Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins death hit Bee Gees icon Barry Gibb and son 'hard'

Daily Mirror

3 days ago

EXCLUSIVE: Stephen Gibb has spoken on the death of his close friend, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, admitting the news hit his dad Barry 'hard'
Stephen Gibb has revealed that the death of Foo Fighters icon Taylor Hawkins affected his dad, Bee Gees icon, Barry, "hard". The music world was left shocked in March 2022 when it was announced that Taylor, aged 50, had died after complaining of chest pains.
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The drummer had been scheduled to perform on the day of his death. When medics were called to his room at the Four Seasons Casa Medina hotel, he was found unresponsive. Emergency services instantly started performing CPR, but he was sadly declared dead at the scene.
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The day after, it was confirmed following a urine toxicology test that Taylor had 10 different drugs, including THC, tricyclic antidepressants, opioids, and benzodiazepines, in his system. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Stephen, 50, explained how the death had affected his dad, Bee Gees legend Barry.
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"I just spoke to him days prior to losing him; it was a real shock for me and my dad," he said. Stephen went on to add: "My dad was really close with him, and they would speak often at that time. Dad took it really hard. I'll never understand why some people get to stay and some people have to leave. Taylor was the best. The thing is, he was the real embodiment of pure rock and roll love I've ever seen in a human being."
The musician, 50, continued: "He really loved it. The world will never forget him, and it won't be because of a song I wrote. I wrote that song because I loved the guy. I'll never get to make music like we planned on doing. This was a little love letter to a guy that should be getting loved on forever. He was the real thing, a heart of gold and one of the greatest drummers in history.
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"He accomplished what he set out to do here, I think, I hope for his sake, but God, I love him and I know the world loves him." Stephen and his Kill The Robot bandmates have penned a moving song, Western Shores, for Taylor on their self-titled debut album.
Growing up with a global icon as a dad, Stephen quickly had to discover who his real friends were. "The Bee Gees were still a very big band, the hardest thing is knowing who your real friends are," he said, adding: "That's a process, you might have to blow your life up for you to figure out who your real friends are, but you do.
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"The big misconception a lot of people have is that because a family is famous, it's somehow not affected by certain things that everyone else is affected by. The fact of the matter is, like most celebrities that I've met in my life, are real people that have problems, just like everybody else – it's just that they have this unimaginable skill or gift that they're able to bestow upon the world. It comes with a price."
Growing up, he followed his dad on the road and to the studios, but around the ages of eight and nine, he soon realised that not everybody's dad was a singer, never mind a global icon. "My dad and his brothers, we used to be a very close-knit, large family, we spent a lot of time together," he said, adding: "We would have cookouts at Maurice's house. The most powerful memories that all of us have, I can't speak for everybody, many nights after dinner, they would sit around and sing other people's songs, their favourite songs to entertain us.
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"I don't think it dawned on me until I was a little bit older, how special, unique and powerful their contributions were and are. You grow up as the oldest son of a guy that a lot of people know. The thing I'm most grateful for, I knew what it looked like, I knew what it took to be good at something that you really loved. It took obsession for my dad, all of them, 100 per cent commitment.
"You could be the greatest thing in the world, had the Bee Gees not gone back to the UK, what could have happened? Maybe nothing. It's an incredible gift and honour to be in a family that created something that has, up to this point, outlived them. I think as I get older, that's more and more rare with each passing year."
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He revealed he had to have his fair share of challenges, rites of passage, admitting he had a "bit of a chip on his shoulder" as a child, because of his dad's fame. "It does make life a little bit more challenging for your kids." One of these challenges was fans of Barry's turning up at their family home when Stephen was a child.
"I've had one or two of them say they were my real mum, my dad and them and me were going to run away together," he joked, adding: "It's odd, it comes with its odd things, as I've gotten older, I work just as hard as anybody else I know that does what I do. There's no free lunch; it doesn't matter if you're Barry Gibb's son or John Lennon's son; they're not going to make it easy for you. It's a double-edged sword.
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"It's like 'Oh, your son has a band, does he sound like his dad?' I don't, people get disappointed that you have your own fingerprint." That fingerprint left Stephen "terrified and excited" for Kill The Robot's debut album. He admits it's "hard" to get people to listen to a new band, but the record is a "labour of love."
"Making this album with some of my best friends, we had a lot of fun doing that," he beamed. He hopes that the record will please and entertain new fans, as well as fans who have stuck by him over the years. "My hope is now that it's out, people will see what Kill The Robot is as a band, they can find something that's comfortable for them in our music."
Kill The Robot, via Dark Lab Recordings, is available to stream and download on all major platforms.