Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl met regularly in the mid-1990s, especially at festivals where they both performed. Hawkins accompanied Alanis Morissette behind the drum kit on her ‘Jagged Little Pill’ tour, Grohl was just working on Foo Fighters, his artistic response to the self-imposed death of his friend Kurt Cobain. Grohl also drummed himself, with Nirvana, but had moved up to the position of singer/guitarist in his new project.