Josh Freese

Josh Freese
Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American drummer. A member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, Freese has also been a member of new wave band Devo since 1996 and rock band Foo Fighters since 2023.
A prolific session and touring drummer, Freese has appeared on over 400 albums since 1986 and performed live with artists including Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Sublime with Rome, Sting, 100 gecs, the Offspring and Danny Elfman. His considerable workload has earned him "the pristine reputation as one of the most in-demand session drummers in the business," according to Variety, while Freese jokingly dubbed himself "the blue collar freelance drummer to the stars."
He was previously a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 1999 and alternative rock band A Perfect Circle from 1999 to 2012.
Early life
Josh Freese was born on December 25, 1972, in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. His father, Stan Freese, conducted the Disney World (Florida) and Disneyland (California) band, and his mother was a classical pianist. Freese began playing the drums when he was 8 years old. Freese attended El Dorado High School in Placentia, California. He started playing professionally at the age of 12 (in a primarily Top 40 band at Disneyland). He played electronic drums in the teen-and-tween rock band named Polo, a Junior Star Search winner. Polo already had a drummer before joining the Magic Kingdom, band founder Jimmy Keegan, but they found room on stage for the son of Disneyland's Director of Bands, Stan Freese. Other bands on the same stage were limited to performing Top 40 hits, but such constraints did not apply to Polo. The band recorded and released an eponymous EP that received some airplay on KROQ.
The young Freese's familial connections and corresponding exposure led to an endorsement deal with the Simmons electronic drum company. There is an old Simmons commercial (directed by Mitch Brisker), featuring Freese on the additional content section of the Vandals' Live at the House of Blues DVD. At the age of 16, he left high school and started touring and making records, first with Dweezil Zappa and then with the Vandals. He has worked with many respected artists in the last 25 years, as a first call session drummer, band member and sometimes as a temporary replacement.
Career
Freese began his professional drumming career in a Top 40 cover band called Polo at the Tomorrowland Terrace Stage at Disneyland from 1985 to 1988.
The Vandals
Freese has been a member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, and has played on all the band's albums since except 2000's Look What I Almost Stepped In..., on which Avenged Sevenfold drummer Brooks Wackerman was deputised due to Freese's commitments with A Perfect Circle. Beginning in the early 1990s, the Vandals were part of a wave of California-based pop punk bands that also included Green Day, NOFX, the Offspring, Rancid, Pennywise, and Sublime.
Devo
In 1996, Freese joined a reformed Devo for a show at the Sundance Film Festival, replacing David Kendrick. Freese has become their primary drummer in concert and in the studio since. Freese has said that he learned to play drums thanks to Devo's 1980 album Freedom of Choice. Freese played drums on Devo's 2010 album Something for Everybody, and provided backing vocals on Devo's non-album holiday song, "Merry Something to You".
Guns N' Roses
Freese was a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 1999, replacing Matt Sorum and signing a two-year contract. Initially hesitant about joining the band, he was persuaded by his friend and collaborator Paul Westerberg of the Replacements, who told Freese, "You should do it. Go do it. It sounds totally wrong; go do it. What are you going to do, be in some totally cool alternative band? Are you going to join the Foo Fighters or something obvious?" Coincidentally, Freese would subsequently go on to join an alternative band, A Perfect Circle, and later joined Foo Fighters.
With Guns N' Roses, Freese recorded the song "Oh My God" for the End of Days soundtrack and co-wrote the song "Chinese Democracy" with Axl Rose. Freese drummed on 30 tracks to potentially be included on Chinese Democracy, but his recordings were scrapped and re-recorded note-for-note by Bryan Mantia. He was credited with arrangements on four tracks on the album, released in 2008.
A Perfect Circle
Freese left Guns N' Roses in 1999 to join A Perfect Circle alongside Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and the band's founder Billy Howerdel. Freese said he chose to make the switch "because it seemed like a more tangible thing that was really going to happen. These guys aren't spending a million in the studio. They seem like they want to start a regular band. They want to write and record a record and go on tour six weeks from now. It all seemed very realistic."
A Perfect Circle's first album, 2000's Mer de Noms, was the highest charting debut for a rock group at number four on the Billboard 200 in its first week of sales. "I think it's a great record, and I feel proud of it," Freese said, retrospectively, in 2020. "I always feel okay patting myself on the back for certain projects because there's tons of projects I played on that I don't like."
The band's follow up release, 2003's Thirteenth Step, charted at number two in its opening week with over 233,000 copies sold. Freese ultimately played drums on the band's first three albums before leaving in 2012. Freese also played drums on two solo albums by Howerdel, one released under the moniker Ashes Divide in 2008 and the other under Howerdel's name in 2022.
Foo Fighters
Freese appeared as one of several guest drummers for the Foo Fighters during a series of concerts held in tribute to the band's late drummer Taylor Hawkins in London and Los Angeles in late 2022. In May 2023, the Foo Fighters introduced Freese as their full-time drummer during a streaming event titled "Preparing Music For Concerts".
Session and touring work
Throughout his career, Freese has performed as a session drummer on hundreds of recordings for dozens of artists, joking that his client list of popular musicians made him "the blue collar freelance drummer to the stars."
Among his early studio recordings as a session musician, Freese played on the Infectious Grooves album Sarsippius' Ark and the Suicidal Tendencies album The Art of Rebellion in 1992, as well as two albums by the Korean group Seo Taiji and Boys' in 1994 and 1995. He also played some shows in early 1998 with the band 311 as a fill-in drummer for them on the Warped tour in Australia, Japan and Hawaii. Chad Sexton, 311's drummer had broken a hand just before a show in Australia early in the tour. Freese was already on the tour playing with the Vandals every day and played with both bands for the majority of the tour. In 1999, Freese drummed on Mike Ness' first solo album Cheating At Solitaire.
Among the notable albums Freese performed on in the 2000s are The Young and the Hopeless by Good Charlotte, Fallen by Evanescence, Let Go by Avril Lavigne, Thankful by Kelly Clarkson, Quebec by Ween, Next Level by Ayumi Hamasaki, and Crazy Love by Michael Bublé.
Freese's career as a session drummer has featured multiple enduring collaborations. He played on the Offspring's 2003 album Splinter after the departure of Ron Welty and would go on to play on the band's following albums and toured with the group from 2021 until 2023 after they fired Pete Parada for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination. Freese got replaced by Brandon Pertzborn after Freese stopped touring with the Offspring.
Producer Bob Rock has worked frequently with Freese, and requested that he contribute drum tracks for Lostprophets' third album, Liberation Transmission. Freese has worked on and off with the Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg since 1992, including playing drums with the reunited Replacements from 2013 to 2015. Freese also provided the drums on two Replacements tracks that appear on their greatest-hits album Don't You Know Who I Think I Was.
Beginning in 2005, Freese served as Sting's touring drummer and went on to appear on several of his studio recordings including the album 57th & 9th.
Freese served as Nine Inch Nails' touring drummer from 2005 to 2008 and performed on the group's 2007 album Year Zero and 2008 albums Ghosts I–IV and The Slip. He left Nine Inch Nails at the end of 2008 in order to spend more time with his family and long-time girlfriend, who was pregnant with the couple's third child at the time. "With [Nine Inch Nails frontman] Trent [Reznor], I left on good terms because I was like, 'Listen, man, I don't have anything else lined up, I'm not leaving because this band over here offered me more money," Freese said. "I need to just go home and be a dad for a while, I need to be home for my family.' And he was like, 'Yeah, man, that's a totally noble, understandable reason.'"
Freese performed live with Weezer from 2009 to 2011, during which time Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson played guitar, and also played on the band's 2009 album Raditude. In 2011, Freese became the touring drummer for Paramore on the South American leg of their Brand New Eyes World Tour after the band announced the departure of the Farro brothers (Zac and Josh). The next year, Freese toured in 2012 with Sublime with Rome after Bud Gaugh announced his departure from the band.
Notable albums Freese appeared on as a session musician in the 2010s include Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes, Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, Kelly Clarkson's Stronger, Rascal Flatts' Rewind, and Lana Del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell! In 2022, he played drums with 100 gecs as well as Danny Elfman at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California. Freese also performed in the studio with both artists, on Elfman's 2021 release Big Mess and 100 gecs' second album, 2023's 10,000 gecs.
Solo work
Early solo releases
In 1998, Freese recorded a number of songs that he wrote and performed himself (including bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals). The result is the lo-fi, 6-song EP Destroy Earth As Soon As Possible, released under the name 'Princess' by T.O.N/Stone Lizard Records.
In 2000, the songs "Caffeine and Vaseline" and "Rock N' Roll Chicken" were revived for the 12-song album The Notorious One Man Orgy, this time released under Freese's own name by Kung Fu Records. Guest appearances include Stone Gossard, Warren Fitzgerald, Michael Ward, Lyle Workman, and Freese's brother Jason.
Since 1972 (2009)
Freese released his second solo album, Since 1972, via his website on March 24, 2009. Since 1972 was distributed similarly to the value-added packages offered by Nine Inch Nails's recent releases. The album was offered as a $7 digital download, and a $15 CD/DVD on his website. As a marketing stunt, the website offers unique incentive packages at prices up to $75,000. Publications covering the offer include SuicideGirls, The UK's The Guardian, NPR, and Boston Herald.
Of the novelty items for sale, Freese stated, "I'm not expecting to sell any of those ridiculously priced packages but I sure did get a lot of good press and attention to the fact that I'm putting out a record because of it! Mission accomplished."
Just a Minute, Volume 1 (2021)
In 2020, after Freese's touring work came to a halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he recorded an album of one-minute songs at his home studio titled Just a Minute, Volume 1. The album was released in 2021 by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard on his label Loosegroove Records. Taylor Hawkins, who Freese would go on to succeed in Foo Fighters, featured in a promotional video for the song "Heavy Metal Car Collection", which appeared on the album.
Personal life
Freese lives in Southern California with his wife and their four children. He is the son of tuba soloist Stan Freese and the older brother of musician Jason Freese, a touring keyboardist and session player for Green Day who has also performed with the Goo Goo Dolls, Dr. Dre, Jewel, Lenny Kravitz, Liz Phair, Foxboro Hot Tubs, Joe Walsh, and Weezer.
Equipment
In a 2007 Guitar Center interview, Freese stated:
"My set up never gets that crazy or out of the ordinary I don't think. You can pretty much always count on starting off with the basic Ringo 4 piece set up and add from there. With the Vandals that's all I use. With Devo add a second rack tom. With NIN keep only 1 rack but have 2 floors and a 3rd floor off to the left of my hi-hat (with NIN the drums are all about 2 inches bigger than I normally would use... 14 rack. 24 kick, 18 and 20-inch floors... 16 off the side of my hihat). With A Perfect Circle 2 racks and 2 floors, 2nd snare off the left of my hihat... more cymbals with APC too. With Sting there are 3 racks but smaller sizes and only 1 floor. Never too many cymbals (except with APC I guess). In the studio my drums are usually something really basic a 4, 5, or 6 piece kit with lots of snare and cymbal choices."
Discography
Solo discography
Destroy Earth As Soon As Possible (1998, as "Princess")
The Notorious One Man Orgy (2000)
Since 1972 (2009)
My New Friends (2011)
Just a Minute, Volume 1 (2021)
References
External links
"Interview with Josh Freese" – I'd Hit That (podcast, 2013) – via Internet Archive
1972 births
20th-century American drummers
21st-century American drummers
A Perfect Circle members
American male drummers
American punk rock drummers
American rock drummers
American session musicians
Black Light Burns members
Devo members
Foo Fighters members
Guns N' Roses members
Living people
Magnapop members
Musicians from Orlando, Florida
Nine Inch Nails members
Seether members
Social Distortion members
Songwriters from Florida
Sublime with Rome members
The Damning Well members
The Vandals members
Viva Death members