Game recognize game. At Saturday’s tribute concert for late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins at Wembley Stadium in London, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith had an incredible story to share. In between performances that featured acts like Them Crooked Vultures and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson joining the Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters on stage, Smith delivered a video message to the emotional crowd detailing one of his favorite Taylor Hawkins stories.
Smith joked that some of the stories he wanted to tell, wouldn’t have been appropriate for the event, so he chose, “…One that warms my heart,” instead, as NME reports. Smith detailed how Hawkins and Grohl would often swing by the Guitar Center store around the corner from the Foo Fighters’ 606 Studio. “Taylor would always bomb back to the drum room – the percussion section – and if there were little kids in there, wannabe drummers trying out stuff, he’d be in there and of course they’d be excited, like, ‘Oh my god, Taylor Hawkins is here, this is so cool’.”
Smith said that Hawkins would give these budding drummers advice whenever he was around and that he was pretty much in his element in that drum room. “One day, the manager came to the guy that ran the percussion section and said, ‘You know, I think something’s going on with TH’s credit card – there must be some fraud or something because I see thousands of dollars over months of charges and I’ve never seen Taylor buy anything ever here,” Smith explained.
“The guy that worked the counter in the percussion section said, ‘No, they’re not fraud. Taylor would actually buy drum equipment, drum sets, sticks, cymbals, whatever was needed for any of the kids that he was hanging out with,” Smith continued. “He knew how important it was to have good stuff and he would just buy it for them and never tell anybody and wouldn’t tell the store. The kids would walk out with the stuff and that’s the kind of guy that Taylor Hawkins is and I love him and I miss him every day. I know he’s really happy about this right now so I love you guys.”
Game recognize game indeed.
Red Hot Chili Peppers is a Warner Music artist. .
