Dave Grohl appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night (October 27) and shared a story about “poaching” late drummer Taylor Hawkins from Alanis Morissette’s band in the mid-1990s.
Grohl was on the show to promote his band Foo Fighters headlining KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas concert in December. Kimmel, who in the ‘90s worked at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, CA, remembered when Foo Fighters played the concert back in 1995. That gig just so happened to be when Grohl met his then-future drummer, Hawkins, who at the time was drumming for Alanis.
“Our first record came out around the time Alanis’ first record came out,” Grohl said to Kimmel. “So we were doing a bunch of those festivals and radio shows and things, but that was the first time I met Taylor, backstage.”
“Here comes this blond, surfer dude, like, ‘Yo, dude, I love your band. You guys are so awesome. Yadda-yadda-yadda,’” he continued. “I knew, right then, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna be best friends for the rest of our lives’.”
It didn’t take long for Grohl and Hawkins to quickly establish a bromance. The two would regularly bump into each other and spend their time getting to know one another.
“Every time we went to a festival and I saw the Alanis Morissette’s band was playing, I’d think, ‘Oh my god, that blonde kid is here,’” Grohl said. “So I’d grab a bunch of beers and I’d find Taylor and I just find him backstage and we just we became so close.”
Foo Fighters’ original drummer William Goldsmith ended up quitting in 1997, leaving a vacancy for that role in the band. And while it would make sense for Grohl to ask Hawkins if he wanted the job, it was actually Alanis Morissette who suggested he leave her band and join Grohl.
“It was funny because I think Alanis noticed that he and I were becoming really close friends,” Grohl explained. “And we played a show with them in France, and according to Taylor, when they got on their flight to go to China or something, he was sitting next to Alanis and she said, ‘What are you going to do when Dave asks you to be his drummer?’ And he said, ‘No, baby. I love you. I would never.’”
Hawkins remained in Alanis’s band for the rest of the You Oughta Know tour, but eventually left to join Foo Fighters in March 1997, while they were completing their second album, The Colour And The Shape. (He wouldn’t actually record with them until 1999’s There Is Nothing Left To Lose, however.)
“He was our drummer in like six months,” said Grohl. “But I thank God for Alanis Morissette because she put that amazing band together and really brought Taylor like up in the world.”
Added Kimmel, “And then you poached him from her.”
Watch the full interview below.