Taylor Hawkins dead at 50: How Foo Fighters drummer avoided arrest in Australia

The Foo Fighters drummer whose death today shocked the world has a legacy in Australia that involves a truly iconic story from the Gold Coast.

He’s been remembered for his “spirit” and “unstoppable power”, but for Australians, Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins’ legacy also no doubt involves the time he narrowly avoided arrest on the Gold Coast.

The 50-year-old dad-of-three – who was one of rock music’s greatest drummers – was found unresponsive in a hotel room in Bogota, Colombia where the band were due to play at a festival on Friday night.

“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the band said in a brief statement on social media.

“His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever.

“Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”

His tragic death comes just weeks after the band played a one-off show in Geelong, marking their first performance here since 2018 and Australia’s first full-capacity stadium show by an international act since before the pandemic.

While it was an unforgettable night for the audience of 30,000, it might not be their most iconic – that moment came while the Foo Fighters were on the Gold Coast for their first Big Day Out appearance in January 2000.

Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins has died, aged 50. Picture: Valerie Macon/AFP

Dave Grohl and Hawkins ran into some trouble while riding scooters on the Gold Coast in January 2000. Picture: Rene Johnston/Toronto Star via Getty Images

In one of the least “rock and roll” crimes of all time, frontman Dave Grohl wrote in his autobiography The Storyteller of how he and Hawkins “rented scooters so we could buzz around town during the day, beach to beach, for the three days before our massive show at the Gold Coast Parklands”.

Grohl kicked off the band’s Big Day Out set by riding the scooter on stage, and afterwards, he and Hawkins headed for their hotel – only to run into a police drink driving checkpoint along the way.

While Hawkins was waved past, the Foo Fighters frontman, having knocked back “a few tins of malted beverages and a few shots of whiskey” before getting on the scooter, was found to be over the limit.

“All of those years getting away with doing the most jackass sh*t you could possibly imagine and never getting caught, and here I was being arrested in Australia for drunk driving on a f**king moped,” Grohl joked of the incident.

He was handcuffed, interviewed by police and put in a cell before he was rescued by his tour manager a few hours later – while Hawkins got off scot-free.

Grohl and Hawkins reminisced on the experience in a 2015 interview with ABC’s 7.30, with their fellow band members wondering how Hawkins managed to evade getting arrested.

“Me and him got mopeds down on the Gold Coast like everybody does, goes around, it was great fun, so we spent a couple of days down there before the show,” Hawkins recalled.

“Show day comes, it’s a beautiful day. We took the scooters – I think [Grohl] even rode it up on stage like you were in Judas Priest for the first song. So afterwards we stayed, we hung, we partied, Dave was over-served, it was a very irresponsible barman backstage who over-served Dave.

“And then me and Dave were riding home on our scooters, and I wasn’t hammered actually. I had a bag of weed in my pocket, but he was hammered. And we both got stopped in one of those f**king police sobriety checkpoints – I passed, Dave failed.”

After Grohl was taken to jail, Hawkins revealed that he took his scooter home, returned in a cab to get Grohl’s scooter, “and told our tour manager to go get Dave out of jail”.

Their Geelong show on March 4 marked Hawkins’ final performance with the band Down Under.

“For the past two f**king years, I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for these motherf**kers to open up your border,” Grohl told the crowd of 30,000 on March 4.

“I thought we were going to play some f**king theatre, some little club or something like that – but because this is f**king Australia, here we are in a f**king stadium tonight. We f**king miss you people so much, I am so f**king happy to be here.”

“I had a bag of weed in my pocket, but he was hammered. And we both got stopped in one of those f**king police sobriety checkpoints – I passed, Dave failed.” Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images North America/AFP

Earlier this month, the band had announced they would be touring Australia later this year for the first time since 2018, with stadium shows in Perth on November 30, Melbourne on December 4, Brisbane on December 10 and Sydney on December 12.

Dave Grohl said at the time that he and his band have a strong affinity for Australia.

“From the first time Nirvana came down, since then it’s always been this magical refuge, a place we’ve always looked forward to coming,” he told media at the time of the announcement.

“We’ve never had a bad tour — we haven’t really had bad tours anywhere — but there’s something about Australia and Australians we feel akin to … maybe it’s the love of big guitars. A lot of places don’t have that same passion for rock music as Australians.

“Rock music is much more celebrated in Australia than America, we’ve got a great thing going on in America, but you come here and there’s so many great bands down here, and the gigs just go off.”

The band were also scheduled to perform at the Grammys on April 3.

Hawkins is survived by his wife, Alison, and their three children: Oliver Shane, Annabelle and Everleigh.