Josh Freese
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Josh Freese


Date of birth:
December 25, 1972.
Band position:
Drums.
Time with Guns N' Roses:
1997-2000.
Shows with the band:
Josh never got to play any live shows with Guns N' Roses.
Biography:
Josh Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. He is a permanent member of the Vandals and Devo, having formerly played drums for Nine Inch Nails from late 2005 until late 2008, A Perfect Circle from 1999 to 2012, and Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 2000. He has appeared on nearly 400 records. He is currently performing live with Devo, The Vandals, Weezer and Sublime with Rome. In December 2010, Freese began touring with Paramore on their South American tour, temporarily replacing the drummer Zac Farro after he and his brother Josh Farro left the band earlier the same month. [Wikipedia, August 2016].
Quotes:
Josh Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. He is a permanent member of the Vandals and Devo, having formerly played drums for Nine Inch Nails from late 2005 until late 2008, A Perfect Circle from 1999 to 2012, and Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 2000. He has appeared on nearly 400 records. He is currently performing live with Devo, The Vandals, Weezer and Sublime with Rome. In December 2010, Freese began touring with Paramore on their South American tour, temporarily replacing the drummer Zac Farro after he and his brother Josh Farro left the band earlier the same month. [Wikipedia, August 2016].
Quotes:
Josh, who is one of my favourite drummers, had already recorded some beautiful tracks but they didn’t have the sound. They were very digital sounding, there wasn’t a lot of air moving, they were electronic sounding. Axl liked some of the parts so he asked if I could play what Josh did but in my feel. He wanted me to replay it note for note [musicradar, October 2012] |

Last edited by Soulmonster on Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:48 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Re: Josh Freese
Yay, the first quote on Josh added!
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Re: Josh Freese
After doing some shows with The Replacements, Josh is currently on tour drumming for Sublime With Rome:
NOV 05 Hard Rock Live Orlando, FL Dirty Heads
NOV 07 Markthalle Hamburg, DE
NOV 08 Amager Bio Copenhagen, DK
NOV 09 Berlin Arena Berlin, DE
NOV 10 Klogebouw Eindhoven, NL (Festival)
NOV 12 Harterei Club Zurich, CH
NOV 14 Tivoli Utrecht, NL Dirty Heads
NOV 15 Burgerhaus Stollwerk Koln, DE
NOV 16 Alexandra Palace London, UK (Festival)
http://sublimewithrome.com/tour
NOV 05 Hard Rock Live Orlando, FL Dirty Heads
NOV 07 Markthalle Hamburg, DE
NOV 08 Amager Bio Copenhagen, DK
NOV 09 Berlin Arena Berlin, DE
NOV 10 Klogebouw Eindhoven, NL (Festival)
NOV 12 Harterei Club Zurich, CH
NOV 14 Tivoli Utrecht, NL Dirty Heads
NOV 15 Burgerhaus Stollwerk Koln, DE
NOV 16 Alexandra Palace London, UK (Festival)
http://sublimewithrome.com/tour
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Re: Josh Freese
Any plans of seeing them?
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Re: Josh Freese
Yes, not 100% sure where, Cologne or Zuerich...
Will report if there'll be anything to report.

Will report if there'll be anything to report.
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Re: Josh Freese
That's cool, I used to be a huge Sublime fan back when Bradley Nowell was in the band.Uli wrote:Yes, not 100% sure where, Cologne or Zuerich...![]()
Will report if there'll be anything to report.
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Re: Josh Freese
Josh sounds very good on drums on this one:
I'm planning to be in Cologne, will let you know how I liked it.
(Edit: to my surprise, the show is said to be sold out! Didn't know they're still that big in Germany. Couldn't find any gig reviews from Hamburg or Berlin yet.)
I'm planning to be in Cologne, will let you know how I liked it.
(Edit: to my surprise, the show is said to be sold out! Didn't know they're still that big in Germany. Couldn't find any gig reviews from Hamburg or Berlin yet.)
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Re: Josh Freese
I'll start a new thread about the gig in "off-topic" section, for here just this cool pic:


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Re: Josh Freese
From Sublime With Rome Facebook page:

I might try and find this in international press shops in bigger train stations or airports. If I have no luck, maybe someone will scan it...
did you guys catch our phenomenal drummer josh freese on the cover of drum! magazine?! we're so lucky to be working with a legendary man who has been drumming with everyone from devo to the vandals, nin, the replacements, gnr, and not to mention sublime with rome![]()

I might try and find this in international press shops in bigger train stations or airports. If I have no luck, maybe someone will scan it...
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Re: Josh Freese
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/josh-freese-interview
Quoted here is only the GN'R relevant part of it:
Quoted here is only the GN'R relevant part of it:
You were part of Guns N’ Roses during what has now become the infamous Chinese Democracy debacle...
One of my favorite strange feathers in my cap that I have is that whenever I walk into a room of people and they’re talking about [whispers] Chinese Democracy, just this whole debacle of a record that took 100 years to make and cost a million dollars—I’ll walk into a room full of people and go, “What are you guys talking about?” They go, “Chinese Democracy,” and I raise my hand and go, “I wrote ‘Chinese Democracy,’” because I wrote the music to the song. I didn’t write anything else on the album. I wrote a couple other things that didn’t make it on the album. When I left, there were still another seven or eight years before the album came out. But it always makes me laugh. It’s not like I wrote Track 10 or something; I wrote “Chinese Democracy.” Some people told me I shouldn’t brag about that. Actually, I like that song. And it’s not just because I wrote it; it’s because it’s a really dumb, simple, dirty guitar riff. It’s cool. I think it’s one of the better ones on that record.
How did that come about, though?
I got a call from their now-ex-manager in 1997 saying, “Guns N’ Roses is auditioning drummers. They’d like you to audition.” I was busy at the time playing with Devo, and doing lots of Vandals gigs, and working with Paul Westerberg—my hero from the Replacements. I was already really busy not being a rich-and-famous rock star but being cool—being cool, working with people I loved and really stood behind and making a good living. I wasn’t filthy rich, but I wasn’t broke. So, I was like, “I’m good, man.” And I had a conversation with the manager, and he said, “Why don’t you just come down and meet Axl?” I said, “I don’t know.” And he said, “Listen, who knows if you’d even get the gig, and if you get the gig, you don’t have to say ‘yes.’ Just come down.” I think, “What have I got to lose?” At that point, no one had seen Axl in five years. You heard rumors, “I heard he’s 350 pounds.” “I heard he lost all of his hair.” You hear all these things. I was like, “I should go down. Does he drive himself or does he take a limo? Does he show up with his sister? Does he show up with the porn stars? Does he take a helicopter? Let me see how this dude rolls.”
So, I went down and met him, and I really liked him. He was really nice. He was talking about Devo, and instead of throwing out “Yeah, I used to like ‘Whip It.’” Instead of saying something like that, he started naming other songs. “Dude, ‘Uncontrollable Urge’ is great. ‘Gut Feeling.’” And I’m like, “This guy knows.” He’s not just saying he likes Devo and remembering that one hit from 1983. He knows his shit. He does like Devo. He’s like, “I want someone to come down here and write with me. I don’t want you to just be the drummer.” I was like, “I’m going to check it out,” and I had a lot of friends begging me not to do it. I had people going, “Dude, what are you doing? That’s insane.” I have to say, to Paul Westerberg’s credit, Paul Westerberg’s the one guy who said, “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? Go play with Guns N’ Roses. Nobody knows what they’re doing. There’s all these weird rumors about him. You should go do that for a minute.”
What was the experience like?
I did it, and I don’t regret it. I was on a two-year contract with them, and by the end of the second year, I realized they weren’t going to leave that studio or that room anytime too soon. But going back to Axl, everyone wants to hear a crazy Axl story. Obviously, there’s been a lot documented about him. But me, personally, I never had a bad experience with him. I never saw him blow up. I never saw him do anything unfair. He was nothing but cool to me, and I saw a guy that wanted to have fun and wanted to come down to the studio with the guys and write music and stuff. You hear the other stories—just like me or you or anyone on the street that’s looked at the internet and said, “Oh my God, he did what to so-and-so? He trashed this? He wouldn’t show up to the show?” You hear crazy stories. Maybe if I was around that shit, I’d tell you a different story. I personally never witnessed any of that stuff. I was also in our personal, private bubble. I wasn’t out playing gigs and sitting backstage hearing, “He’s not even in New York yet. And the opening band’s off stage and he’s still in Philly, refusing to come here.” Then I might go, “Fuck, man,” and it would drive me crazy. But we were on our own schedule in a studio out in The Valley. There was no real big consequence if we were late or if he didn’t show up one night. It didn’t matter. I really liked him.
And I felt bad when my two years was up and I decided I was going to go start A Perfect Circle, 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. When I put in my notice, I didn’t want him to take it personally, which I know he probably has with other guys who have left his band or been fired or whatever, because I really do personally like him and always got along with him. When anybody ends a relationship, even if it’s business, some people go, “Don’t take it personally; it’s business.” People still take it personally. You get bummed out. I felt bad about leaving, but I had to do it. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Axl. [Laughs]
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Re: Josh Freese
I read this earlier today and haven't had time to post it yet. It is strange, I know I have read parts of the interview before, but not the part where he talks about Chinese Democracy. I will have to go through our interview database and see if I can find it.
Anyway, thanks for posting. Josh is such a cool guy.
Anyway, thanks for posting. Josh is such a cool guy.
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Re: Josh Freese
Ah, it is just very similar to excerpts from this podcast he did last year:
https://www.a-4-d.com/t2268-201304xx-interview-with-josh-on-podomatic
https://www.a-4-d.com/t2268-201304xx-interview-with-josh-on-podomatic
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Re: Josh Freese
Soulmonster wrote:Anyway, thanks for posting. Josh is such a cool guy.
Yeah, I subscribed to his FB profile, so I get the updates and thus I found this one.
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Re: Josh Freese
Josh recording drums for The Dwarves:

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Re: Josh Freese
Josh has been touring with Sting for a while, I believe. Plus he's also on this, Lemmy's final solo recording (for an album by Chris Declercq):
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/premieres/hear-final-w512932
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/premieres/hear-final-w512932
Declercq met Kilmister in 2005 after he moved from his native Switzerland to Hollywood and approached the Motörhead singer at the Sunset Strip's Rainbow Bar and Grill. He gave him a copy of a demo CD and the two musicians eventually worked together on "We Are the Ones," which features Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, Guns N' Roses) on drums and co-producer Martin Guigui on synth. They began tracking it with co-producer Cameron Webb in 2014 at Paramount Studios and Kilmister recorded the bass part in March 2015; they did a final mix this past January.
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Re: Josh Freese
Josh Freese is now the Foo Fighters' new drummer!
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65669986
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65669986
US rock band the Foo Fighters have unveiled their new drummer following the death of Taylor Hawkins last year.
In a live stream on Sunday, the band announced that Josh Freese, a longtime friend of singer Dave Grohl, will join them on their forthcoming world tour.
Freese has played for a variety of top acts around the world including Devo, Guns N' Roses, Sting and The Vandals.
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Re: Josh Freese
That's an excellent choice for Foo Fighters.
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Uli likes this post

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