New Documentary Features Taylor Hawkins’ Final Interview

Let There Be Drums! (Greenwich Entertainment), a forthcoming documentary directed by Justin Kreutzmann (son of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann), features the last filmed interview with late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. In a trailer that was released yesterday, there’s a clip of Hawkins saying that the “second I sat on the drums, it was like a bolt of lightning went through my body and I’ll never forget that day.”

The documentary features a who’s who of legendary beat makers. In addition to the elder Kreutzmann and fellow Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart, participants include Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Ringo Starr, Stewart Copeland (the Police), Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction), Matt Sorum (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Adrian Young (No Doubt), Green Day (Tré Cool) and Jay Lane (Primus).

Let There Be Drums! will be released on Oct. 28.

The film, from Greenwich Entertainment, was directed by Justin Kreutzmann, son of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, and features a who’s who of legendary beat makers. In addition to the elder Kreutzmann and fellow Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart, participants include Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ringo Starr, Stewart Copeland of the Police, Jane’s Addiction’s Stephen Perkins, ex-Guns N Roses drummer Matt Sorum, No Doubt’s Adrian Young, Tre Cool of Green Day and Primus’ Jay Lane, among others.

The documentary aims to be an “examination into the essential role drumming plays in great bands and how music passes from generation to generation,” using a combined 70 years of examples.

In addition to interviews, producers have gathered a collection of rare footage, including Keith Moon in outtakes from The Kids Are Alright, the Who’s documentary from 1979 as well as late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham on the roles of fatherhood amid being a musician (his son Jason now sits in for him on the kit for various occasions with the surviving members of the band). There are also snapshots of the talents before they made it big, like Ringo Starr posing with his drum kit as a teenager and No Doubt’s Young doing a basement show before that band went on to be a Top 40 hitmaker.