Police drummer Stewart Copeland called up Rolling Stone to pay tribute to his friend Taylor Hawkins: “There's a big hole where a lot of laughs used to live.”
a guest house he turned into the drum palace . He could do the John Bonham double-bass-drum kick thing before they invented double-bass-drum pedals. Neil’s single stroke rolls down all 14 tom toms. All my stuff, Roger Taylor’s stuff, Phil Collins.
He was fascinated by it all — and I’m sure it informed his own style — but he had his own thing. He went straight for the money. He had no one sense of competition or one-upmanship, and we all know the reason for that: because his boss was a drummer. The worst indignity: His boss was one of the best drummers. So this made all of us other drummers with our axes to grind and gripes look at the world more calmly. Just think about Taylor’s gig.to join them on their jet up to San Francisco to play a show [in 2005], and then straight to New York where they didon MTV. I think that’s the first time I met those guys. What really impressed me about all of them is not only were they the headlining act, but they all had side bands that were the supporting acts. Hard working, those young musicians. I’m not sure if it was Taylor or Dave who decided “That’s it, on the Police reunion tour [in 2007] we’re opening for the Police, damn it!” They were already a stadium act! So when we played Dodger Stadium, they insisted on opening for the Police. It was a very good thing, because they lit the whole stadium up. All we had to do was walk out there and look handsome, and the place was ours. There was that one moment [in the 2008 concert documentaryHe had many more chops than he ever showed in the context of the Foo Fighters. The singing part came later. He always wanted to do the[Copeland’s 1980 solo debut] band. I said “Look, everyone wants to play the drums on that, can you play guitar or sing?” And at the time I got the impression he didn’t have that. Dave probably pushed him out in the front of the stage. He discovered, the same way Dave did, “Hey, it’s not rocket science. All you’ve got to do is have charisma and you can sing.” Dave and Taylor were so fraternal. They would claw at each other’s jugular veins and hug very soon after. In a way that only brothers can. As I’m entering my 70th year, I’m an agony aunt for all my brothers of the stick. Never gave him any advice on how to play his darn drums — I would not be so impertinent — but we did talk long into the night about life’s complexities. Okay, I’m giving the game away here, but he was a rock star but also a father of three, husband to Allison. The three kids, Oliver, Annabelle, and Everleigh. And since I have seven kids and five grandkids, I had a couple of words of wisdom to impart. But in that sense, he was extremely solid. He would come over here to some of our parties. Some of which were daytime sober parties, some of which were nighttime. Some of which were extremely un-sober. But I can comment that Taylor never was an out of control, or even in control, party animal. He was a pretty straight arrow, as far as I knew. I had just finished playing a show with the Nashville Symphony [when I found out he died]. It was just an amazing show. Came off stage, the hotel was a block and a half away. I was in the shower before the audience was out of the building, endorphins pumping out of every pore. I was heading down to the bar, and just as I’m walking out of my hotel room door, I get the text. “Oh for fuck’s sake, you’re kidding.” I get down to the bar, which is full of a throng of happy cheerful people all saying “Good show.” The natural endorphins are still going strong, and at the same time just overwhelmed with disbelief and shock. Like I said, Neil saw his train coming and he had a first class ticket. Nobody saw Taylor coming. He was just a force of life that seemed unstoppable. He was a living thing, not a thing that will ever die. So the suddenness was profound.he hang, that’s what I miss. The guy, that laugh, the husky kind of voice that he had, that surfer voice. He was certainly the quintessential surfer dude. Laguna Beach all the way. Was he actually a surfer? I never got a chance to ask him. I’m so sorry for Allison and those kids. Dave, the band. That’s what makes me get through my day, is how much deeper and more profound, sudden, their loss was. They have a much bigger emotional mountain to climb. But his people who are more just his chuckle buddies, it takes longer to sink in that there’s a hole there. You know that if it had been anybody else, Taylor and I would be on the phone right now, deeply thinking about it. I just miss him.
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