Taylor Hawkins: Noel Gallagher is a 'jerk'
Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins thinks Noel Gallagher is a "jerk".
The 47-year-old drummer has said he's "Team Liam" in the ongoing feud between Noel Gallagher and his brother and bitter rival Liam Gallagher, because he once had a bad experience with Noel, in which the former Oasis rocker told him to "suck [his] you know what".
Explaining his feud with Noel, Taylor explained: "We played the Reading Festival and I had a picture of the Gallagher brothers on my kick drum head [...] And I had Oasis, the Gallagher brothers up on my kick drum - I was like 'we're playing the Reading festival, it makes sense'. Then I went up front to sing a song and Dave [Grohl, Foo Fighters' frontman] went back to the drums, and I looked back at my kick drum head and I said, 'ah isn't it great to have the Gallagher brothers back together again?' And then I said, 'Let's all sign a petition to get Oasis to do a show again,' out of love of their music. Nothing else."
Taylor says the harmless comment then prompted Noel to ask for a petition to "get the Foo Fighters to break up".
He added: "So Noel Gallagher, who was opening up for Smashing Pumpkins in America at that time, goes - first night - he goes 'Oh I say we start a petition to get the Foo Fighters to break up.' And I'm kinda like 'Oh that's kinda funny, whatever.'
"And then next night he goes 'if the drummer from Nirvana...' - now Noel, if you're hearing this, [Dave] didn't say it, I said it - he goes 'if the drummer from Nirvana...' (he didn't even say Dave, you know, as if to lower him) '...wants Oasis to get back together he can come up on this stage right now and suck my you know what...'
"But I'm hoping now that he will lighten up a little bit and come to his senses and get the good singer back for his band. That's what I'm hoping. I just think that would be really nice, you know, because everybody wants to see that."
And the 'All My Life' hitmaker thinks Noel, 52, was unnecessarily "mean" for his comments.
He continued: "Liam's having a lot of success. I mean, he's doing two nights at The O2 Arena. Do you think that 'Potato Gallagher and the low charting turds' could do two nights at The O2 Arena?
"Listen, I know that Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders might be able to do The Scala if we're lucky. I know my lane. I know my lane. I stay in my lane. I know when I'm gonna play a stadium, it's gonna be because Dave Grohl's up front. I know that. But he was really mean. He was really a jerk."
And because of their feud, Taylor is now "Team Liam", because he thinks the younger Gallagher brother is "funnier" than Noel.
Speaking to Gordon Smart and Matt Morgan on Radio X, he said: "Liam's just as sharp-tongued. I mean, Liam's actually funnier than Noel I think! And I meant nothing by it by putting the Oasis brothers up there, and I meant nothing by it by just saying what everybody wants to say! Someday. And they will do it someday, because the money will just be too good.
"But you know, Noel's also the guy who wrote all the songs, so he's the one who's got all the money. All the other cats, they gotta work, man. You know, half the reason I'm still in the Foo Fighters is 'cause Dave knows I need to make a living. He could have got someone better a long time ago! [...] But whatever, I don't care. He's a jerk. I'm sorry you guys like him. I'm Team Liam all the way."