Machine Gun Kelly to Taylor Hawkins’ Children – ‘Your Father Is a Great, Great Man’
As a guest on The Howard Stern Show, Machine Gun Kelly opened up about a special moment two days prior to the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, in which he, as well as his band and entourage, met up with the Foos after both groups' sets at the Asuncianico festival in Paraguay were canceled due to weather. At the end, MGK also addressed Hawkins' children and explained what made their father "a great, great man."
MGK was in the studio with his backing band and Stern relayed that when he learned of Hawkins' passing, one of the first people that came to mind was the rapper-turned-pop-punk-rocker. "I know you had seen him a few nights before," said Stern, to which MGK clarified that they had hung out two nights before the tragedy.
“It sucked because that day was the day the Foo Fighters were playing with us on the same stage. I had texted Dave [Grohl] and he was like, ’Yes, I’m gonna come watch the show’. They had never seen the show and that was the day where it was like, ‘Oh my God the Foo Fighters are gonna come watch our show," he exclaimed (transcription via NME).
They had even rigged a custom setup with special side stage monitors that would allow Foo Fighters to properly hear the live set, rather than get a heavy dose of the typically subpar sound heard when standing on the outskirts of the stage.
MGK continued, “We were so excited, man. [But] the rain came and I saw lightning start to happen. So I’m texting Dave and we’re super-bummed, and he’s like, ‘Come over to the hotel, we’re going to shut the rooftop down and we’ll have some drinks.'”
Rolling about 20 people deep, MGK was nervous about how such a large party would be received on the rooftop get-together, but how Hawkins conducted himself during that moment served as a bit of a window to Hawkins' "beautiful soul."
“We got out of the elevator, all 20 of [his entourage], and Taylor, Dave, the whole Foo Fighters team… but specifically Taylor, he went up to every single one of us and gave us each our moment. Like, every single one of us, man, down to my assistant – they’re relating over, ‘Oh you’re from Topanga? I’m from Topanga!’ It was like, dude, he’s such a beautiful soul, man," the singer/guitarist recalled.
For MGK, it was a much-needed moment amid some trying times. “I really want to thank him and let his kids know that he made us feel — in a time where the outside world, outside of the fans, was really coming in hard on us — he made us feel so confident in ourselves and loved," he affirmed and then directed his next words at the late drummer's children, “Your father is a great, great man and we were all lucky to know him, and we all appreciate that night more than anyone will know. That was a dream for us."
Watch the full interview clip below.
Hawkins died unexpectedly on March 25 just hours before Foo Fighters were set to hit the stage in Colombia. He was warmly remembered by countless peers, who flooded social media with tribute posts in honor of what an outstanding musician he was along with praise for his kind and giving spirit.
Colombian officials have since released a toxicology report, but no official cause of death has been determined at this time.