Taylor Hawkins, Ringo Starr To Feature In ‘Let There Be Drums’
Taylor Hawkins, Ringo Starr and a host of legendary drummers are to feature in the new documentary, Let There Be Drums!.
Justin Kreutzmann, son of The Grateful Dead’s drummer Bill Kreutzmann, directed the documentary which “examines the essential role drumming plays in great bands and how music passes from generation to generation.”
Taylor Hawkins, who died in March at the age of 50 while visiting Bogotá, Colombia, appears in the documentary with what may be his last recorded interview, along with fellow drummers Stewart Copeland of The Police; Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann of The Grateful Dead; Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction; Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Matt Sorum of Guns N’ Roses.
Kreutzman has said he made the documentary “to talk to the world’s most influential drummers in hopes of better understanding his father and the instrument that defined his life.”
“The idea of doing the movie Let There Be Drums! really came to me as a gift. Literally,” Kreutzmann said in a statement. “It started Christmas Day, 1977 when I was given a Super-8 film camera. The first home movies I filmed were of my Dad on stage at Winterland in San Francisco. They were shot from my perspective, sitting right behind him on the drum riser so he could keep an eye on me during the Grateful Dead’s performances. Drums, and the drummers that play them, have been a major component of my entire life.”
The documentary is a production of AOMA Sunshine Films, the company that produced the acclaimed 2017 Grateful Dead documentary Long Strange Trip, which was directed by Martin Scorsese. AOMA’s Alex Blavatnik produced Let There Be Drums! The Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann serve as executive producers.
Let There Be Drums! is currently pencilled in for release at the end of October.