Foo Fighters man tells Hot Press about working with Queen
Foo Fighters sticksman Taylor Hawkins has cut a second LP, and he tells Hot Press how he tapped the spirit of the seventies and about working with members of his favourite band, Queen.
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 15 Jul 2010
“You can hear what I love on this record,” Hawkins tells Hot Press. “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. 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’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?
“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. … When Roger went to do the background vocals on ‘Your Shoes’ he was like, ‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ And I said, ‘Just do that thing you do!’ … Brian’s very self deprecating and very insecure still, in a really sweet way. It’s neat to see that in those types of people.”
And did Hawkins’ bandmate Dave Grohl offer any advice about the transition from drummer to frontman?
“Well, y’know, no and yes. He was there in the initial stages of putting this record together, he helped me make it, so I guess in a way he did have advice – he helped me arrange these songs and bring them to a certain point and then he took off and did Them Crooked Vultures and just said, ‘Go for it.’”
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH TAYLOR HAWKINS IN THE ISSUE OF HOT PRESS – OUT THURSDAY JULY 15
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