Photo: Getty Images North America
Chad Smith has honored Taylor Hawkins in a number of ways since his untimely passing in March, and though he couldn't be there in person during the London tribute concert on Saturday night (September 3), the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer shared a heartfelt story about his friend in a video message.
“I’d love to tell a story of one of Taylor and I’s many escapades, but those probably wouldn’t be appropriate for this,” he said (transcribed by NME). “So I wanna tell you one that warms my heart."
“The 606 studio those guys have, the Foo Fighters – around the corner is a music store called Guitar Centre. I think Dave [Grohl] and Taylor used to go in there all the time and see what’s going on and maybe get some stuff," Smith explained. "Taylor would always bomb back to the drum room – the percussion section – and if there were little kids in there, wannabe drummers trying out stuff, he’d be in there and of course they’d be excited, like, ‘Oh my god, Taylor Hawkins is here, this is so cool.'”
“One day, the manager came to the guy that ran the percussion section and said, ‘You know, I think something’s going on with TH’s credit card – there must be some fraud or something because I see thousands of dollars over months of charges and I’ve never seen Taylor buy anything ever here,” he continued. “The guy that worked the counter in the percussion section said, ‘No, they’re not fraud. Taylor would actually buy drum equipment, drum sets, sticks, cymbals, whatever was needed for any of the kids that he was hanging out with."
“He knew how important it was to have good stuff and he would just buy it for them and never tell anybody and wouldn’t tell the store," Smith added. "The kids would walk out with the stuff and that’s the kind of guy that Taylor Hawkins is and I love him and I miss him every day. I know he’s really happy about this right now so I love you guys.”