Whatcha gonna do, it’s a switcheroo! The Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails are switching touring drummers. Former Foo Josh Freese will be rejoining NIN, while Ilan Rubin will go from Tron: Ares to Tour: 30th Anniversary with the Foo Fighters.
This super drummer shuffle began in May, when the Foo Fighters chopped Freese. (By the way, this was the same month that Zak Starkey a.k.a. Ringo’s son got the boot from The Who. Weird month, drummer-wise.) Freese confirmed the firing on Instagram, writing “In my 40 years of drumming professionally, I’ve never been let go from a band, so while I’m not angry, just a bit shocked and disappointed. But as most of you know I’ve always worked freelance and bounced between bands so, I’m fine.” And now here comes the band-bouncing of which he spoke.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of Rubin replacing Freese, as well as Freese replacing Rubin. Rubin has been NIN’s touring drummer since 2009, getting inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2020. Freese also worked with Nine Inch Nails from 2005 to 2008, and leaving to raise a family. NIN confirmed the return of their prodigal drummer with an Instagram Story of Freese captioned “let’s fucking go.” Let’s fucking go indeed. Nine Inch Nails is supposed to start the North American leg of their Peel it Back tour on August 6. The Foo Fighters’ next show will be October 2 in Jakarta. During their drummer interregnum, the band released a song celebrating their 30th bandiversary with Grohl taking over drumming duties.
Related
