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Dave Grohl spoke for the first time about the Foo Fighters parting ways with Josh Freese, saying their decision Parting ways with the drummer “didn’t happen overnight.”
Freese joined the band as drummer in May 2023 after Taylor Hawkins died in March 2022. In May 2025, Freese announced that he had been released from the Foo Fighters.
The band decided to “go in a different direction with their drummer,” Freese wrote on Instagram at the time, adding that “no reason was given.”
Complicated sequel to Taylor Hawkins
In a new interview with Zane Lowe, Grohl discussed the change on drums following Hawkins’ death and provided insight from a drummer’s perspective. He explained that Nirvana had five drummers and he was their fifth, and that while the Foo Fighters had four drummers, Hawkins was their drummer for 25 of the 30 years they existed as a band.
“So moving on after Taylor was really complicated, not just for us, but for any drummer that was going to come in and kind of follow in his footsteps,” Grohl said. “And with Josh Freese, Josh is a consummate professional. He’s had an impressive career and has played with everyone from Michael Bublé to The Offspring…He’s made thousands of studio recordings.”
Then they went on tour “and we had so much fun, we had a great time,” he added. After about a year and a half of touring with Freese, the band took a break, and during that time the group discussed their next steps for about half a year before finalizing their decision.
Decision after months of discussions
“During those six or seven months, we were talking as a band about what we were going to do next, about a new direction, and we thought, ‘Okay, let’s call Josh and let him know we’re going to move on with a different drummer,'” Grohl said. “We called and we told him as a band – we all called, it wasn’t just me.”
Grohl said they expressed their gratitude for the two years with the drummer. “Basically we called Josh and said, ‘Hey man, that was great. That was so much fun, thank you so much, but we’re going to move on and find another drummer.'”
No public statement
While Grohl didn’t elaborate on the specific reasons behind their decision, he did tell Lowe that after the phone call with Freese, they decided not to publicly comment further on their split. “After that, we didn’t put out a press release, we didn’t tweet anything, we didn’t do any interviews. We didn’t say anything,” he said. “It’s been talked about a lot since then, but I think Josh said it best when he said he didn’t feel like our music really resonated with him, and that’s really important, isn’t it?”
Freese has since rejoined Nine Inch Nails, and the Foo Fighters brought in Nine Inch Nails’ touring member Ilan Rubin as their drummer. “It’s like we feel like a band again, man,” Grohl told Lowe about Rubin joining the group.
New album “Your Favorite Toy” will be released in April
The Foo Fighters are preparing to release their 12th album, Your Favorite Toy, out April 24, and released the title track last week. The band performed the song – without Pat Smear, who is recovering from a bizarre gardening accident with a broken foot – on “The Graham Norton Show” on Friday.
