Taylor Hawkins

Matt Cameron and Chad Smith have distanced themselves from a Rolling Stone article about Taylor Hawkins' "final days as a Foo Fighter."

Cameron went on: “I have only the deepest love and respect for Taylor, Dave and the Foo Fighters families. He wrote, “When I agreed to take part in the Rolling Stone article about Taylor, I assumed it would be a celebration of his life and work. Smith echoed these comments, telling Rolling Stone that Hawkins told him, “I can’t do it like this anymore.”

Chad Smith says the late Foo Fighters drummer told him, "I can't do it like this anymore"

As well as detailing Hawkins’ stage fright and anxiety (“I’m in hell”), it references that Hawkins told the publication that a doctor had diagnosed him with sleep apnea and an enlarged heart. He was dehydrated and all kinds of stuff.” Smith adds that following the incident, Hawkins told him “I can’t do it like this anymore.” "That was one of the straws that broke the camel’s back." “He was a little apprehensive, understandably, just because of all the Covid bullshit that was going on. The anonymous friend mentioned above adds, “The fact that he spoke to Dave and really told him that he couldn’t do this and that he wouldn’t do it anymore, that was freeing for him. “[A band like that] is a big machine with a lot of people on the payroll”, Cameron continues.

"He 'couldn't fucking do it anymore,'" Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron attests.

“The fact that he finally spoke to Dave and really told him that he couldn’t do this and that he wouldn’t do it anymore, that was freeing for him,” the friend says. That did take a year of working up the guts to do.” “That was one of the straws that broke the camel’s back,” Smith says.

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was at his wit's end before his death at 50 in March, multiple friends told Rolling Stone in a new investigative piece ...

“That was one of the straws that broke the camel’s back,” Smith said. “Taylor never played f***ed up in his life,” Chad “Yeti” Ward, Hawkins’ drum tech from 2005 to 2019, told Rolling Stone. “He always played sober as can be. “So you’ve got to really be cognisant of the business side of something when it’s that big and that has inherent pressure, just like any business.”

According to several of his friends, late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins had expressed concerns over the intensity of the band's tour schedule.

While an anonymous colleague and friend of Hawkins added: “The fact that he finally spoke to Dave and really told him that he couldn’t do this and that he wouldn’t do it anymore, that was freeing for him. He was dehydrated and all kinds of stuff.” Hawkins, 50, was found dead in his Bogotá hotel room on March 25 ahead of a show that evening.

Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and longtime friend of the late Taylor Hawkins says his quotes in a Rolling Stone article were "taken out of context."

“I miss him,” the fellow musician added about Hawkins, who died March 25 at age 50. “My quotes were taken out of context and shaped into a narrative I never intended. “I have only the deepest love and respect for Taylor, Dave and the Foo Fighters families.

The drummer spoke to Rolling Stone for its recent article, 'Inside Taylor Hawkins' Final Days as a Foo Fighter'

“We just found out about this two weeks ago, because Foo Fighters were supposed to play here tonight.” he told the crowd. Both Smith and Cameron have recently paid tribute to Taylor Hawkins on stage. Taylor was a dear friend, and a next level artist.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam drummers distanced themselves from a Rolling Stone article, where they discussed Hawkins' privately expressed ...

Cameron and Smith were two of four sources in the article who discussed Hawkins’ apparent anxiety and concerns about the Foo Fighters’ touring schedule in his final months. Instead, the story they wrote was sensationalized and misleading, and had I known I never would have agreed to participate. I am truly sorry to have taken part in this interview and I apologize that my participation may have caused harm to those for whom I have only the deepest respect and admiration.”

Multiple sources spoke to Rolling Stone more than a month after the veteran musician was found dead in a hotel in Colombia March 25.

According to the outlet, the band played around 40 concerts last year and had scheduled almost 60 more for this year. Hawkins was pictured in February in Tempe, Arizona Numerous friends of Hawkins told the outlet that Hawkins had passed out on a plane in Chicago last December. So I guess they did come to some understanding, but it just seems like the touring schedule got even crazier after that.' Tired of the whole game.' A rep for the band said that Hawkins had never broached the topic with managers or Grohl and that 'there was never a "heart-to-heart"' discussion on the topic.