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Foo Fighters frontman Grohl: New drummer found

Photo: Theo Wargo / Getty Images

The US rock band Foo Fighters has now named a successor after the death of their drummer Taylor Hawkins in March 2022. American drummer Josh Freese, 50, is to take Hawkins' place on drums, the band around frontman David Grohl, 54, announced on Sunday at a livestream event.

Freese is one of the most sought-after session drummers on the US music scene. The son of the musical director of the Disneyland band, he has been playing with the punk rock band The Vandals since 1989, and he was also a founding member of the supergroup A Perfect Circle. He has also been a regular member of the new wave band Devo since 1996. Temporarily, Freese helped out with prominent artists such as Guns N' Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Paramore, and Sting. Josh Freese has also released four solo albums.

The Foo Fighters have announced a new album »But Here We Are« for June 2nd – the first after the death of Hawkins, who was found dead in a hotel room in Colombia's capital Bogotá while on tour in March last year.

Starting next week, the Foo Fighters will go on tour. At the beginning of June, they are expected to be one of the headliners at »Rock im Park« in Nuremberg and at the twin festival »Rock am Ring« at the Nürburgring in the Eifel.

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Taylor Hawkins on Foo Fighters drums (2016): Death on tour in March 2022

Photo: Robert Knight Archive / Redferns / Getty Images

At two memorial concerts last September, Hawkins' place was taken by various musicians, including Freese, Travis Barker of Blink-182, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Hawkins' son Shane.

In the humorous video that has now been released, which promised scenes from the rehearsal room under the title "Foo Fighters: Preparing Music For Concerts", various prominent drummers appear briefly under pretexts – Chad Smith, Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe and Danny Carey of Tool. After some chit-chat, Josh Freese finally asks Freese, slightly annoyed, if they could play one or two songs together. The entire livestream can be seen on the Veeps portal after registration. Here is an excerpt of Freese's performance:

feb/dpa