Dave Navarro's Painful Tribute: NHC Album Finished Before Taylor Hawkins' Passing

Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro has opened up about his grief and pain following the loss of his close friend, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. In an upcoming interview with *Guitar World*, Navarro revealed that he, Hawkins, and AC/DC bassist Chris Chaney had completed an album together under their band, NHC, before Hawkins' untimely passing in March 2022.

Navarro, Hawkins, and Chaney first unveiled their new band, NHC, in September 2021, sharing two songs: the prog-tinged alt-rocker "Feed The Cruel" and the more melancholic and melodic "Better Move On." Both tracks featured Hawkins on lead vocals. The band took the stage for the first time at Eddie Vedder's Ohana Festival Encore weekend in October 2021, and later released a performance video of "Lazy Eyes" from the Troubadour club in Los Angeles, featuring Foo Fighters' Pat Smear on guitar.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, NHC continued to write and record together, with Navarro describing the project as “an awakening of everything [he] loved about playing.”

The band had finished mixing and mastering their debut album when the tragic news of Hawkins' death broke on March 25, 2022. “We lost Taylor,” Navarro says. "It was in the middle of Covid, and it was actually very painful for me to pick up the guitar after that."

He admitted to a year-long hiatus from playing, as he struggled to process the loss of his friend and musical collaborator. "I'll be honest – I didn't pick up the guitar for about a year," he continues. "And because he [Taylor Hawkins] was such an inspiring artist… Not only was he a phenomenal drummer, but he was also an amazing songwriter and lyricist, and he was just one of those humans that everybody loved. Everybody loved him.”

The completed NHC album remains a testament to the band's creative spirit and the enduring legacy of Taylor Hawkins. While the album's fate remains uncertain, it serves as a poignant reminder of the unique talent and bond shared by Navarro, Hawkins, and Chaney.

Fans can read the full interview with Navarro in an upcoming issue of *Guitar World*, while Jane's Addiction, Navarro's main band, is set to release a new single, "Imminent Redemption," on July 25.