The sudden death of 50-year-old Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who was found in a Bogota, Columbia hotel room shortly before a concert in late March, shocked the rock music community. Now a Rolling Stone feature on Hawkins’ life which includes allegations that he was uncomfortable with the band’s aggressive touring schedule has sparked a backlash from the band.
There is still a great deal of uncertainty around the exact nature of Hawkins’ death, but Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron told the magazine that Hawkins had a “heart-to-heart” with frontman Dave Grohl about the amount of time the Foo Fighters spent on the road–the band played approximately 40 shows in 2021 and have roughly 60 slated for this year–and the toll it was taking on him. And Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith offered insight into a well-publicized incident in which Hawkins reportedly went unconscious on a plane, explaining that he was dehydrated and needed to be put on IV fluids. Following the incident, Smith said that Hawkins had told him “I can’t do it like this anymore.”
Both of the superstar drummers have since offered quick retractions: Cameron wrote on Instagram that “My quotes were taken out of context and shaped into a narrative I had never intended,” while Smith wrote that “the story they wrote was sensationalized and misleading, and had I known I never would have agreed to participate.”
Rolling Stone has not addressed Smith and Cameron’s comments yet, and their Instagram post highlighting the article is being slammed by critical fans in the comments. As Pitchfork noted, singer Sass Jordan, who spoke about similar topics related to Hawkins, shared the article on Facebook and has not publicly objected as yet.