Before his tragic passing on March 25 of this year, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins sat down to be interviewed for the documentary Let There Be Drums! Directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the son of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, the film (out Oct. 28) is a love letter to percussion, featuring drummers from great bands discussing how their kit skills have passed on from generation to generation.
Everyone from Kreutzmann and Ringo Starr to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and The Police’s Stewart Copeland share their thoughts on the art of drumming, while the documentary also boasts a treasure trove of rare and/or never-before-seen footage, such as Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham opening up about fatherhood and a teenage Starr messing around with a drum kit. But it’s Hawkins’ interview—one of the last he ever filmed—that stands out, as the drummer opens up about how seeing the Grateful Dead live in concert pushed him to greater heights.
“I saw them once,” Hawkins says in the film. “At first I was like, what’s going on? And everybody was, like, passing food around to each other and the song’s kind of starting, but have they even started the fucking song yet? They’re, like, jamming. Is everyone on stage yet? Everyone’s throwing energy and, you know, passing doobies… and I’m like, oh OK, they don’t know how they’re going to start this song. They just do this improvisational-jazz thing. That got me good.”
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According to director Justin Kreutzmann, Hawkins was in good spirits during the filming of the interview, welcoming the documentary team into his home music space. At one point, his young daughter even walked through the interview.
“He made me feel really comfortable and welcomed,” recalls Kreutzmann. “I thought it was great hearing someone not from the jam band world reacting to a Dead experience. I loved hearing his take on it and [was] really surprised it made such an impact on him. Taylor told me his wife was into jam band music and so I think he probably had to suffer at parties over the years with their Dead Head neighbors… I mean, one of the last things we texted with each other was that famous picture of Kurt Cobain wearing the ‘Kill The Grateful Dead’ T-shirt.”
Kreutzmann says that the way he sees the interview has changed a bit in light of Hawkins’ passing, but that he kept the cut of the film as is.
“I’m just honored to have spent even that little bit of time with a guy as cool as Taylor,” he says. “What has changed is certain parts of his interview I used in the movie when he talks about the future and his kids. Before, those moments were very fun and lighthearted. Now, it feels different. Much different. But I want to put it out there that we didn’t change the cut when Taylor passed. This is the movie exactly as I sent it to Taylor. To add more stuff or take stuff out would have felt wrong.”
