Dave Grohl has finally addressed Foo Fighters‘ decision to cut ties with Josh Freese, the drummer who spent two years filling the seat left vacant by the late Taylor Hawkins before being let go in May 2025.
When Freese announced his departure, he posted a statement on Instagram saying the band called him earlier that week to say they had decided “to go in a different direction with their drummer,” with “no reason given.” Since then, former Nine Inch Nails drummer Ilan Rubin has stepped in behind the kit.
In a new interview on The Zane Lowe Show (via NME), Grohl explained that the call happened after Foo Fighters took a touring break in 2024. “In those six or seven months, as a band, we talked about what to do next, a new direction, and thought, ‘Okay, let’s call Josh and let him know that we are going to move on with a different drummer,'” he said, making clear the move “did happen over time, not overnight.”
He also pushed back on any notion that this was a unilateral decision. “We called, as a band, all of us called, it wasn’t just me,” Grohl said. “Basically, we called Josh and were, like, ‘Hey, man, that was awesome. That was such a blast, thank you so much, but we are going to move on and find another drummer.”
Grohl then pointed to Freese‘s own words to explain the split: “Since then, there’s been a lot of talk about it, but I think Josh said it best when he said that he didn’t feel our music really resonated with him, and that’s really important.”
That’s a reference to an interview Freese gave The New York Times in August 2025, where he said of his time in the band: “It wasn’t music that I really resonated with. I’m coming in as Dave Grohl‘s drummer, and the guy that’s supposed to save the day after the beloved Taylor Hawkins died.” He said that pressure left him feeling “like I had to be firing on all cylinders all the time.”
Grohl also spoke openly about just how heavy the weight of replacing Hawkins has been. “We had Taylor Hawkins as our drummer for 25 years and, beyond being an amazing drummer, he was this incredible spirit,” he said. “He was this incredible human being, and he was our brother. He was our best friend. So, continuing after Taylor was really complicated, not just for us, but for any drummer that was going to come in to like, you know, fill his shoes. … We always talk about him every fucking day. In everything we do, we want to have that energy — we want to have that energy for Taylor.”
Freese was originally unveiled as part of the Foo Fighters touring lineup on 05/21/2023 during a livestream called “Foo Fighters: Preparing Music For Concerts,” which featured comedic cameos from Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe, and Danny Carey of Tool.
After news of his firing broke, Freese kept things light with a follow-up post listing ten possible reasons he might have been dismissed, among them that he “once whistled [the Foo Fighters‘ hit] ‘My Hero’ for a week solid on tour” and “never even once tried growing a beard.”
Taylor Hawkins passed away in March 2022. He was 50.
