Taylor Hawkins upset by Foo Fighters’ touring schedule before death, say friends

who were close Taylor Hawkins Offering another perspective on his death.

Rolling Stone published a lengthy piece Monday in which the magazine interviewed dozens of friends of the late Foo Fighters drummer. He alleges that the band’s ambitious touring schedule had been taking a toll on Hawkins – mentally and physically – over the years.

An unnamed source, described by Rolling Stone as Hawkins’ collaborator and friend, claimed that it took the drummer “a year of gut-wrenching” to finally talk to Foo Fighters frontman and founder Dave Grohl. About how overwhelmed and burned he was.

Meanwhile, Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron explained to the magazine that Hawkins “Had heart to heart with Dave” [Grohl] And, yes, he told me he ‘couldn’t do it anymore’ – these were his words.”

“So I think they got some sense, but it seems like the tour schedule got even more crazy after that,” Cameron said.

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith recalled a similar conversation after Hawking’s fall on a plane in Chicago in December 2021.

“That was one of the straws that broke the camel’s back,” Smith said. “After that, he had a real important heart with Dave and management. He said, ‘I can’t keep up with this program, and so we have to figure something out.'”

The families of Grohl and Hawkins declined to comment on Rolling Stone. But a Foo Fighters representative disputed the “features” made by Hawkins’ friends and denied that the drummer had ever raised issues with Grohl or the band’s management before his death.

Although friends said Hawkins had spoken to Grohl about scaling back, Cameron said Hawkins eventually made it to the touring schedule by explaining that the Foo Fighters are “A Big Machine” [with] Too many people on the payroll. ,

Cameron told Rolling Stone, “So you really have to be aware of the business side of something, when it’s so big and there’s pressure inherent in it, just like any business.”

Hawkins is dead In March at the age of 50 in Bogota, Colombia, when the band was on a tour of South America.

The Columbia Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement saying that toxicological tests in the Hawkins system initially found 10 psychoactive substances and drugs, including marijuana and opioids, The Associated Press informed of. The results of the official autopsy are not yet public.

Although Rolling Stone noted that Hawkins had survived a heroin overdose that left him in a coma two decades earlier, his friends suspected that he was using drugs recreationally at the time of his death.

“since [his overdose]He never wanted Dave to worry about this again,” said Chad “Yeti” Ward, an old drummer from Hawkins who remained close to the drummer after splitting with the Foo Fighters.

Read the full Rolling Stone article here.