THE HARD STUFF ALBUMS

Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders

Get The Money COLUMBIA

Foos drummer delivers impressive solo LP.

Sure, he gets his turn singing Under Pressure at Foo Fighters shows, but surfer-dude drummer Taylor Hawkins is gradually being usurped as Dave Grohl’s most prominent sidekick by Rick Astley. His response has been to step up the solo career he began with 2016’s KOTA EP, following stints with Taylor Hawkins And The Coattail Riders (see what he did there?) and The Birds Of Satan. This second solo release continues his forage through the annals of pomp rock and prog metal with the help of an array of superstar sidekicks of his own: Grohl, Roger Taylor, Joe Walsh, LeAnn Rimes, Nancy Wilson, Duff McKagan, Steve Jones, Chrissie Hynde… it’s like a post-grunge Ringo’s All-Starrs.

Hawkins remains unrepentant about the coattails he’s ridden in on; he slyly slips a snippet of Foo Fighters’ into synth metal opening track , and a space-noise coda that tips a wink to his work with Coheed And Cambria. The squealing-guitar tips he picked up working with Brian May pay off on , which is basically Queen if they’d , or the way that aims at -era Bowie but hits Thin Lizzy, right down to the sort of whiskied harmonies and angle-grinder guitars you’re surprised to find in a loving ode to one’s daughter.