Dave Grohl has said Taylor Hawkins‘ death “made me question everything about life”.
The Foo Fighters frontman spoke to MOJO about the impact on the drummer’s death on their upcoming record, ‘Your Favourite Toy’. The album is set to arrive April 24 via Roswell Records/Columbia Records, with Grohl previously teasing that the album is stacked with “noisy, loud bangers” that feel like they’re from “the old days”.
Speaking to MOJO, Grohl said that “losing Taylor was never meant to be,” adding: “That threw our world upside down and made me question everything about life, that it was so unfair. I still have a hard time making sense of it.”
Hawkins – who had been in the Foos since 1997 – died in 2022 aged 50 just before a scheduled show with the band in Bogotá, Colombia. Multiple drugs including opiates, antidepressants and marijuana were also found in his system at the time of his death.
Grohl went on to say that the band had “no plan” to record after Hawkins’ death, but realised that making music was “something we needed to do”. He added that music “had saved us once before”, referencing bandmate Kurt Cobain‘s 1994 death in Nirvana – with Grohl forming The Foos shortly afterwards.
“I think I was afraid of silence, afraid of having to feel,” he continued, (as per Rolling Stone). “I could have used a bit more of the silence, a bit more of digging deeper. I never want to say music is a distraction, but I was definitely using it as a crutch for some broken limb.”
Grohl has previously opened up about the “complicated” journey to find a new drummer following Hawkins’ death.
A year after Hawkins died, Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails) became touring drummer with the Foos – until his abrupt departure in May 2025. Ilan Rubin has since become sticksman for the band, having left Nine Inch Nails himself to join the Foos while Freese returned to work with Trent Reznor.
The Foos frontman told Zane Lowe that Hawkins was not only the band’s longtime drummer, but “this incredible spirit. He was this incredible human being and he was our brother. He was our best friend.
“So, continuing after Taylor was really complicated, not just for us, but for any drummer that was going to come in to like, you know, fill his shoes… you know.”
Elsewhere, The Foo Fighters have said every record has felt like their “last record”.