Shane Hawkins set the record straight on which Foo Fighters song was his late dad Taylor Hawkins‘ favorite to play during a recent drum clinic at the Dead Famous cocktail bar in Newquay, England. “All right, this is another one of my dad’s that I like to play,” Hawkins, 18, told the crowd at the pub over the weekend. “Probably his favorite. People say that song ‘Aurora’ was his favorite to play, but that’s a lie.”
Hawkins first claimed that Foo Fighters singer/guitarist Dave Grohl “never let” his dad play the 2002 One By One track “Low” live, but then explained that it was rarely performed in concert because “it’s a f–kin’ hard one to do all together” because of the relentless, Led Zeppelin-style drumming on the track. The Foos have performed “Low” 125 times, most recently at the Sept. 2022 tribute concert to Hawkins in L.A., while “Aurora” has been played 284 times according to Setlist.fm.
The teen prodigy then dropped right into the song’s tricky, speed jazz riff, his drum sticks a blur as he expertly smashed his way through the song from the band’s fourth studio album. Though Shane said “Low” was his dad’s fave, after Hawkins’ death in March 2022 in Bogota, Colombia at age 50, Grohl would often dedicate the There Is Nothing Left to Lose track “Aurora” to their late bandmate during each show.
During his trip to the U.K. Shane also sat in with one of his dad’s favorite bands, Supergrass, at the Great Estate Festival in Cornwall over the weekend. Shane took his spot behind the kit for a run through Supergrass’ raucous 1994 debut single, “Caught By the Fuzz,” a song Taylor sat in on with the band when the Foos took Supergrass out on tour nearly 20 years ago.
The Foos parted ways with drummer Josh Freese last month after two years with no explanation and at press time they have not announced who will replace the veteran beat keeper in October for a run of shows in Singapore, Indonesia and Japan.
Check out footage of Shane talking about his dad’s favorite song and playing with Supergrass and The Alive below.
