Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters recently joined Matt Wilkinson on Beats 1 on Apple Music, and he discussed original drummer William Goldsmith.
“I really wasn’t comfortable playing drums in Foo Fighters really until we got into One By One. ‘All My Life’ was the first track, because Dave [Grohl] played half the tracks on There Is Nothing Left To Lose.
I was struggling, because I had never been in the studio before. The studio is a completely different thing than live dude, it couldn’t be any more different. The microscope is on. The first drummer for the Foo Fighters buckled under the pressure, and still blames Dave for that. It’s like no dude, and Dave never fired him by the way. Just so we’re all clear, Dave never fired him.
He quit. He keeps going on these blog adventures. Dave never fired him, Dave never wanted to fire him.
It was 2002 or 2003 where I really started to find my space in the band. Up until the end, I’ve got to try and be Dave Grohl, and I’m not.”
You can listen to the interview in its entirety below. William Goldsmith played in Foo Fighters from 1995 to 1997 before leaving the band over Dave Grohl re-recording his drum parts for The Colour and the Shape. Taylor Hawkins joined the band for the tour for that album.
