Taylor Hawkins Quotes

#1. America is tough for rock music. Rock n' roll used to be the main music for the youth, and it's not so much anymore. It's hip-hop and stuff.

Taylor Hawkins

#2. I'm not trying to be the next Dave Grohl or Phil Collins.

Taylor Hawkins

#3. I think that debut albums are supposed to sound sort of raw. You don't want to record 'Sgt. Pepper's' as your first album, because where do you go from there?

Taylor Hawkins

#4. When I was a kid, of course I wanted to be the fastest, the loudest and the one with the biggest drum set, but obviously my aspirations have changed a bit since then.

Taylor Hawkins

#5. I don't like guitar solos that are like, 'Look at me, look at me!' I like guitar solos that are little songs within the songs.

Taylor Hawkins

#6. The records that I grew up listening to had feel, and the drummers that inspired me - like Stewart Copeland, Neil Peart, Phil Collins and Roger Taylor - all had their own voice and individual style.

Taylor Hawkins

#7. 'Boy,' 'October,' 'War,' 'The Unforgettable Fire' and 'The Joshua Tree,' those records, they're part of my musical DNA and structure.

Taylor Hawkins

#8. I don't take breaks, man. In the past, I used to spend my free time getting in trouble, and now I spend it working on my music. If I'm not playing drums with my cover band, Chevy Metal, I'm working on songs for myself.

Taylor Hawkins

#9. In the Foo Fighters, my main job is to be the drummer, and that's enough.

Taylor Hawkins

#10. I only started playing piano because I had chickenpox when I was about 14 and wasn't allowed to play my drums for a whole week ... We had a piano in the house, so I just sat down and played that instead.

Taylor Hawkins

#11. I make a living playing rock n' roll. I'm not going to complain about anything.

Taylor Hawkins

#12. The drummer is stereotypically the dumb guy. Maybe that's why I always respect drummers who do more than drum.

Taylor Hawkins

#13. The one thing I do know is that I'm the best Taylor Hawkins drummer there is, and that is all I can hope to be. And when it comes to music, musicianship and skill, there is no such thing as better or worse because so much is personal opinion, and I can see that now.

Taylor Hawkins

#14. I've been lucky enough to have fulfilled so many ambitions, and gone way past anything I ever thought I would do. I could never have imagined the career that I've had with the Foo Fighters - playing stadiums and having songs on the radio. It's amazing, and my goal is really just to carry on playing.

Taylor Hawkins

#15. I've worked hard, but this business can be tough, and I just consider myself incredibly lucky to have had the career that I have, and to still be having so much fun playing drums and making music.

Taylor Hawkins

#16. Why go on vacation when work is so much more fun.

Taylor Hawkins

#17. Life is funny. If you don't laugh, you're in trouble.

Taylor Hawkins

#18. I know I'm not Freddie Mercury or Ann Wilson, and that's okay. You don't have to be a great singer to sing rock and roll. That's not what it's about.

Taylor Hawkins

#19. I love Donna Summer, and I love ABBA. I love late '70s disco. I love the Bee Gees. I just love that period of recording.

Taylor Hawkins

#20. I like stuff that sounds big and full and makes your head trip and your body react.

Taylor Hawkins

#21. The Alanis Morissette tour, everybody thinks that was all sitting around, lighting candles and talking intelligently about synergy and big words. That band was so gnarly. We were such scumbags. Alanis had no idea. We were like Van Halen.

Taylor Hawkins

#22. I don't have perfect pitch. My drums sound like a drummer, not a drum machine.

Taylor Hawkins

#23. I used to dress like Roger Taylor when I was ten because I thought he was cool. In high school, I used to dress like Stephen Perkins from Jane's Addiction because I thought he was cool. You just want to be those guys when you're that age.

Taylor Hawkins

#24. In hindsight, if I could go back in time and relay a message to my younger self, I would tell him to work on his time keeping, and that the job of a drummer is not to be the one that gets noticed the most on stage, or to be the fastest, or the loudest. Above all, it is to be the timekeeper.

Taylor Hawkins