Greenwich Leisure
Earlier than his tragic passing on March 25 of this yr, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins sat all the way down to be interviewed for the documentary Let There Be Drums! Directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the son of Grateful Useless drummer Invoice Kreutzmann, the movie (out Oct. 28) is a love letter to percussion, that includes drummers from nice bands discussing how their equipment abilities have handed on from era to era.
Everybody from Kreutzmann and Ringo Starr to the Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and The Police’s Stewart Copeland share their ideas on the artwork of drumming, whereas the documentary additionally boasts a treasure trove of uncommon and/or never-before-seen footage, similar to Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham opening up about fatherhood and a teenage Starr messing round with a drum equipment. But it surely’s Hawkins’ interview—one of many final he ever filmed—that stands out, because the drummer opens up about how seeing the Grateful Useless reside in live performance pushed him to higher heights.
“I noticed them as soon as,” Hawkins says within the movie. “At first I used to be like, what’s happening? And all people was, like, passing meals round to one another and the track’s sort of beginning, however have they even began the fucking track but? They’re, like, jamming. Is everybody on stage but? Everybody’s throwing vitality and, , passing doobies… and I’m like, oh OK, they don’t know the way they’re going to start out this track. They simply do that improvisational-jazz factor. That obtained me good.”
In line with director Justin Kreutzmann, Hawkins was in good spirits through the filming of the interview, welcoming the documentary crew into his house music house. At one level, his younger daughter even walked by means of the interview.
“He made me really feel actually comfy and welcomed,” recollects Kreutzmann. “I believed it was nice listening to somebody not from the jam band world reacting to a Useless expertise. I liked listening to his tackle it and [was] actually shocked it made such an impression on him. Taylor informed me his spouse was into jam band music and so I believe he most likely needed to endure at events over time with their Useless Head neighbors… I imply, one of many final issues we texted with one another was that well-known image of Kurt Cobain sporting the ‘Kill The Grateful Useless’ T-shirt.”
Kreutzmann says that the way in which he sees the interview has modified a bit in gentle of Hawkins’ passing, however that he stored the reduce of the movie as is.
“I’m simply honored to have spent even that little little bit of time with a man as cool as Taylor,” he says. “What has modified is for certain elements of his interview I used within the film when he talks concerning the future and his children. Earlier than, these moments had been very enjoyable and lighthearted. Now, it feels totally different. A lot totally different. However I wish to put it on the market that we didn’t change the reduce when Taylor handed. That is the film precisely as I despatched it to Taylor. So as to add extra stuff or take stuff out would have felt flawed.”