Rush‘ Geddy Lee has opened up on the affect of Taylor Hawkins‘ death on him, saying the Foo Fighters drummer’s passing “broke my heart”.

The Foo Fighters drummer died on March 25 at the age of 50 while in his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia in the middle of a South American tour. The band announced the news in a statement on social media; no cause of death was given. All forthcoming Foo Fighters tour dates were then cancelled.

Soon after his death, Rush members paid tribute to their “musical brother” Hawkins, and Lee has now expanded upon his feelings around the drummer’s death.

In an interview with Toronto-based radio show House Of Strombo alongside bandmate Alex Lifeson, Lee called Hawkins’ death “heartbreaking — just heartbreaking”.

“That really broke my heart, his passing,” he added. “[He was] so full of file. I remember when he presented the [Rock And Roll] Hall Of Fame award to us in 2013 and we came up on stage, he was literally jumping up and down like a two-year-old — he was jumping up and down, he was so happy — and that was him. He was so full of admiration and rock and roll joy juice. And it just seems wrong that he left us.”

Elsewhere, Taylor Hawkins’ first posthumous performance has been released this week in the form of a cover of Johnny Winter’s 1970 track ‘Guess I’ll Go Away’, which the late Foo Fighters drummer recorded with Johnny’s brother, Edgar Winter.

Hawkins died last month at age 50, just hours before the Foo Fighters were scheduled to perform a gig in Bogotá. According to a preliminary toxicology report, multiple drugs were found in his system; health officials said that Hawkins died in his room at the Casa Medina hotel, and had called emergency services to report chest pains shortly beforehand.

Tribute was paid to Hawkins at the 2022 Grammy Awards, where the audience was show a montage of the late drummer’s performances and backstage antics. In a speech given during the ceremony, host Trevor Noah said: “Our thoughts go out to Taylor’s family, his friends, the Foo Fighters family and all of their fans around the world.”