Two months after parting ways with Josh Freese, Foo Fighters have unveiled Ilan Rubin as their new drummer, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Rubin is leaping ship after a 16-year stint with Nine Inch Nails, for whom the prospect of an imminent, drummerless tour ran right into a handy answer: They employed Josh Freese. It’s unclear whether or not Rubin is completely aboard with Foo Fighters or only a touring member.
Although Foo Fighters are but to formally acknowledge their rent, 9 Inch Nails posted an Instagram story picturing Freese—who was additionally their drummer between 2005 and 2008—with the caption, “Let’s fucking go.” They kick off a North American tour at Oakland Enviornment on August 6; Foo Fighters’ subsequent dates are a tour of Asia in October.
Rubin had been touring with 9 Inch Nails since 2009, a tenure that encompassed the band’s Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame induction in 2020, during which he was included. He has additionally drummed for Paramore, Angels & Airwaves, and Danny Elfman, amongst others. In accordance with a Hollywood Reporter supply, Rubin had dedicated to 9 Inch Nails by the 12 months however instructed Trent Reznor final week that he had “accepted a job with one other band.”
Foo Fighters brought in Freese in 2023 because the successor to their late, longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins. After two years collectively, Freese introduced in Could that the band had let him go, providing no cause past a call “to go in a distinct route with their drummer.” He added, “I’ve by no means been let go from a band, so whereas I’m not offended—only a bit shocked and upset. However as most of you already know I’ve all the time labored freelance and bounced between bands so, I’m superb.”
Foo Fighters launched their first monitor since his departure, “Today’s Song,” this month, which got here with a word thanking Freese for his time with the band and saying that, with out his “thunderous wizardry,” the band’s “story can be incomplete.” Their newest album, But Here We Are, got here out in 2023; its predecessor, Medicine at Midnight, gained the Best Rock Album Grammy one month after Hawkins’ loss of life.
Of the drummer information, Freese wrote on Instagram:
Leaving 9 Inch Nails on the finish of 2008 was one of many hardest choices I’ve ever needed to make. My spouse and I had been anticipating our third youngster, and I knew I wanted to step away from life on the highway to be dwelling with my household.
NIN was a band that left me strolling off stage each single evening considering, “That was unimaginable. We completely crushed it.” And it wasn’t only a feeling, it was a certainty. That stage of depth, pleasure, and satisfaction after every present is one thing I’ve not often skilled anyplace else.
Now, being again on tour with Trent and the crew—serving to them do what they do greatest evening after evening—is one thing I’m extremely enthusiastic about. To be a part of that power once more feels superb.
When you get an opportunity to catch one in every of these exhibits over the subsequent six weeks, I promise, they’re going to be completely unforgettable.
Hope to see you on the market.
