When Taylor Hawkins accepted the role as drummer for the Foo Fighters in 1997, he had a mighty task in front of him. Being the drumming force for one of rock's greatest drummers (Dave Grohl) set a high bar of expectations. In fact, the first time Hawkins met Axl Rose, the first words out of his mouth were, "What's it like to be the drummer for the greatest drummer of the 1990s?" It didn't take long for Hawkins to live up to the expectations, carving out a great niche of his own while being an influential and beloved figure in the Foo Fighters universe, earning his own spot as one of rock's greatest drummers of the modern era.
We are proud to offer the first (and possibly only) known Taylor Hawkins drum set to ever be offered to the public. This set consists of a 27" bass drum (front of drum original contained a large TAMA logo sticker, which was apparently removed by Hawkins when his sponsorship with TAMA concluded), a 21" floor tom, a 14" Tom, a 14" Tama starclassic snare and a 20" Zildjian oriental crash cymbal of doom, with Taylor signing all but the snare drum. All five pieces showcase superior usage from touring, and Hawkins has hand signed all pieces except for the snare drum.
This set was donated by Hawkins in 2016 to a special charity auction held by Norman's Rare Guitars of Los Angeles to generate funds for the LA Midnight Mission to help the homeless. To help promote the auction, Hawkins did a video for the company where he explained that this particular set was used on the Foo Fighter's 2005 "In Your Honor" World Tour. While Hawkins has attributed the drum kit to usage during the band's Australian leg of the tour, research has found that some of all of the kit was also used on additional dates during the US leg of the tour.
The set sources direct from the buyer of the original auction offering, who explains in a detailed letter of provenance that Hawkins stated that the original snare drum for the kit was given away during a radio promotion in Australia, and in turn the snare provided came from Hawkins' personal drum kit at the time. Research finds this snare was featuring in a kit that was used by Hawkins for a photoshoot for the May 2006 issue of Modern Drummer and is featured in the cover image of the magazine as well as in images inside. Additionally, the snare was used for Hawkins' side project, Chevy Metal.
As if usage from one legendary drummer wasn't enough, research also shows that Dave Grohl also played on this kit during the tour, as the Foos would switch it up and play a couple songs at each concert where Grohl would play drums and Hawkins would take the lead role as singer and guitarist.
This amazing piece of modern rock history is accompanied by a detailed Letter of Provenance from the collector who won the kit from the Norman's auction, and below is a link to the video which Hawkins did for the auction to explain the origins and significance of the kit. It just simply does not get any better than this!