Dave Navarro has confirmed that he has an album’s worth of unreleased material recorded with the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Jane’s Addiction guitarist said the unreleased album needs to be heard.
“I don’t really know where that stands, but I’ll tell you that I really believe that it deserves to come out,” he explained, “because that record to me, really showcased what a brilliant all-around musician Taylor was, because he wrote most of the songs, played the drums and sang them.”
He continued: “His overall musicianship, I think, really deserves to be known and highlighted. So I really hope it sees the light of day.”
Navarro and Hawkins had finished recording an album together before the Foo Fighters drummer passed away. After his passing, Navarro admitted that he hadn’t picked up the guitar for a long time.
“I’ll be honest – I didn’t pick up the guitar for about a year,” he revealed during an earlier interview with Guitar World. “And because he was such an inspiring artist… Not only was he a phenomenal drummer, but he was also an amazing songwriter and lyricist, and he was just one of those humans that everybody loved. Everybody loved him.”
Before his passing, Hawkins also helped the band get back together. The band didn’t feel entirely comfortable with the reunion between 2008 and 2010. The bassist Eric Avery and Navarro had bad blood, though the two later made up in private.
Hawkins called Avery out of the blue, telling Avery that Perry Farrell was thinking of reuniting the classic lineup for Lollapalooza shows and wanted Avery involved. Avery’s wife encouraged him to clarify the situation with Hawkins. They resolved their issues and agreed to reunite.
After Hawkins’ death in March 2022, Farrell and Avery met to discuss reuniting the band and writing new music. Avery found the experience positive. Farrell later acknowledged that the band needed to resolve the ‘unfinished business,’ which eventually brought the band where it is today.