This past Saturday, March 25th marked one year since Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters died in Bogota, Colombia due to reportedly suffering a cardiac arrest with 10 different substances in his system.
Since that tragic day, Dave Grohl and his bandmates paid tribute to Hawkins with charity shows in London and Los Angeles last September that featured an all-star cast of drummers filling Hawkins shoes. And on December 31st the Foos announced that they would be continuing on without Hawkins.
January 10th saw three festivals -- Boston Calling, Bonnaroo and Sonic Temple -- announce that the Foos would headline their events. Overall the Foos are slated to headline ten North American festivals, two in Germany, one in Japan and one in Brazil. But they'll return to the stage with a sold out headline show at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, New Hampshire on May 24th.
What isn't known is who will fill Hawkins drum throne when the tour starts. But with the tour only two months away the rumor mill started focusing on two people -- Pearl Jam and Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and veteran punk drummer Atom Willard.
Cameron, who played at the L.A. Hawkins tribute, has been spotted at the Foos Studio 606 complex in California. He was also a close friend of Hawkins and they had started a new project together, Nighttime Boogie Association, just a couple months before Hawkins death. But on Saturday night Cameron posted on his Instagram Story “The internet rumors are false, I haven’t joined the Foos.”
A more likely candidate now is Willard, who's also been spotted at Studio 606. He’s drummed for Angels & Airwaves and The Offspring and is currently a member of Against Me, but that band has been on hiatus since the pandemic.
Rufus Taylor of The Darkness (and son of Roger Taylor of Queen) was also strongly rumored after his impressive performance at the Hawkins tributes, but The Darkness has a European date on the books that conflicts with one of the Foos festival dates.
To mark one year since Hawkins death, Belgian band Black Box Revelation had 100 drummers join them to play "My Hero" at Sportpaleis Antwerp, the last venue in the country where Hawkins played with Foo Fighters before his passing. Check out the tribute below.