Foo Fighters announce Taylor Hawkins’ successor via skit with Tommy Lee, Chad Smith
Josh Freese, a veteran session musician, has toured with Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Paramore, and more
Music News Taylor Hawkins
Just over a year after Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died at 50, the band has announced who will pick up where he left off: Josh Freese, a veteran session musician who had most recently toured with the Offspring.
The band announced the change via a livestream on their website entitled “Foo Fighters: Preparing Music For Concerts.” The stream featured an eight-song set from the band, including a few new tracks from their upcoming eleventh studio album But Here We Are, due out June 2.
In the clip, the group prepares to perform in their studio as a series of storied rock drummers enter the scene as red herrings. Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith bursts through the door only to announce that he’s blocked in in the parking lot; Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee drops off takeout; Tool’s Danny Carey arrives with two poodles accompanying him. Finally, the camera cuts to Freese, who has been patiently waiting in the wings. “Excuse me!” he shouts. “Could we just, like… play a song?”
Notably, Freese also handled the drum kit at the two memorial concerts Foo Fighters held for Hawkins in September 2022, where musicians like Paul McCartney, Queen, and Mark Ronson paid tribute to the drummer. Foo Fighters first announced that the band would continue forward after the loss of Hawkins three months later. “Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were – and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward,” the group shared in an Instagram post at the time.
Freese’s addition to the band arrives just as Foo Fighters prepare to embark on their first tour since losing Hawkins. Freese will play his first show with Foo Fighters on May 24, when the band kicks off a world tour running through late 2023 at New Hampshire’s Bank of NH Pavilion.
16 Comments
Freese seems like the perfect choice for them. Solid professional drummer, knows how to rock, can sing if necessary, has goofy dad vibes.
Yeah, this is actually a great choice. Freese is a great drummer.He also has some great Buckethead stories.
LOL, listening to him talk about Axl & Buckethead (sorry, “Brian”) never gets old.
The story about Buckethead being star struck when finding out Freese’s dad did the music at Disneyland is both bizarre and somewhat sweet. I worked with someone whose husband was involved with the making Chinese Democracy and I guess Buckethead had a meltdown at the studio one day because he wanted to go to Disneyland right at that moment. I wouldn’t want to have to deal with a Buckethead, but I’m glad that there are weirdos out there making the world more interesting.
Yeah, he’s a brilliant player and I really never want to have the non-Buckethead version of him (if there is one) made public because the world is more interesting with just the version we have.
Brilliant pedigree…How many people can you name that backed The Vandals, Devo, Sting, Nine Inch Nails, The Offspring, Weezer, Mike Ness, and Paramore? He is still considered THE man to call for any fill in for band tours or session drumming with the amount of adaptation he can do. He can even mimic styles quickly and well of other drummers (watch him in the Taylor Hawkins tribute as proof)He is a natural fit in the Foo’s. And yea, definite goofy dad vibes (he has 4 kids) just like Dave and the rest.
If he wants to, I hope Shane Hawkins becomes the drummer once he’s 18.
Did he play drums for Jimmy Buffet?
It makes sense there would be a replacement forthwith. Foo Fighters was always just Dave Grohl and his employees. He treats them well and splits royalties out of choice. But at the end of the day its always his band.
What an odd fucking comment. It’s been over a year since he passed. How long would Grohl have had to publicly mourn his friend’s death before you’d hesitate to say such a shitty thing about him?And are you saying that the rest of the band wanted to call it quits out of respect for Hawkins, but money-grubbing Grohl insisted on keeping Big Fooma going? It sure sounds like it. What if to a person they all said they agreed with moving on with a new drummer? Would you still say they’re just Grohl’s employees?Or what if they all continued to play together—with Freese—but with a new band name? Would that have been sufficiently deferent for you?
Three months since what? Hawkins died March of last year so it has been 14 months since he passed.
I was not meaning for it to come out as a dig on Grohl. The opposite. Just an acknowledgment its always been HIS band. I apologize if it came out poorly and was misunderstood. That’s on me. This wasn’t like the death of John Bonham, something that would break up the band. They all acknowledge being Dave’s employees. This is not arguable, its freely disclosed that the band is run as a Davetatorship. Hawkings did so while alive. They also acknowledged he’s a very good boss to them and shares the wealth.
It would be really unusual for a band of the Foo’s, tenure, stature and schedule to maintain consistent membership, and yet . . . half the band (including Grohl) are the same dudes I saw open for Mike Watt nearly 30 years ago. Dave’s the main songwriter and the face of the band, but they are a band.
Wow, the Foo Fighters have gone from Hard Rock to Dad Rock to Yacht Rock. Not selling my Pearl Jam shares yet, they’re still willing to drift at least a little bit out of their comfort zone.
Honestly, Freese getting Foo Fighters tour money is great. He’s literally the stand in drummer for a bunch of huge bands that you’d didn’t realize was him live. He’s a fantastic drummer.