Paul Stanley mourns 'phenomenal' Taylor Hawkins

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By ( Classic Rock ) published

Kiss star reflects on recent loss of Taylor Hawkins and says few people loved music as much as the late Foo Fighters drummer

A picture of Paul Stanley with Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins
(Image credit: Kiss Kruise)

Kiss frontman Paul Stanley has described the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins as a "phenomenal" drummer and "super" guy.

Answering questions from fans on board the latest Kiss Kruise, Taylor was shown a photo of him with Taylor and Foos mainman Dave Grohl.

After a heartfelt reaction from the audience as the photo is unveiled, Stanley says the picture was taken at Grohl's birthday party in Los Angeles, where he played alongside Grohl and Kiss fan Hawkins at the Forum.

He adds: "I will remember that forever. We did a couple of things together. We did Do You Love Me? and we did Detroit Rock City. Taylor kicked it in the ass. Taylor was a big fan. And nobody loved music like he did.

"The beauty of a great band is the chemistry between at least two of the people. And Foo Fighters, that's Dave and Taylor. Taylor was as close to Dave as a brother. And Taylor, besides being a phenomenal drummer, I remember when I saw him with Alanis Morissette.

"I was, like, 'Jesus. Who is this guy?' And he was also a super, super guy. One of those people that really, really loved music. It's a tragedy. It's a terrible loss."

Hawkins died in March of this year while on tour with Foo Fighters. He was 50.

The rock world came together to pay tribute to Hawkins, and tribute shows were held in London and Los Angeles in September. The shows featured a who's who of rock royalty.

Addressing the crowd at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Grohl said: “This is the hometown shit, so you gotta make it loud. That dude could make you fuckin’ smile and laugh and dance and sing. It’s gonna be a long fuckin’ night.”

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.