A new Rolling Stone article includes some telling details about Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins’ final days before his death in March.
The report included interviews with the rock star’s friends, including Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith. They both agreed that Hawkins complained about the grueling tour schedule and Cameron explained that the drummer had brought up his concerns with band frontman Dave Grohl prior to his death.
“He had a heart-to-heart with Dave and, yeah, he told me that he ‘couldn’t f***ing do it anymore’—those were his words,” Cameron told the publication. “So I guess they did come to some understanding, but it just seems like the touring schedule got even crazier after that.”
A rep for Foo Fighters denied the claims, telling Rolling Stone that Hawkins never discussed the schedule with Grohl.
“No, there was never a ‘heart-to-heart’—or any sort of meeting on this topic—with Dave and [Silva Artist Management],” the rep said.
The article also discusses an alleged incident in December 2021 when Hawkins reportedly lost consciousness on a plane in Chicago. “He just said he was exhausted and collapsed, and they had to pump him full of IVs and stuff,” Smith said. “He was dehydrated and all kinds of stuff.”
Smith said that Hawkins later told him he “can’t do it like this anymore.”
The rocker continued, saying: “That was one of the straws that broke the camel’s back. After that, he had a real important heart-to-heart with Dave and the management. He said, ‘I can’t continue on this schedule, and so we’ve got to figure out something.’”
The Foo Fighters representative also said this story of having an incident on a plane was a fabrication and never happened.
Hawkins, a 50-year-old father of three, died while on tour with the band in Colombia in late March. A preliminary toxicology test revealed the presence of different substances including marijuana, tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and opioids in his system, per US Weekly.
“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the band said in a statement after Hawkins’ death.
“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.”
Grohl and Hawkins were incredibly close friends. The Foo Fighters frontman said of the drummer in an interview last year, “I was like, ‘Wow, you’re either my twin or my spirit animal or my best friend.’”