Taylor Hawkins’ friends claim he was uncomfortable with Foo Fighters’ touring schedule before his death

nme.com:

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins have claimed that he was uncomfortable with the intensity of the band’s touring schedule after the COVID-19 pandemic eased.According to a number of friends, Hawkins allegedly expressed discomfort with the band’s tour schedule – saying that he was struggling to keep up with the physical demands of the job, which often required him to play three-hour concerts night after night.The drummer, 50, who was found dead in his Bogotá hotel room on March 25 ahead of a show that evening, is claimed to have spoken to Foos frontman Dave Grohl as well as several friends about his concerns.The report by Rolling Stone contains multiple denials by Foo Fighters’ representatives.

The publication said that it repeatedly asked Hawkins’ family members and his bandmates for interviews to corroborate the claims, but Hawkins’ family declined to comment.

Foo Fighters and their management also didn’t want to be interviewed.The report alleges that prior to Foo Fighters’ post-pandemic comeback, which kicked off last June with vaccination-mandatory gigs in LA and New York’s Madison Square Garden, “Hawkins felt hesitant about returning to the road and wasn’t sure he’d be able to remain a full-time member if they continued to tour at this pace”.Despite keeping physically fit, friends alleged that Hawkins was uncomfortable with sustaining such high performance. “He had a heart-to-heart with Dave [Grohl] and, yeah, he told me that he ‘couldn’t fucking do it anymore’ – those were his words,” Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, a close friend of Hawkins’ for decades, claimed to Rolling Stone.“So I guess they did come to some understanding, but it just seems like the touring schedule got even crazier after that.” A.