Honoring a legacy. Josh Freese is taking a seat behind the Foo Fighters’ drum equipment after the dying of Taylor Hawkins final 12 months.
The information was first introduced through the Foo Fighters: Making ready Music for Live shows livestream on Sunday, Could 22, the place followers may catch a glimpse of a studio session at Studio 606 through 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 finally revealed because the official alternative.
“Um, excuse me,” he quipped because the digicam panned to him behind his drum set. “Guys, may we similar to, I don’t know, play a tune? Or two, one thing?”
“Oh, certain, after all, Josh,” Grohl, 54, agreed earlier than leaping into their hit tune “All My Life.”
Whereas it stays unclear if Freese will likely 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 will likely be filling in for the upcoming dwell exhibits, which kick off in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Could 24.
The tour, which will function songs from their new EP, However Right here We Are, received’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 resort 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 exhibits, together with the September 2022 Taylor Hawkins Tribute Live performance at Wembley Stadium in London. (Along with taking part in 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 need my drums flown over to London for me to make use of? With out hesitation, I stated, ‘Taylor’s drums must be up there and I wish to play on his precise arrange. I need THAT power to be up on THAT stage. I wish to sweat all around the identical drums he was sweating throughout each night time. … don’t change a factor,’” Freese wrote through Instagram following the live performance. “Even that goddamn crash cymbal WAY too excessive that was laborious for me to hit (AND I lowered it just a little! F—ok, what the hell was he doing!??🤣).”
The Florida native shared that whereas he’s “often not a kind of ‘gotta characterize!’ kinda guys,” he felt a sort of kinship with Hawkins after rising up close to each other in Orange County, California.
“At any time when we have been in a gaggle stuffed with musicians (often distant from dwelling someplace) we’d joke that we have 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 information and touring; when he was a young person. I’d then ask him if he needed to commerce financial institution accounts with me, LOL! Fuck man, the entire thing sucks. He would’ve beloved that present greater than anybody although. ❤️.”
Foo Fighters first introduced that they’d be “going ahead” with out Hawkins in an emotional December 2022 assertion through Twitter, sharing that they’d be a “completely different band” after Hawkins’ dying.
“As we are saying goodbye to essentially the most tough and tragic 12 months that our band has ever recognized, we’re reminded of how grateful we’re for the folks that we love and cherish most, and for the family members who’re now not with us,” the band penned on the time. “ “Foo Fighters have 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 group, a faithful help system that has helped us all get via 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 via music.”
The group continued: “With out Taylor, we by no means would have develop into the band that we have been–and with out Taylor, we all know that we’re going to be a unique band going ahead.”
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