Foo Fighters welcome Josh Freese as new drummer after Taylor Hawkins’ death

Foo Fighters are back to rock and rolling a year after the band was struck with tragedy last year.

On Sunday, May 21st, 2023, the band revealed that Josh Freese will be performing with the Foos on their 2023 summer tour, their first since Taylor Hawkins’ death.

The long-time drummer for the megaplatinum band, Hawkins passed away on March 25, 2022, due to an accidental overdose at age 50 in Bogota, Colombia, where the group was scheduled to perform.

According to Variety, while the band announced its intention to continue late last year, they went to great lengths not to reveal the identity of their new drummer.

They announced the news in a livestream, called Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts, which featured all of the members joking around with each other in their rehearsal room, with their guitars on.

The clever fake-out featured a trio of famous rock drummers, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee and Danny Carey of Tool. In succession, they knocked on the door, popping into the Foo Fighters’ Studio 606 rehearsal area, only to make an exit.

The camera then panned to Freese sitting behind the drums, just as the band kicked off the 2002 fan-favourite, All My Life. Um… EXCUSE ME?!” he calls out in the clip. “Can we play a song or something?!”

After that, the band launches into songs from their new album, But Here We Are, which comes out on June 2nd, 2023.