Nirvana may have cast a giant shadow, but Taylor Hawkins believes the Foo Fighters are finally out from under it. Nirvana alumnus Dave Grohl started the alternative rockers after the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, but the Foos are negotiating their own artistic turf now.

The legacy of Nirvana is not a weight holding down the Foos according to drummer Hawkins, over the phone from Grohl's Virginia residence, who says he was a fan of the band. "People can kind of count on us to not be stuck up or look down on them. We are not much different from the people listening to us," he says. "Musically our goal is energy and a general sense of pop." "For us it has grown and grown in the Foo Fighters to become sort of about friendship in a lot of ways," he adds. "The fact I played drums on our latest album, There Is Nothing Left To Lose, had a lot to do with friendship. Dave (who was Nirvana's drummer) could have done the drum tracks on his own. We all realize that." Hawkins joined the Foo Fighters after touring with Alanis Morissette in her band. He says there is "plenty to admire" about Grohl. "He's just got a really good strong work ethic. He's not very egotistical," he says.

The band has been able to withstand several personnel changes, he theorizes, because Grohl is the foundation of the band. "It has to do with the fact the band kind of started with just Dave. The overall idea was to start with Dave alone and the band built around that idea. It's not like Queen or someone like that where we all went to the same high school together or grew up together and created the sound together.

"The sound has changed in a way from album to album. Part of that is the line-up has changed, which is cool. That allows us to change a little bit and it not be a big deal. I thought when Pat (guitarist Pat Smear) left everybody would hate us. Pat was sort of the rock star in the band."

The group now consists of Grohl on guitars and vocals, Nate Mendel, bass, and Hawkins. The band brings diverse influences to what it does. "Everybody is from different places musically. Me and Dave like the same '70s sort of classic rock, and like the pop-rock stuff of Andrew Gold," Hawkins says. Grohl has said the There Is Nothing Left To Lose album is the first record he has ever done where he did not want to change anything after it was finished. It is the group's third, preceded by 1997's The Colour And The Shape and 1995's debut Foo Fighters. The goal, says Hawkins, "was just to make a good album and try to go somewhere else a little bit." We wanted to move around in a direction without doing something that's not (us). The hardest thing to do is try to be creative without throwing your band or people for a loop, to stay within the same lines but kind of move in a new direction."

There was a sense of freedom, Grohl has said, because the album was cut before the group had a label. Artistically, they were able to do whatever they wanted. The title of the album speaks volumes, Grohl has noted. "We just wrote and played like all bets were off. No one was forcing us to be there, so it had to be fun, and the songs had to be the best we could possibly come up with at the time."

He played all of the guitar on the album and was on the drums for five of the eleven songs. He felt real guitar sounds and real drums sounds, as opposed to computerized creations, were needed. He brought in his friend Adam Kasper from Seattle to co-produce. Kasper recorded the last Soundgarden album and was the last person to record Nirvana according to Grohl. Kasper and Grohl had worked together on the album Grohl produced for the band Verbena. The search for inspiration in reality, the search for the truth and for "things that are just real," underscores this album, Grohl has said. Hawkins says he does not think the Foos have much of a message in the music except, ''Don't try to be anybody you're not.'' "That's always been a message of Dave's," he says.

The Foo Fighters are once again taking that message to America's concert stages, performing as guests with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Hawkins describes it as a "different, yet compatible," bill. They did a month warm-up tour in Australia with the Peppers. "They are great players, so they are great to watch. They are amazing players. We learn a lot just watching those guys get together on stage and do their thing. Both bands are hard hitting, but in their own ways. The Chili Peppers do a good show. There's a lot of energy on that stage every night to suck up from both groups. It should be good."

Live is about making a connection, Hawkins says. "It's the connection between us and the kids and the people listening, the connection between us when it happens," he says. He admits that connection doesn't happen every night. "We have a level that we never really go below. We're not a band that will get up there and completely flounder, where we can't find each other (musically). That's what makes the good ones good. We never really dip under a certain level and the energy is always there."

The future for the Foo Fighters? "You can't tell about this kind of stuff," says Hawkins. "We could have some song on the album and sell 10 million records. Or we can make the next album and it will flop. That's one of the interesting things about this business."