The Struts' Luke Spiller On Taylor Hawkins: 'I Owe Him A Great Amount'

Taylor Hawkins meant a great deal to a lot of people, so when he died unexpectedly in March, it was a tragic shock to the world of music. This Saturday (September 3), the Foo Fighters are hosting the first of two tribute shows to their late drummer. The star-studded event is set to take place at Wembley Stadium in London, and among those performing will be members of Queen with The Struts' singer Luke Spiller. Ahead of the show, Spiller spoke to SPIN about his relationship with Hawkins.

“I owe so much of where I am right now to him, from getting the opportunity to open up for the Foos … even coming to L.A., and sort of laying roots down here, which, again, was life-changing, and probably something that I wouldn’t have done if he hadn’t encouraged it,” Spiller reflected. “So I owe him a great amount, and I kind of still do, with these shows that are coming up. I still kind of find it a bit ludicrous that I’m even considered to be on that bill, considering the lineup. It’s going to be a really bittersweet experience. In many ways I wish I wasn’t doing it, but I kind of know in my heart of hearts, and I can actually see Taylor jumping with excitement, if I was to have called him up and be like, hey, I’m going to be singing a couple of Queen songs with Queen, he’d be like, oh my god! I know that he’d be super excited for me.”

AC/DC's Brian Johnson also recently spoke about his love for Hawkins ahead of his performance at the tribute. “Okay here we go. Taylor was a lovely man, his smile was legend, his drumming intense and brilliant, and he could sing as well,” Johnson wrote. “When we gather to salute this man and his family, we do it as friends, we do it for him, and we do it with his band the Foo Fighters, who I know will do him proud. I’m honoured to be part of it.”

The tribute show will be streaming live on Paramount+ beginning at 11:30am ET/8:30am PT on September 3. A second concert is set to take place on September 27 in Los Angeles.