Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins shed light on his time drumming for Alanis Morrisette in the mid-'90s. Hawkins, who signed on for the touring cycle behind Morrisette's mega-platinum Jagged Little Pill album, recalled to Kerrang!, “It was so much fun. I joined Alanis' band and the single ('You Oughta Know') came out and it just went f***ing nuclear. Next thing you know, I'm in a video that's on MTV every hour. That tour was very special, and I owe her a lot of gratitude.”
He added: “She gave me a lot of space to do what I wanted. It was probably the biggest album of the year, and there was a lot of pressure on her. She was having to learn to be this leader on the job, which isn't easy. But it was really one of the most fun times of my life.”
Hawkins went on to explain how he got the gig replacing original Foo Fighters drummer William Goldsmith: “I was a huge fan of the first Foo Fighters record. I'd met Dave (Grohl) a couple of times on the road and we'd become sort-of friends. . . I heard William had departed and they were looking for a new drummer. I scrambled to get Dave's number and called him. I said, 'I heard you guys are looking for a drummer,' and he said, 'Well, do you know any?' I thought Alanis wanted to go in a more laid-back direction, and it seemed like the right time to jump. Alanis didn't need me!”
He went on to say, “I basically said to Dave, 'I'll play drums for you,' and we jammed a couple of times. I remember I was at home watching (the movie) Showgirls with my girlfriend, and Dave called to ask if I wanted to join.”
Taylor Hawkins, who's now 49, came of age in the late-'70s and early-'80s — and still considers the era's drummers his primary inspirations: “It was such a good time to be influenced by drummers. I would steal stuff wholesale from Neil Peart licks, to Phil Collins and Alex Van Halen. Even the stuff that was on the radio, there was so much good music. Even the bad music was good back then.”
Although Dave Grohl is regarded as one of rock's most important drummers of the past 30 years — he told us that he's never had an issue with Taylor Hawkins taking full control behind the kit: “I’ve never been hesitant to let go. I’ve always wanted someone else to do it. With William (Goldsmith) on the first record, I wanted him to do it, I hoped that he could do it, and it turned out that he had a lot of trouble in the studio and is perfectly capable of doing it, but for whatever reason it didn’t happen. And I say that because I don’t want to diss or slag anybody. Before Talyor was in the band he had already earned my respect as a drummer.”
