Taylor Made
Flying in the face of convention, Foo Fighters sticksman Taylor Hawkins has cut a doozy of a second LP. He talks about tapping the spirit of the seventies and working with members of his favourite band, Queen.
Peter Murphy, 28 Jul 2010
Here’s one for those among us who miss gatefold sleeves, the crackle of vinyl, old school producers like Bob Ezrin or Roy Thomas Baker, the whole Cameron Crowe kit and caboodle. Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders’ second album Red Light Fever unselfconsciously harks back to the golden era of classic ‘70s rock records (even the website’s track sampler takes the form of an old eight-track cartridge player). Featuring cameos from Dave Grohl, Brian May, Roger Taylor and The Cars’ Elliot Easton, the songs often suggest an ambitious mash up between Queen, The Sweet and Zeppelin.
“You can hear what I love on this record,” Hawkins admits. “I like the way people used to make records. It was a fine line between completely self-indulgent and pompous, and someone really trying to make some sort of statement artistically.”
While we’re talking ‘70s music, Hawkins is evangelical about The Sweet deserving as much critical kudos as more credible glam acts like Bowie, Roxy and T-Rex.
“I’ve always wondered who came first, Queen or Sweet, ‘cos there’s definitely similarities in the structure of their harmonies and even the guitar stuff. I don’t care what anybody says, to me The Sweet were very, very important, a great rock ‘n’ roll band with neat textures. I listen to Desolation Boulevard and Give Us A Wink all the time. They were seen maybe as a pop production band, but the funny thing is I think Sweet’s best stuff they wrote themselves. They wrote ‘Fox on the Run’, Chinn and Chapman did not write that song. I’ll tell ya, a lot of the musicians that I know and love totally respect Sweet.”
So how was it working with Queen veterans Taylor and May?
“Well, I’d done stuff with them in the past already – I did some recording for Brian back in the late ‘90s on his solo record, and he actually played some guitar on the Foo Fighters record One By One, and I’ve done other recordings for Brian and Roger in the past couple of years that haven’t been released yet. But to have them play on my songs was a new experience and a bit nervy. You send them a song and hope they don’t think you’re totally stupid.
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