collapsed
Speaker 1: after a performance in twenty twenty one. Taylor Hawkins had
Speaker 1: an enlarged heart. Taylor Hawkins believed playing in the Foo
Speaker 1: Fighters was taking a toll on him physically, and that
Speaker 1: he couldn't keep up with the touring demands of the band.
Speaker 1: Taylor Hawkins wanted to pull back on his touring responsibilities,
Speaker 1: and he told Dave Grol this. Allegedly, some sort of
Speaker 1: agreement was reached where Taylor was given assurances that his
Speaker 1: touring responsibilities would be lessened. Foo Fighters representatives never confirmed
Speaker 1: that Taylor Hawkins collapsed, and the REPS adamantly denied that
Speaker 1: a meeting took place where Taylor expressed his misgivings about
Speaker 1: touring or that any such assurances were given that he
Speaker 1: would be allowed to tour less, and the Foo Fighters
Speaker 1: showed no signs of slowing down. Instead, they went to
Speaker 1: Bogata and Taylor Hawkins died in his hotel room on
Speaker 1: March twenty fifth, twenty twenty two, and over forty booked
Speaker 1: Food Fighters shows were then Can't their drummer had passed
Speaker 1: away with a lot of drugs in his system. If
Speaker 1: we're to believe the Columbia Attorney General's Office, the preliminary
Speaker 1: toxicology report states that Taylor had a mix of ten
Speaker 1: different substances in his system, including opioids, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and marijuana,
Speaker 1: among others. This report is, as I said, preliminary, and
Speaker 1: there was never a final report. What are they waiting
Speaker 1: for the reincarnation of John Bonham. It's not happening. Give
Speaker 1: us the damn report. Also, guys, this is Colombia. Okay,
Speaker 1: you think our government institutions are corrupt, It's a whole
Speaker 1: other ballgame of corruption down there. But okay, sure, what
Speaker 1: incentive would the Columbia Attorney General's Office have to lie
Speaker 1: about an American rock and roll drummer's fatal drug intake.
Speaker 1: I don't know. But the result is we don't have
Speaker 1: a final toxicology report on Taylor Hawkins's death, and we
Speaker 1: also still don't have an official cause of death for
Speaker 1: Taylor Hawkins, four years after he died. I'll say that again.
Speaker 1: It's been four years and there's still no official cause
Speaker 1: of death for one of the most famous drummers on
Speaker 1: the planet. This makes no sense. I suppose if Taylor
Speaker 1: was getting high and that was how he died, you
Speaker 1: could understand how his bandmates, management, and friends would circle
Speaker 1: the wagons to protect his reputation, given that he was
Speaker 1: a husband and a father, and well, one could easily
Speaker 1: make the case that none of this is any of
Speaker 1: our fucking business. But this is the twenty first century.
Speaker 1: This isn't the nineteen fifties. People suffer and die from
Speaker 1: addiction every day, rock stars and celebrities every year, and
Speaker 1: we are more understanding and forgiving and empathetic of this
Speaker 1: disease than we've ever been, So the shame argument doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense. Also, I'm not even close to convince that
Speaker 1: Taylor actually overdosed from using drugs recreationally. Ten substances in
Speaker 1: the system sounds like somebody getting freaky with this chemistry set,
Speaker 1: But the way people self medicate these days, ten substances
Speaker 1: in one system is a lot, yes, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mean someone was partying. Also, again we're talking about
Speaker 1: Colombian government officials here. After his death, it was revealed
Speaker 1: that Taylor Hawkins's heart was twice the size of a
Speaker 1: normal heart. It weighed six hundred grams an enlarged heart
Speaker 1: can be caused by chronic high blood pressure, which can
Speaker 1: be caused by physical over exertion. It can also be
Speaker 1: caused by over relying on substances, physical overexertion, a reliance
Speaker 1: on substances. Why won't the Food Fighters or anyone else
Speaker 1: put these pieces together and declare an official cause of
Speaker 1: death for one of the greatest drummers to ever do it? Maybe,
Speaker 1: and I'm just speculating here, maybe a known physical condition
Speaker 1: and a reliance on chemical substances, the exact types of
Speaker 1: extenuating circumstances that insurance companies like to exploit in cases
Speaker 1: like this to get themselves off the hook from having
Speaker 1: to pay artists for canceled shows, which is a disgrace.
Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan in this is Disgraceland.
Speaker 4: All right, thanks for checking out this episode of Disgraceland
Speaker 4: on the Foo Fighters, hit me up six one seven
Speaker 4: nine oh six sixty six three eight voicemail and text
Speaker 4: to let me know how you think Taylor Hawkins died
Speaker 4: with the official cause.
Speaker 1: Of death actually is. We can bid it on the
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