Foo Fighters fans are proving the old saying, “You can’t please everyone,” with some taking issue with new drummer Josh Freese.
The band’s official Reddit features a thread titled “Does Freese” that’s critical of the drummer’s playing. The user that started the thread wrote, “He’s clearly a great drummer. But after watching some of the recent live performances with Josh Freese I’ve concluded that compared to Taylor he really rushes the beat.” This user added, “Taylor was a very ‘in the pocket’ drummer so to speak. Freese plays like a machine but you can hear the rest of the band struggling to keep up with him. ‘Everlong’ was so so fast. It just makes the loss of Taylor hit home even more. He was the perfect drummer from FF. This is just my opinion and of course ymmv.”
While some agreed with this opinion, other Foo fans came to the defense of Freese. One user wrote, “Omg can we stop. The amount of drum geniuses coming out of the woodwork because there is a new drummer. Freese has drummed for like 400 albums to quote Dave, many of em favorites we had no idea he was part of. Taylor looked up to him as much as vice versa.” They added, “Freese is doing incredible things behind the kit for the Foos. Let’s not micro-analyze the styles and different interpretations of the groove. 3 of the best drummers in history are part of the Foos.”
The latter user is correct that Freese has quite the resume and has played on a large and diverse number of albums. In fact, you can explore just some of Freese’s credits below.