There was only ever going to be one thing to write about for this week's blog.......
On 19th July 1996 Paula and I went to the short-lived and much missed Phoenix Festival, a four day event held at Long Marston Airfield, just outside Stratford upon Avon. Originally set up as an alternative to Glastonbury and Reading it ran for just five years, from 1993 to 1997. We went on the Friday mainly to see Alanis Morissette who was second on the bill to Neil Young and Crazy Horse - her album Jagged Little Pill had made a big impression on us that Spring and Summer and we were excited to see her live. Also on the main stage that day were, amongst others, Dodgy, whose drummer Matt Priest once paid us a visit at the first Musical Box studio in Alderminster with a view to doing some teaching (sadly he never did!), Manic Street Preachers and an American band on their first major European tour......... Foo Fighters. Everybody knew who the Foo Fighters were because their singer/guitarist frontman had previously been the drummer in one of the biggest bands on the planet, Nirvana, until Kurt Cobain's suicide in April 1994. Dave Grohl is now one of the most famous and best-loved musicians in the world but back then he was kind of starting from scratch with his new band, working hard on building their growing reputation as a great live act..........and he was checking out the incredible young drummer driving Alanis's band, Taylor Hawkins.....
Fast forward to the following year and after problems recording their second album resulted in original drummer William Goldsmith leaving the band Dave called Taylor asking him for recommendations for a replacement - he figured Taylor wouldn't want to leave Alanis's band as she was much bigger than Foo Fighters at that point - but Taylor immediately offered his services and the rest, as they say, is history. He was the Foos drummer from 1997, recording 9 albums with them and playing hundreds of shows around the world. He was a multi-talented musician and song writer, played guitar and piano as well as drums and he had a great voice, often singing lead at gigs while Dave Grohl sat in on drums. If you have any interest in his life and work - and even if you don't - you'll probably know this and more by now from reading countless news reports of his tragic and untimely death and the tributes that have poured in from his peers and from thousands of devastated fans, so I'm not going to just repeat all the wonderful things that have been said about him these last few days. This is meant as a very personal tribute to someone who I regard as a musical hero and a huge influence on my own playing. I have worked on and taught the drum parts for many Foo Fighters songs over the years, even played the odd one live too, and I have always said to my students that not only should they listen to Taylor's playing as a masterclass in serving the song but also watch him, because he always played with total dedication, passion and commitment and he always looked like he was having the time of his life..........."That", I would say, "is how you should look when you play the drums".........
Thank you Taylor, rest in peace.
Tim x
