American rock band The Foo Fighters on Sunday announced that their new drummer is Josh Freese who will be joining them for a touring season that starts May 24. The 50-year-old will replace longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died in Colombia in March 2022 while the band was touring in South America.

Foo Fighters made the announcement during a live stream event that previewed the band’s 11th studio album, ‘But Here We Are.’

Freese is a veteran studio/touring drummer. The 50-year-old’s father worked as a musical director at the Walt Disney Company. His mother too was a trained classical pianist.

Freese has played with Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle, and Nine Inch Nails among many others. He also played the Foo Fighters during their London tribute show for Taylor Hawkins last year.

He has over 300 recordings in various genres. He has also recorded for several artists Katy Perry, Michael Bublé, Nelly Furtado, Kelly Clarkson, and Avril Lavinge.

Speaking to the blog Drummer’s Journal in 2016, he said, “It’s not like I woke up one day and said, ‘I’m going to be a session drummer.’ It just sort of happened.”

“Aside from having multiple sources of income, I like the variety of playing music with different people in different situations. Maybe if I was the drummer for Muse, I could say, ‘Ok, I’m successful enough where I don’t have to do anything else except concentrate on my band… Being in just one band…I honestly fantasize about that sometimes. I’m only human.”