Solo Record

Ed. Note: This interview was conducted and published in 2016 in advance of the release of Taylor Hawkins’ solo album, KOTA. In light of Hawkins’ passing on Friday, March 25th, we are republishing the full interview. — There’s this sense of invincibility in the air around Taylor Hawkins, this feeling that he could do anything, so he did everything. It got daring for a while for the Foo Fighters drummer, drugs and laziness, and too much of nothing. He’s reached a symmetry now. He won’t go back, but he will be able to look back at a life of adventures. Take a look at the titles of his various non-Foo projects and you get an idea of Hawkins’ personality: the Coattail Riders, the Birds of Satan, Chevy Metal. His new solo album shows a similar sort of winking, old-school rock ‘n’ roll goofiness,...