Dave Navarro Talks Recent Illness, Losing Friend Taylor Hawkins

2024-07-31

Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction says he’s still mourning the death of Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins – Author: Cat Badra, Photo via Anne Erickson

Dave Navarro took some time away from Jane’s Addiction after fighting a long round of COVID. Now, in a new interview, the guitarist says he’s also been having difficulty when it comes to mental health after the death of his good buddy Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters.

Dave Navarro Talks Losing Friend Taylor Hawkins

Just a few months before Taylor Hawkins passed away in March 2022, Dave Navarro and Hawkins introduced the world to their new band NHC, which also featured bass player Chris Chaney. In a new interview with Guitar World, Navarro opened up about the loss of Hawkins and says it really rattled him.

“I’d just completed making a record with Taylor Hawkins and Chris Chaney,” Navarro said. “We mixed and mastered it, and then we lost Taylor. That was in the middle of COVID, and it was actually very painful for me to pick up the guitar after that. I didn’t pick up the guitar for about a year. He was such an inspiring artist — not only was he a phenomenal drummer, he was an amazing songwriter and lyricist…just one of those humans that everybody loved.”

He added, “After losing Taylor I didn’t play for a long time. Then, about a year into it, I picked up the guitar, started playing some cover songs, and just kind of got used to the instrument in my hand again.”

One upside of being sick with COVID for so long and the after effects of the virus is that Navarro spent a lot of his free time studying guitar even more than usual and being inspired all over again.

“Since I had the illness, I was housebound for a long time, and that’s when I really started getting into some out-there guitar players I normally didn’t study, like [session great] Jay Graydon,” he said. “I started studying Jay, and I started diving deep into Van Halen, tone chasing, and reading everything I could about the gear [Eddie Van Halen] used, may have used, or that’s rumored to have been used.”

Navarro playing his first show with Jane’s Addiction since the illness in London in May. Before then, though, he had already been working with the band in the studio on new music.

“I spent most of my days during my illness just kind of woodshedding guitar and relearning things,” Navarro said. “I played Jane’s Addiction records front to back and tried to relearn things I’d played in the ’80s and ’90s that I’d forgotten. That was a challenge, and that was fun. And because I knew I was gearing up to join again at some point, the band wanted to start working on new music. I was well enough to go in a studio and sit in a chair. I’d sit for 10 hours, so that was easy, and we wrote some new music.”

Jane’s Addiction released their latest song, “Imminent Redemption,” last week. It marks the first bit of new music from the classic Jane’s Addiction lineup in a whopping 34 years. The band sets off on a co-headlining North American tour with Love & Rockets Aug. 9th in Las Vegas.

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Cat Badra

Meet the expert - Cat Badra is a music writer for Audio Ink Radio and a range of other music, sports and lifestyle publications. She's a graduate of Michigan State University with a master's degree in theater and speech. Contact her at cat@audioinkradio.com.

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