Nine Inch Nails and Foo Fighters are apparently ready to march to a different beat, as the two bands have swapped their drummers.
After a 19-year run with NIN, it’s been reported that longtime skinsman Ilan Rubin left the project earlier this month to handle drums with Foo Fighters. Sources told the Hollywood Reporter that Rubin had initially been slated to perform with NIN through all of their upcoming tour commitments, but that he told Trent Reznor last week that he’d “accepted a job with another band.” Foo Fighters’ team has yet to officially comment on Rubin’s involvement with them.
Where things get really interesting, though, is that yesterday (July 30th) found Josh Freese — the veteran percussionist let go from Foo Fighters earlier this spring — revealing through socials that he’s rejoined Nine Inch Nails, whom he’d served as their touring drummer between 2005 and 2008, for the upcoming North American “Peel It Back” tour dates.
Nine Inch Nails confirmed this on their end, too, by uploading an Instagram Story that pictured the percussionist, and featured the caption: “Let’s fucking go @joshfreese.”
“Leaving Nine Inch Nails at the end of 2008 was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. My wife and I were expecting our third child, and I knew I needed to step away from life on the road to be home with my family,” Freese wrote on socials.
“NIN was a band that left me walking off stage every single night thinking, ‘That was incredible. We absolutely crushed it.’ And it wasn’t just a feeling, it was a certainty. That level of intensity, pride, and satisfaction after each show is something I’ve rarely experienced anywhere.
“Now, being back on tour with Trent and the crew—helping them do what they do best night after night—is something I’m incredibly excited about. To be part of that energy again feels amazing.”
Nine Inch Nails’ “Peel It Back” tour picks up again August 6th at the Oakland Arena in Oakland, California. You’ll find the deets on the rest of the six-week tour over here.
As for Foo Fighters, the band’s next gig — and presumably first one with Rubin behind the kit — is scheduled to take place in Jakarta, Indonesia in October, and will be followed by shows in Singapore and Japan. Those international date details are over here.
Both bands released new music this summer, with NIN having dropped their TRON: Ares single “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” and the Foos having delivered their tender and reflective “Today’s Song.”