B.J. LISKO 1 year ago

Foo Fighters Update Fans On Their Future

Original Photo Credit: Andreas Lawen, Fotandi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Following an extremely difficult year that saw the band tragically lose their drummer, Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters have addressed fans on their future. The group vows to carry on as a “different band” going forward.

“As we say goodbye to the most difficult and tragic year that our band has ever known, we are reminded of how thankful we are for the people that we love and cherish most, and for the loved ones who are no longer with us,” the band’s statement read.

“Foo Fighters were formed 27 years ago to represent the healing power of music and a continuation of life. And for the past 27 years our fans have built a worldwide community, a devoted support system that has helped us all get through the darkest of times together. A place to share our joy and our pain, our hopes and fears, and to join in a chorus of life together through music. Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were — and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward.

“We also know that you, the fans, meant as much to Taylor as he meant to you and we know that when we see you again — and we will soon — he’ll be there in spirit with all of us every night.”

Hawkins tragically passed away in late March during a tour stop in in Bogota, Colombia. The band made the announcement via Instagram. “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the announcement read. “His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”

Colombia’s attorney general revealed details on Hawkins death (as reported by CBS News) saying the drummer had 10 different substances in his system when he died, and his heart weighed double that of men his age. Among the drugs found by a urine toxicological test performed by officials were marijuana, opioids, tricyclic antidepressants and benzodiazepines, the statement said. An exact cause of death was not announced, and the National Institute of Forensic Medicine continues to investigate, the attorney general said.

Hawkins joined the band in 1997 after touring with Alanis Morissette for her hit album “Jagged Little Pill.” At the time, Foo Fighters founder and frontman Dave Grohl reached out to Hawkins for an opinion on a replacement drummer, and Grohl was surprised when Hawkins recommended himself saying he preferred to drum in a rock band and not for a solo act. Hawkins joined shortly after the Foo Fighters’ 1997 album, “The Colour and the Shape” and made his full-length debut with the band on 1999’s “Nothing Left to Lose,’ which earned the band its first of its 12 Grammy Awards and spawned the hit single “Learn To Fly.”