After several early gigs and tours with Queen related bands like the Queen Musical, Brian May, Queen (themselves,) and the great Jeff Beck; Rufus Taylor has been playing with The Darkness for 10 years and four records. With their new recording Dreams on Toast, the band is rising to a new level, and so is Rufus’s drumming and songwriting. While his musical lineage (his father is Queen’s Roger Taylor) is indebted to his father and Queen, Rufus’ explosive drumming at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts showed that his drumming is highly influenced by his mentor and “big bro” Taylor Hawkins. After talking with Rufus, I learned that his personality and his look, are also highly reminiscent of Hawkins. Despite his drumming blood lines, Rufus is his own man and has his own career and drumming approach. We talked about his career so far, The Darkness’ new record, his future musical […]

March 2025 Issue