Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell took to Instagram to post a video saluting late-Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. Hawkins, who died on March 25th at age 50 after suffering an alleged drug overdose in Columbia, was a diehard fan of Jane's and a longtime confidante of Farrell's.
Blabbermouth transcribed some of Farrell's online salute to his fallen friend: "Taylor Hawkins died yesterday. He was my best friend — beloved in my home by my wife, my children, even my dogs. Whenever Taylor came over, we would make music in the den, (my dog) Cloud would always go and sit right by him. He was one of the most passionate drummers I've ever seen in my lifetime. When I think of him, I sum it up with one word: velocity. He had the gift to maintain a confident, striking and stroking velocity on drums."
Farrell went on to say, "There's a large part of my heart that I had reserved for him. I accepted him into my heart when we became friends because he was such a pure guy, so pure of heart. I would receive texts from Taylor. They were always bits and pieces of songs he was writing or looking to write or wanted me to listen to. I got music tidbits as often as I got 'I love you's.' We would always start with a song; Like, 'Do you listen to YES? The guy kind of sounds like you.' And I say, 'Yeah, yeah. I like YES.' He just was obsessed with music and great songs. My passion for music, that's what's our common ground; our friendship was based around that. Then we got to know each other."
He added: "He would tell me stories of going to Jane's shows back in the '80s — shows that were pretty underground. So although I didn't make his acquaintance back then, we shared a history. It's almost like the rites of passage. We were young men and we were trying to be great musicians. Little did he know through this one fatal night, he would cement himself in the legends of music for all time. And that's what I think he deserves."
Perry Farrell ended by saying, "The only sense that I can make of the tragedy is to know that Taylor's now in heaven; he can hear us. What I'm gonna do from this day forward is to try to make music that I think Taylor would really love."
During Foo Fighters' 2021 Rock hall induction, during the band's acceptance speech, Taylor Hawkins made a point of mentioning the need for Jane's Addiction to also be inducted: ["I'd like to share this award with a couple of bands I'd like to see get in there someday, too. I'd like to see George Michael in there one day. I'd love that (cheers). I'd like to see Jane's Addiction in there — I'd really like that (cheers). I'd like to see Soundgarden in there — I'd really like that. And thanks everyone."] SOUNDCUE (:19 OC: . . . and thanks everyone)
