Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel opens up about Taylor Hawkins in one of his first interviews since his death. “He’s a person that I would have actively avoided… It was this real odd couple kinda thing.”
Mendel recently appeared on the podcast “Identified with Nabil Ayers” to discuss family and relationships. Having been in Foo Fighters’ since their debut in 1995, Mendel talked about the relationship dynamic of being in a band for so long:
“I’ve been in the same band for 28 years now. Those guys are my brothers… It’s a love hate thing. You’re really close, you’re around all the time. People you may not have chosen to be in this intimate relationship with, but you are. And over time you make it work.”
Nate Mendel honors Taylor Hawkins
For Mendel, late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins – who passed away in 2022 – is the perfect example of what a family is and making it work, admitting that in the beginning the two didn’t necessarily vibe, but that they eventually became two of the closest people in the band.
“Our drummer Taylor [Hawkins] who passed a couple years ago is like the best example of that because he’s a person that I would have actively avoided,” Mendel said. “And this is not to disparage his character, he’s just lived a different kind of life than me. Like, I’m more quiet and bookish, and he’s, you know, loud and brash southern California surfer guy. Just like a person that I would have avoided at all costs… He basically just wore me down, and then we were like the tightest guys in the band. You know, it was this real odd couple kinda thing and I really came to appreciate him and love him, of course. That was an interesting relationship for me because, you know, just having to overcome that. And then learn from it too.”
Mendel then continued, reminiscing about Hawkins and how he often liked to goof around with his friends as a way of showing his love for them:
“Like some of the things, like he would just [laughs]… just do things that like they [made] absolutely no sense to me. And I had the opportunity to, like, call him out on it. Again, you know, like kinda already more pacifist upbringing, and he’s the kinda guy that would like, you know, his friend’s asleep on the couch, and he would just get like a wooden spoon and a pan and just go [bam bam bam bam] right up in their face. …[laughs] I just remember, first time I saw him do that… ‘What are you doing? This guy is your friend.’ … And I was just blown away. Like, you can’t interact with people like that. No, but he was like, ‘That’s how I show love.’”
