Iggy Pop salutes the late Taylor Hawkins: "He had a wonderful career doing what he wanted to do"

Iggy Pop and Taylor Hawkins — (Image credit: Iggy Pop - Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy / Taylor Hawkins - Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Iggy Pop has paid a warm tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who recorded drum tracks for two songs on the Godfather of Punk's forthcoming Every Loser album, ahead of his tragic passing in March.

Hawkins was one of the many guests - alongside Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Jane's Addiction duo Dave Navarro and Eric Avery, Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Blink-182's Travis Barker - recruited by producer Andrew Watt to play on the record, which is scheduled for a January release on Watt's new label Gold Tooth Records.

“Taylor came in with incredible style,” Pop says, in a new interview with NME. “I’m very fortunate to have that colour on the record. I was really sad and shocked to hear about him. I happened to know that hotel where he was. I’ve stayed in that town. The whole thing was something else. He did have a wonderful career doing what he wanted to do, and by all accounts, a good life.”

“He drums up a storm on those tracks, and you can really hear it. He has this sort of bubbling quality, it’s really percolating.”

In the same interview, Pop has kind words for Italian rockers Måneskin, after guesting on their 2021 re-make of I Wanna Be Your Slave.

“That’s a really strong band,” Iggy says. “Damiano [David] is an amazing singer and the bass player, Victoria [de Angelis] really handles that position well and doesn’t overplay, but on stage and in their videos, she really stays with the message. Wooo, she’s a firecracker.”

“I read an interview that said they started out busking on the street in Rome and had to fight other groups for good positions,” he adds. “You can tell they have that background, that they’ve done something together where they got a little taste of poverty and obscurity, and I think that gives them a really nice edge.”

For the full interview with Pop, go to NME.com

Iggy Pop's Every Loser album is scheduled for release on January 6. The album's first single, Frenzy, is out now.

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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.