Honoring a legacy. Josh Freese is taking a seat behind the Foo Fighters’ drum equipment after the dying of Taylor Hawkins final yr.
The information was first introduced throughout the Foo Fighters: Getting ready Music for Live shows livestream on Sunday, Could 22, the place followers could catch a glimpse of a studio session at Studio 606 by way of Twitter. Whereas the band — frontman Dave Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, lead guitarist Chris Shiflett, guitarist Pat Smear and keyboardist Rami Jaffee — teased who would be a part of them on their upcoming tour, Freese, 50, was in the end revealed because the official substitute.
“Um, excuse me,” he quipped because the digital camera panned to him behind his drum set. “Guys, might we similar to, I don’t know, play a music? Or two, one thing?”
“Oh, certain, after all, Josh,” Grohl, 54, agreed earlier than leaping into their hit music “All My Life.”
Whereas it stays unclear if Freese might be a everlasting member of the legendary rock group shifting ahead — he could be the third drummer for the band after Hawkins and William Goldsmith — he might be filling in for the upcoming reside reveals, which kick off in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Could 24.
The tour, which will characteristic songs from their new EP, However Right here We Are, gained’t be the primary time Freese has joined the Foo Fighters on stage. Following Hawkins’ passing in March 2022 —The Texas native was discovered unresponsive in his lodge room in Bogotá, Colombia, in March 2022 whereas on tour with the rock band — the session drummer joined them on stage for each of their memorial reveals, together with the September 2022 Taylor Hawkins Tribute Live performance at Wembley Stadium in London. (Along with enjoying with the Foo Fighters, Freese has additionally carried out with Weezer, 9 Inch Nails, Paramore and extra.)
“On the very starting of this I used to be requested what drums I’d like to make use of. Do I would like my drums flown over to London for me to make use of? With out hesitation, I stated, ‘Taylor’s drums should be up there and I wish to play on his precise arrange. I would like THAT vitality to be up on THAT stage. I wish to sweat everywhere in the similar drums he was sweating throughout each night time. … don’t change a factor,’” Freese wrote by way of Instagram following the live performance. “Even that goddamn crash cymbal WAY too excessive that was arduous for me to hit (AND I lowered it a bit of! F—okay, what the hell was he doing!??🤣).”
The Florida native shared that whereas he’s “often not a type of ‘gotta characterize!’ kinda guys,” he felt a kind of kinship with Hawkins after rising up close to each other in Orange County, California.
“At any time when we had been in a bunch filled with musicians (often distant from residence someplace) we’d joke that we had been the one 2 guys from [Orange County] within the room,” he shared. “We at all times had that humorous little bond and he’d at all times remind me that he was uninterested in listening to about ‘that different younger man from O.C. who was already making data and touring; when he was a youngster. I’d then ask him if he wished to commerce financial institution accounts with me, LOL! Fuck man, the entire thing sucks. He would’ve liked that present greater than anybody although. ❤️.”
Foo Fighters first introduced that they might be “going ahead” with out Hawkins in an emotional December 2022 assertion by way of Twitter, sharing that they might be a “completely different band” after Hawkins’ dying.
“As we are saying goodbye to essentially the most tough and tragic yr that our band has ever identified, we’re reminded of how grateful we’re for the those that we love and cherish most, and for the family members who’re now not with us,” the band penned at the time. “ “Foo Fighters had been shaped 27 years in the past to characterize the therapeutic energy of music and a continuation of life. And for the previous 27 years our followers have constructed a worldwide neighborhood, a loyal help system that has helped us all get by way of the darkest of occasions collectively. A spot to share our pleasure and our ache, our hopes and fears, and to affix in a refrain of life collectively by way of music.”
The group continued: “With out Taylor, we by no means would have turn out to be the band that we had been–and with out Taylor, we all know that we’re going to be a distinct band going ahead.”
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