Months after his exit from the Foo Fighters, drummer Josh Freese is saying that the band’s music never “really resonated with” him.
In a new feature from The New York Times, Freese’s life and career are examined, from his early days as a teenager just wanted to make playing drums his whole career and “be a household name,” through makign that a reality by playing with bands like Guns N’ Roses, the Vandals, A Perfect Circle, Devo, and Nine Inch Nail, who he recently re-joined.
Freese was hired to be the Foo Fighters’ new drummer in 2023, after the death of the band’s longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins. He tells the NYT that it was a lot of pressure “coming in as Dave Grohl’s drummer, and the guy that’s supposed to save the day after the beloved Taylor Hawkins died,” so he felt like he needed to get himself to a place, mentally, where he was “firing on all cylinders all the time.”
Regarding how this, partnered with the Foos’ well-known lengthy concert sets, could lead to fatigue, Freese confessed: “It wasn’t music that I really resonated with.” He also confessed that he believes his dismissal had nothing to do with the band members themselves, but was “more an issue with their management.”
As previously noted, after being fired from the Foo Fighters, Freese is now back with NIN, with whom he briefly played many years ago.
“Leaving Nine Inch Nails at the end of 2008 was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. My wife and I were expecting our third child, and I knew I needed to step away from life on the road to be home with my family,” Freese, who also plays punk legends The Vandals, wrote in an Instagram post, commenting on the major move.
“Nine Inch Nails was a band that left me walking off stage every single night thinking, ‘That was incredible. We absolutely crushed it.’ … That level of intensity, pride, and satisfaction after each show is something I’ve rarely experienced anywhere,” he continued.
“Now, being back on tour with Trent and the crew — helping them do what they do best night after night — is something I’m incredibly excited about,” Freese concluded. “To be part of that energy again feels amazing. If you get a chance to catch one of these shows over the next six weeks, I promise, they’re going to be absolutely unforgettable.”
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