Taylor Made

Here’s one for those among us who miss gatefold sleeves, the crackle of vinyl, old school producers like Bob Ezrin or Roy Thomas Baker, the whole Cameron Crowe kit and caboodle. Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders’ second album Red Light Fever unselfconsciously harks back to the golden era of classic ‘70s rock records (even the website’s track sampler takes the form of an old eight-track cartridge player). Featuring cameos from Dave Grohl, Brian May, Roger Taylor and The Cars’ Elliot Easton, the songs often suggest an ambitious mash up between Queen, The Sweet and Zeppelin.

“You can hear what I love on this record,” Hawkins admits. “I like the way people used to make records. It was a fine line between completely self-indulgent and pompous, and someone really trying to make some sort of statement artistically.”
While we’re talking ‘70s music, Hawkins is evangelical about The Sweet deserving as much critical kudos as more credible glam acts like Bowie, Roxy and T-Rex.
“I’ve always wondered who came first, Queen or Sweet, ‘cos there’s definitely similarities in the structure of their harmonies and even the guitar stuff. I don’t care what anybody says, to me The Sweet were very, very important, a great rock ‘n’ roll band with neat textures. I listen to Desolation Boulevard and Give Us A Wink all the time. They were seen maybe as a pop production band, but the funny thing is I think Sweet’s best stuff they wrote themselves. They wrote ‘Fox on the Run’, Chinn and Chapman did not write that song. I’ll tell ya, a lot of the musicians that I know and love totally respect Sweet.”
So how was it working with Queen veterans Taylor and May?
“Well, I’d done stuff with them in the past already – I did some recording for Brian back in the late ‘90s on his solo record, and he actually played some guitar on the Foo Fighters record One By One, and I’ve done other recordings for Brian and Roger in the past couple of years that haven’t been released yet. But to have them play on my songs was a new experience and a bit nervy. You send them a song and hope they don’t think you’re totally stupid.
“Obviously they hear a reflection of themselves in my music because they were such a big influence on me. When Roger Taylor went to do the background vocals on ‘Your Shoes’ he was like, ‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ And I said, ‘Just do that thing you do!’ He has a very distinctive voice. And with Brian, it’s like, all he has to do is play two notes and it’s Brian May. Queen have a classiness about them. Roger likes to have a good time but he does it in a very upper class way – and I don’t mean that in a bad way, he’s just a classy guy, and humble and self effacing and all that stuff, he’s not like some jerk who thinks he walks on water. And Brian’s very self deprecating and very insecure still, in a really sweet way. It’s neat to see that in those types of people.”
At what point did Taylor – an uncommonly good drummer – discover he also had chops as a songwriter and singer?
“Well, never really! I love the process of writing songs and recording them and hearing them come to fruition. I don’t think I ever really said to myself, ‘You know what? I’m really good at this.’ It was more a case of I enjoy doing something, I have this period where the band I’m in most of the time is not going to be busy, and I want to be busy, I like creating all the time, whether it’s just drums for the Foo Fighters or writing my own songs.”
Hawkins’ bandmate Dave Grohl went through almost exactly the same evolution: a virtuoso drummer who switched to fronting his own band. Did Dave offer any advice about the transition?
“Well, y’know, no and yes. He was there in the initial stages of putting this record together, he helped me make it, so I guess in a way he did have advice – he helped me arrange these songs and bring them to a certain point and then he took off and did Them Crooked Vultures and just said, ‘Go for it.’ He’s supportive and he knows I’m creative and can’t just sit around for two years waiting for him to say, ‘Okay, I’m ready to make another Foo Fighters record.’ Y’know, a real musician never sleeps. I look at it two ways. I think there’s guys or girls who are in bands, and then there are people who are musicians. I don’t ever stop thinking about music. The air that I breathe is music. I’ll play or make music in some way, shape or form until the day I die. I’m a lifer.”