Chris Shiflett Suggests Foo Fighters Will Continue to Make New Music
With the second Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert set to take place this evening (Sept. 27) in Los Angeles, there remains the question of what will become of Foo Fighters after the performances honoring Hawkins take place. While no definitive statement on that topic has been made, during a recent chat with The Plug With Justin Jay (heard. below), guitarist Chris Shiflett alludes to a possible recording future for the group.
Within the chat, Shiflett was asked how he's been approached by other interviewers about Hawkins death, which occurred back on March 25 of this year. “Most people that I’ve encountered have been respectful about it or try to avoid it,” said the guitarist.
“It probably will be [more of a thing] when we ever get around to putting out another Foo Fighters record and go back into the promo boogie woogie," he then added, suggesting a possible recording future though not revealing any specifics.
Shiflett then went on to discuss the delicate subject of addressing the death of band members with their living bandmates and walking the line of being respectful.
“I remember that when I joined Foo Fighters, it was 1999 so it was a while after Kurt Cobain had died but I would watch interviewers twist themselves in knots trying to ask Dave [Grohl] about it but not ask. I would think it would turn into that kinda thing,” he added, commenting that it's given him new perspective on what he thought he knew about the deaths of rock icons such as Jim Morrison or Randy Rhoads.
That said, he adds that there has been some line crossing in what he's seen reported. “Taylor was this big character and he meant a lot to millions of people so I get that fascination with [his death] but so much of what I’ve seen out there is so completely wrong,” Shiflett said. “There’s people out there saying shit like Dave killed Taylor by making him get the COVID vaccine. You’re going to turn it into that? Fuck you. I try not to pay attention to it but it does make you angry because that shit is just disrespectful.”
Where it comes to respect, you'll see that in spades this evening as some of the top names in the music business come out to pay their respects to the larger than life personality and incredible talent of Taylor Hawkins. The final lineup for the Los Angeles date at the Kia Forum was released over the weekend and it includes (in alphabetical order): Sebastian Bach, Travis Barker, Tommy Brenneck, Geezer Butler, Matt Cameron, Danny Carey, Chris Chaney, Chevy Metal, Phil Collen, Stewart Copeland, Miley Cyrus, Jon “Juano” Davison, Elliot Easton, Joe Elliot, Josh, Freese, Violet Grohl, Omar Hakim, Justin Hawkins, Shane Hawkins, Josh Homme, James Gang, Joan Jett, Alain Johannes, John Paul Jones, Kesha, Mark King, Greg Kurstin, Geddy Lee, Tommy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Brian May, Taylor Momsen, Alanis Morissette, Krist Novoselic, P!nk, Mark Ronson, Rick Savage, Nikki Sixx, Chad Smith, Luke Spiller, Roger Taylor, Rufus Taylor, Kim Thayil, Jon Theodore, Lars Ulrich, Wolfgang Van Halen, Brad Wilk, Nancy Wilson, Patrick Wilson, Nate Wood and Andrew Wyatt.
The show follows the previous Hawkins' tribute at London's Wembley Stadium, the venue where Foo Fighters had previously shot one of their most famous concert video releases. That show was streamed globally and later condensed into an hour-long special airing on CBS. Tonight's show, like its predecessor, will raise funds for Music Support U.K. as well as MusiCares.