Shane Hawkins becomes the driving force behind his father Taylor's loud legacy with Chevy Metal

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Set us as preferred In the private home studio left behind by his father, Shane Hawkins is hitting the drums hard.The teenager behind the kit is locked into “Driven to Tears,” the Police’s reggae-charged protest song, channeling its sharp, syncopated beats with controlled fury.His long blond hair swings across his face as Hawkins loses himself in the moment, tapping into a brisk echo of ’80s rock.

He then shifts into the thundering blues of Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard,” driving into the heavier groove while surrounded by the instruments, gear and treasured memorabilia of his late father, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died in 2022.Joining him in this rehearsal are bassist Wiley Hodgden and guitarist Brent Woods, who played hard-rocking cover songs in Taylor’s side project Chevy Metal for more than two decades.After Taylor’s death, the Foo Fighters carried on, but Chevy Metal were certain they could not.

Shane changed that.“Wiley and I were in agreement, like, it’s done,” says Woods.“Shane was the one that said, ‘I want to do Chevy.’”For Taylor’s son, the band was one more thing he didn’t want to let go.“It was a part of my childhood and it’s like, my dad was gone and these people that I’ve watched my whole childhood, they’re still there,” says Shane, 19.

“Why not keep something going? And it’s just honoring my dad, you know?”Most of the music world first saw Shane behind the drums during Foo Fighters’ performance of “My Hero” at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert at Wembley Stadium on Sept.3, 2022.

He was 16 and already obsessed with drums, but he says it wasn’t until that moment that he knew he wanted to devote his life making music.“It was a gnarly time,” Shane recalls.“You had to pull that off.

You can’t really f— that up.“I played for a l...