Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails execute complicated 'lil drummer swap

Foo Fighters have reportedly hired away long-time Nine Inch Nails touring drummer Ilan Rubin… just as Nine Inch Nails hired fired Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese.

By William Hughes  |  July 30, 2025 | 9:37pm
Left: Josh Freese, Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Foo Fighters, Right: Ilan Rubin Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
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Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails execute complicated 'lil drummer swap
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The drama surrounding the position of drummer for long-running rock band Foo Fighters—which started out sad, in the wake of Taylor Hawkins’ death, and then fractious, after the band announced it was firing his replacement, Josh Freese—has now somehow gotten even weirder. To wit: THR is reporting that the band has now, in essence, pulled a drummer swap with fellow veteran rockers Nine Inch Nails. According to the report, the latter group’s long-time touring drummer, Ilan Rubin—who started playing with Nine Inch Nails when he was just 21, and was inducted with them into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2020—informed Trent Reznor last week that he’d taken a job with another band. Lo and behold, sources report today he’s been tapped as the new drummer of Foo Fighters. Coincidentally or not, the news broke at pretty much the exact same time that Nine Inch Nails announced its own new drummer… former Foo Fighters member Josh Freese.

Now, to be fair, Freese has a long history with Reznor: As part of his long journeyman career as a professional drummer, he was NIN’s touring drummer from 2005 to 2008, and played on two of the band’s albums, Year Zero and The Slip. It doesn’t make the timing of all this seem any less weird, though, especially because THR‘s report sure makes it sounds like Dave Grohl and company poached Rubin away from Nine Inch Nails just as Foo Fighters gear up for new shows starting in Southeast Asia this fall. It’s not entirely clear at present whether either of these positions are “full-time” drumming jobs, or just touring gigs; Nine Inch Nails, at least, enthusiastically posted the news on their Instagram Story, announcing Freese with a “LET’S FUCKING GO”.

Foo Fighters put out their first new song in a minute earlier this month, accompanied by a statement that (very briefly) thanked Freese for his time in the band. Freese previously stated on social media that the members of Foo Fighters simply called him up one day and told him they were “going in a different direction,” with no reason given. He’s since made at least a bit of a joke out of the firing, including posting a joke-y “Top 10 possible reasons Freese got booted from the Foos” list to his Instagram.

 
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