Taylor Hawkins has defended Dave Grohl against claims made by former Foo Fighters‘ drummer William Goldsmith that he was ‘fired’ from the band.
Goldsmith, also formerly drummer of Sunny Day Real Estate, played with the Foos between 1995 and 1997, contributing drums to the recording of their seminal second album ‘The Colour And Shape’, before discovering that Grohl had largely re-recorded all of his parts himself. Hawkins then joined the band in time for the album’s release and tour, and has been a member ever since.
“I found out he had redone all the tracks and got rid of everything, and then he still wanted me to be in the band and tour live,” said Goldsmith. “I was like, man, there are some people that are hired and session musicians and that’s cool. But that’s not why I set out to play music. That’s not what I did it for.”
Comparing Grohl to a school bully, Goldsmith added: “He was a bit like the kid who is popular but is mean and everyone likes them.”
Now in a new interview with Matt Wilkinson on Beats 1, Hawkins has refuted claims made by his predecessor.
“I really wasn’t comfortable playing drums in Foo Fighters really until we got into ‘One By One’,” he said, looking back on when he first joined the band. “‘All My Life’ was the first track, because Dave [Grohl] played half the tracks on ‘There Is Nothing Left To Lose’.
“I was struggling, because I had never been in the studio before. The studio is a completely different thing than live dude, it couldn’t be any more different. The microscope is on. The first drummer for the Foo Fighters buckled under the pressure, and still blames Dave for that. It’s like no dude, and Dave never fired him by the way. Just so we’re all clear, Dave never fired him.”
He added: “He quit. He keeps going on these blog adventures. Dave never fired him, Dave never wanted to fire him.”
The interview also saw Hawkins declare his dream of drumming of Liam Gallagher, as well as opening up about how he feared his overdose in 2001 would be the end of the band.
“We tried to make ‘One By One‘ and it really looked like the end,” he said. “I don’t think that glamorising that lifestyle is a good thing – I just don’t. I think it’s a bad message.
“I think people are gonna do what they’re gonna do, kids are gonna fuck around, they’re gonna experiment. If you have an addictive personality or you’re a fucking dumb kid, you’re gonna get drawn into it. You gotta be careful, man.”