Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams has opened up about the influence of Foo Fighters and the late Taylor Hawkins in a new episode of her radio show Everything Is Emo.
“[Foo Fighters] are a really important band to everyone, the whole world,” Williams explains, as reported by NME. “But such an important band to Paramore. When I first met the guys, there were a few albums that we talked about a lot, that we referenced a lot, Foo Fighters was a band that always came up.”
Hawkins not only influenced the band sonically, but he had a tangible impact when Paramore’s Zac Farro was gifted a drum kit previously owned by him. Williams tells the story of how Farro needed a “good drum kit” when Paramore began playing shows in the early 2000s.
“A friend that lived in town leant him a drum kit—which he ultimately gave to him—and it belonged to Taylor Hawkins first,” she recalls. “For our first shows and tours, it’s like we stole a blessing from Taylor Hawkins. It’s like we took it as him saying, ‘Yes, go forth and continue.’”
“I think about Taylor Hawkins a lot, when I think about Zac’s playing,” she adds, before further reflecting on the late drummer’s lasting legacy as a Foo Fighters member and a musician. “I don’t want to centre myself or Paramore in the conversation around Taylor Hawkins’ death, but it’s just to say that he meant a lot to so many people and there are so many stories I’m sure we’re yet to hear about him, and things that he’s done for people, ways that he’s touched peoples’ lives.”
“But I think, more than anything, as a music fan and as a Foo Fighters fan, I love what [Hawkins] did for Dave Grohl,” Williams continues. “I listen to his album There’s Nothing Left To Lose and I know it’s the first record that Taylor played on. He joined the Foo Fighters and they made this record together. And you can hear the difference; I think that it brought out something in Dave Grohl’s voice and the way that he wrote, all of it.”
Hawkins died back in March during the Foo Fighters’ tour in South America. Earlier this week, Red Hot Chili Peppers paid tribute to him during its set at New Orleans’ Jazz Fest.