The Darkness are a band full of so much talent that never got the due-shine. Drummer of the band, Rufus Tiger Taylor has commented on drumming with Foo Fighters at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts in September. Taylor has been speculated to be a full time replacement, along with Josh Freese.
Via Planet Radio, Rufus was extremely close friends with Taylor Hawkins and Rufus Taylor played drums on ‘Best of You’ and ‘These Days’ with Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium, and the latter track at the Los Angeles concert 24 days later.
The 31-year-old also joined his dad Roger Taylor and Brian May on stage during the Queen segment of the star-studded concerts.
In a new interview with Music Radar, Rufus Taylor has spoken about his incredibly close friendship with Taylor Hawkins and what it was like stepping into his shoes at the tribute concerts four months ago.
Rufus said: “He was always really sweet to me. We just kind of clicked together immediately, and the more I grew up it was just strange how similar we were – a lot because I idolized him and everything – but we ended up like twins, in the end… He always supported every single thing I ever did.”
Asked what it was like to perform at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts, Rufus said: “‘These Days’ was fine. ‘Best of You’ was scary because after the first stop, it’s just an unmapped freestyle kind of thing.”
Rufus even said that he was scared with all of this.
He said: “I knew that it was gonna be a room full of the best drummers in the world, like Omar Hakim, Dave (Grohl), and Stewart f—ing Copeland, all these monster players. Obviously, I know Dave, but Stewart and Omar, all those guys – me and Taylor used to talk about them all the time. So now I suddenly have to go in and play a nine-minute solo in front of them!”
Luckily, all went well.
He closed: “But seeing the Foos guys – they are like family to me – seeing them in rehearsals and then doing what my guy always did was quite surreal. But I had to just think, ‘If he was in the room, would he be proud? What would he say?’ He would just be egging me on, I know it. So that kind of thought got me through it. But yeah, it was nerve-wracking.”
