Freese is a veteran session musician, with credits on numerous big-hitting records. He has been a member of the Vandals since 1989 and of Devo since 1996. He has toured with the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Paramore and Sting.
The identity of Freese was announced in a livestream titled Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts.
Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith appeared in the video, as did Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee and Tool’s Danny Carey.
Thanks for joining us. It will be streaming on @Veeps for 72 hours on demand if you missed it: https://t.co/hzz5G9mOKy
We’ll see you all soon. pic.twitter.com/c7NATC6lzD
— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) May 21, 2023
Freese then appeared behind a drum kit, shouting “Excuse me! Could we just, like … play a song?” Foo Fighters then played eight tracks from their upcoming album, But Here We Are.
The band announced they would remain together in January, after Hawkins, aged 50, died on tour in Colombia.
Read More: Taylor Hawkins: A Tribute To A Talent Lost Too Soon
“Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were,” Foo Fighters wrote in a statement. “And without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward.”
Freese will play his first show with Foo Fighters on 24 May, in New Hampshire. It’s the first date of a global tour that will see the band on the road until late 2023. It will also be the first time Foo Fighters have played since a pair of memorial concerts for Hawkins in September last year.
For those shows, Freese played the drums and was playing on Hawkins’ drum kit.
“I was asked what drums I’d like to use,” he wrote on Instagram at the time. “Without hesitation I said, ‘Taylor’s drums need to be up there and I want to play on his exact set-up.’”
