New Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese reflects on the moment he was asked to join the band in a new interview with YouTuber Rick Beato.
Freese took up the role after longtime Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins died in March 2022.
“It continues to be bittersweet,” Freese says of playing with Dave Grohl and company. “Part of me wants to say, like, ‘I wish I wasn’t there at all. I wish there wasn’t a reason for me to be the drummer in the Foo Fighters.'”
Freese shares that he had long known Hawkins but didn’t become good friends with him until about five or six years ago. He was among the guest drummers who took part in the two Hawkins tribute concerts, but he had no thoughts about playing with the Foos beyond that.
“On my children’s lives, I had zero plans of being called to be the drummer,” Freese says.
Even when he got that call from Grohl in December 2022, Freese didn’t think it would be for that reason.
“[My wife was], like, ‘I know why he’s calling you!'” Freese remembers. “I was, like, ‘Easy!’ I’m not thinking that, I swear to God that’s not why I thought [Grohl called].”
When Freese called Grohl back, he told him, “We had the drummer talk, and we want you to be the guy.”
“It felt like someone kinda socked me in the stomach,” Freese shares. “I didn’t go, ‘Wow! Yippee, this is so cool!’ I didn’t get excited like that, it was almost like I had the wind knocked out of me. I was, like, ‘Oh my God. Here we go.'”
Foo Fighters will play a run of one-off headlining dates and festivals in May, followed by a full U.S. stadium tour kicking off in July.
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