Grohl Speaks on Hawkins Loss as Foo Fighters Move Forward With Ilan Rubin

Dave Grohl has broken his silence on Taylor Hawkins' death, describing how the loss turned everything upside down and made him question life itself. In his first long interview about the drummer's 2022 death, the frontman opened up to Mojo.

"Losing Taylor was never meant to be," Grohl told writer David Fricke. "That threw our world upside down and made me question everything about life, that it was so… It was so unfair. I still have a hard time making sense of it."

Hawkins died on March 25, 2022, in his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia. Hours later, the band was supposed to perform at the Festival Estéreo Picnic.

Grohl admitted he used music to avoid his grief. "I think I was afraid of silence, afraid of having to feel," he said. "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."

This marked the second time Grohl lost a bandmate after Kurt Cobain died in 1994 while Grohl played drums for Nirvana. The Foo Fighters came out of that pain.

The group returned from hiatus in May 2023. Josh Freese initially replaced Hawkins on drums, but they parted ways with him two years later, replacing him with Nine Inch Nails drummer Ilan Rubin. 

"I've had to re-examine my ambition and intention," Grohl told Mojo. "My horizon is much different. Before, I was running on fumes and unleaded gas. Now I'm just burning f****g diesel."

The new album, Your Favorite Toy, comes out April 24. The band kicks off an American tour on April 28 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and will spend much of the summer playing U.S. stadium shows. All tour dates and ticket purchase links are on the band's website.