Taylor Hawkins about being asked to join (Nu)GnR

[Blackstar]

I hadn't heard this story. Has Taylor Hawkins mentioned it before?

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https://www.loudersound.com/features/taylor-hawkins-how-i-nearly-joined-guns-n-roses-and-other-stories

[...]

Hawkins actually had a chance to bail on the Foos even before that. The band were in London in support of There Is Nothing Left To Lose when he got a call from his mom back in the States. Someone from Guns N’ Roses management had called asking for him.

“Axl was trying to get together a new version of Guns N’ Roses, and I think he was checking around for people,” he says. “They wanted to know if I would come in and try out or whatever. It was kind of otherworldly.”

Hawkins did what anyone did: he called Roger Taylor for advice. Here he slips into another impression, that of a well-heeled British rock star. “He said, ‘Mate, let me tell you a story…’”

The story was that, in the early 70s, Taylor was approached by former Mott The Hoople singer Ian Hunter and guitarist Mick Ronson. Queen had supported Mott on tour, and the pair wanted to recruit him for their post-Mott band. They were going to call it Hunter Ronson Taylor.

The drummer considered the offer. Queen had yet to break into the superstar bracket, and the offer was tempting. But he had too much belief in the band to desert it. He couldn’t imagine being onstage and looking up and not seeing Freddie Mercury or Brian May in front of him.

“And he said, ‘I see you and Dave onstage and there’s something you can’t buy there. There’s something between you guys that might not be there with Axl Rose.’ And he was right.’” 

[...]

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The Foo Fighters played in London three times during that tour (November 1999, August 2000 and December 2000). I guess the most likely date when Hawkins received the phone call was August 2000, as Freese resigned in March 2000, and, although Brain probably had been brought in around May, he didn't officially join until months later. 

EDIT: Addition by @denin:

6 minutes ago, denin said:

Found a London date for the Foos for March 4th 2000, which would fit the overall Freese timeline better.

Brain would later say something like Guns had arrived with Josh after auditioning all 20 top-notch session drummers in LA (like Terry Bozzio). Replacing Josh was therefore tricky, as Ax wanted a "band drummer", instead of simply a hired gun. That's likely why they reached out to Brain and Hawkins.

Edited November 10, 2019 by Blackstar

[djones1225]

Kinda off topic, but I also heard John 5 was rumored to replace bucket after he left. Wouldve been a badass line up Axl, John 5, Robin Finck, Fortus, Taylor, Tommy Stinson, Dizzy Reed & Pitman.

[soon]

I dont think I've heard this before. Im happy we got Brain, but this is a neat part of the history. Rock is so incestuous.

What is it about GNR calling up drummers Mom's houses, tho?  Slash called Matt at his Moms house too! "Hi, Mrs Hawkins. Can Taylor come out and play?" 

[EvanG]

Hawkins is a great drummer but I can't imagine him playing with GnR. He was also still a drug user by that time (he OD'd on heroin in 2001 and ended up in a coma for weeks), can't imagine Axl wanting to work with drug users again either.

[sl4yer]

19 minutes ago, EvanG said:

Hawkins is a great drummer but I can't imagine him playing with GnR. He was also still a drug user by that time (he OD'd on heroin in 2001 and ended up in a coma for weeks), can't imagine Axl wanting to work with drug users again either.

When GNR played It’s So Easy with Foo Fighters, drumming was awesome. 

[EvanG]

1 minute ago, sl4yer said:

When GNR played It’s So Easy with Foo Fighters, drumming was awesome. 

Musically speaking he could have fitted in fine, but apart from that I don't think he would have been happy in a band like GnR with members that are more like hired hands. That is what he already was when he toured with Alanis, and that was one of the reasons why he joined the Foo Fighters.

[Ratam]

5 hours ago, soon said:

I dont think I've heard this before. Im happy we got Brain, but this is a neat part of the history. Rock is so incestuous.

What is it about GNR calling up drummers Mom's houses, tho?  Slash called Matt at his Moms house too! "Hi, Mrs Hawkins. Can Taylor come out and play?" 

It just show that everyone drummer have moms 

[lame ass security]

2 hours ago, Ratam said:

It just show that everyone drummer have moms 

Except Ginger Baker, he was too ornery to have a mom.😄

[Azifwekare]

I've never seen the appeal of the Foo Fighters. I'm glad we got Brain instead.

[Len Cnut]

6 hours ago, lame ass security said:

Except Ginger Baker, he was too ornery to have a mom.😄

I know someone who knew him and his first wife very well and apparently he's a really nice bloke if you know him more on a personal level, its just he had a lot of bitterness and gripes regarding the whole rock sphere and disliked weird formal situations like interviews.  Apparently his biggest peeve was questions such as 'what was it like being...', which if you think about it is an odd question, especially when asked repeatedly over a number of years, imagine being asked 'whats it like being your mums son?' or 'whats it like doing the job you do?', what is anything like, it is what it is, isn't it?  He struggled with the inane. 

[luciusfunk]

I love Taylor Hawkins, wouldn’t mind seeing him in Guns, but I’m glad he stayed in Foo Fighters. His solo albums are worth checking out, too. 

[Mendez]

9 hours ago, Azifwekare said:

I've never seen the appeal of the Foo Fighters. I'm glad we got Brain instead.

Sometimes i just need something easily digestible. dude knows how to write a catchy chorus. But i understand why people dont like it. Its just simple pop hard rock with almost the same approach to every song for the last few albums. Concrete and Gold is different though. Not bad, but certainly they tried to branch out a little bit

 

Still surprised Dave Grohl wrote an interesting 20 minute instrumental

Edited November 9, 2019 by Mendez

[EvanG]

Foo Fighters are alright, nothing special... they've got a couple of good songs. Problem is also that they have never evolved a lot and have been making the same kind of music since the first record more or less.

[Free Bird]

Foo Fighters - another successful band that doesn't do anything for me 

[Sydney Fan]

In terms of the foos loved their first album. At least grohl didn try and stick with the nirvana sound, i give him props for that. I actually think the first foos album is better than nevermind and what nirvana released after combined.

[slim26]

8 hours ago, EvanG said:

Foo Fighters are alright, nothing special... they've got a couple of good songs. Problem is also that they have never evolved a lot and have been making the same kind of music since the first record more or less.

For sure.  Granted they haven't been around for 33 years like GNR, so its unfair to ask them to switch up their setlist as much as GNR routinely does with each round of the NiTL tour as they haven't been around as long and haven't had nearly as many hits or success as GNR has endured with their ongoing artistic creativity.  Hopefully the Foo's can catch up to GNR at some point.

Edited November 10, 2019 by slim26

[jamillos]

Good decision. The guy would be joining a weird band with almost no gigs planned, an unpredictable frontman, one unfinished tour in 2002, and years of silence and re-recording various takes in studios; and he would be only known as a hired hand. 

[EvanG]

5 hours ago, slim26 said:

For sure.  Granted they haven't been around for 33 years like GNR, so its unfair to ask them to switch up their setlist as much as GNR routinely does with each round of the NiTL tour as they haven't been around as long and haven't had nearly as many hits or success as GNR has endured with their ongoing artistic creativity.  Hopefully the Foo's can catch up to GNR at some point.

GnR has only released three records, if you consider CD a genuine GnR record, but with those three records they evolved more than Foo Fighters with their 9 records in total.

[denin]

On 8.11.2019 at 9:29 PM, Blackstar said:

The Foo Fighters played in London three times during that tour (November 1999, August 2000 and December 2000). I guess the most likely date when Hawkins received the phone call was August 2000, as Freese resigned in March 2000, and, although Brain probably had been brought in around May, he didn't officially join until months later. 

Found a London date for the Foos for March 4th 2000, which would fit the overall Freese timeline better.

Brain would later say something like Guns had arrived with Josh after auditioning all 20 top-notch session drummers in LA (like Terry Bozzio). Replacing Josh was therefore tricky, as Ax wanted a "band drummer", instead of simply a hired gun. That's likely why they reached out to Brain and Hawkins.

[Blackstar]

3 minutes ago, denin said:

Found a London date for the Foos for March 4th 2000, which would fit the overall Freese timeline better.

Brain would later say something like Guns had arrived with Josh after auditioning all 20 top-notch session drummers in LA (like Terry Bozzio). Replacing Josh was therefore tricky, as Ax wanted a "band drummer", instead of simply a hired gun. That's likely why they reached out to Brain and Hawkins.

Thanks, it seems I missed that date. It makes a lot of sense.

[denin]

Imagine if Hawkins had gotten the gig and would then re-record the Josh drums.

"Umm, Taylor, we want your feel on CD, but you gotta sound like Dave..."

[EvanG]

Michael Bland (Prince, Soul Asylum) also auditioned for GnR.

https://www.moderndrummer.com/2006/08/michael-bland-2/

Quote

MD: Did I hear that you auditioned for the “new” Guns N’ Roses?

Michael: Yes, I auditioned for them in ’97. I think Josh Freese was originally supposed to do the gig. I went to the NAMM show, and I ran into Axl at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, and then I went to the audition later that night. He was very cool to me. He didn’t seem at all like the person the press makes him out to be. The audition went well, but I knew they weren’t going to hire me, with them being a bunch of skinny white dudes…[laughs] Although that’s what Soul Asylum is too. [laughs]

 

[denin]

Bland would've made more sense to audition in Jan '98,  just before Josh joined, rather than Jan '97, with Matt (and Duff) still in the band.

But he mentions Anaheim, and NAMM 98-99 were held, unusually, in LA. Was it faulty memory or covert search for a new drummer?

[Edward Nygma]

Still, prefer Brain or Freese over Hawkins. 

[Tom2112]

On 09/11/2019 at 1:18 AM, Ratam said:

It just show that everyone drummer have moms 

Also that a lot of drummers still live at home