Dave Navarro: It Was “Very Painful for Me to Pick Up the Guitar” After Taylor Hawkins Died

The post Dave Navarro: It Was “Very Painful for Me to Pick Up the Guitar” After Taylor Hawkins Died appeared first on Consequence .

Dave Navarro recently returned to Jane’s Addiction after a bout with long COVID. In a new interview, the guitarist reveals that he was also struggling mentally after the death of his good friend Taylor Hawkins .

Only months before the tragic passing of the Foo Fighters drummer in March 2022, the two musicians had debuted their new band NHC , also featuring bassist Chris Chaney. While speaking with Guitar World , Navarro revealed that he was devastated by the loss of Hawkins.

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“I’d just completed making a record with Taylor Hawkins and Chris Chaney,” said Navarro. “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 continued, “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.”

Navarro went on to say that he started to rediscover his love for the guitar by studying some of his favorite musicians.

He explained, “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. 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 made his live return to Jane’s Addiction at a show in London in May. However, he had already rejoined his longtime band in the studio by the time that gig came around.

“I spent most of my days during my illness just kind of woodshedding guitar and relearning things,” added Navarro. “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.”

One of those new songs, “Imminent Redemption,” was released last week, marking the first new tune from the classic Jane’s Addiction lineup in 34 years.

Navarro will be with Jane’s Addiction when they launch a co-headlining North American tour with Love & Rockets. The trek kicks off August 9th in Las Vegas, with tickets available here .

Dave Navarro: It Was “Very Painful for Me to Pick Up the Guitar” After Taylor Hawkins Died
Spencer Kaufman