Watch Dave Grohl, Chad Smith and Taylor Hawkins' son Shane cover Led Zeppelin, Queen, AC/DC and Van Halen classics in a pizza joint

Chevy Metal with Dave Grohl
(Image credit: csilver522 YouTube)

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Taylor Hawkins' teenage son Shane Hawkins thrilled diners in a Californian pizza joint earlier this week by guesting with rock n' roll covers band Chevy Metal.

Taylor Hawkins co-founded the LA-based covers band in 2013 to play deep cuts by classic rock bands, and often played with the group when Foo Fighters had 'down time' between tours. Shane Hawkins sat in with the band last month to play Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Motley Crue covers, and when Chevy Metal played the Rock N Roll Pizza Bar in Simi Valley, California on Monday (August 21), Hawkins brought along a couple of pals who are more regularly seen playing in stadiums. 

Grohl fronted the band for the beginning of the show, which saw Chevy Metal play covers of The Police's Next To You, Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak, and The Rolling Stones' Bitch, before launching into a mini-Van Halen set, featuring David Lee Roth-era classics Everybody Wants Some!!, Jamie’s Cryin’ and Unchained.

Shane Hawkins jumped behind the kit to play Van Halen's take on The Kinks You Really Got Me, plus Led Zeppelin's Moby Dick, extended with his own drum solo, Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins sat in for Van Halen's Ain't Taking 'Bout Love, Queen's Tie Your Mother Down, and David Bowie's Moonage Daydream, and Chili Peppers sticksman Chad Smith guested on a raucous set-closing cover of AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

"I just wanna make sure I don't fuck up the lyrics," Dave Grohl told the audience at the beginning of the latter performance, "so I'm going to read them from my phone. I know that's not very rock 'n' roll..."

Watch fan-filmed footage of what looks like an excellent show below:

You can see more clips from the star-studded show on csilver522's YouTube channel.

Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.