Foo Fighters announce Josh Freese as new drummer following Taylor Hawkins' death

Josh Freese will succeed the late Taylor Hawkins as drummer for Foo Fighters during their upcoming tour.

Dave Grohl and co. announced the news during a livestream event, "Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts," on Sunday with a humorous sketch that teased other iconic drummers, including Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith, Motley Crue's Tommy Lee, and Tool's Danny Carey, interrupting the band during rehearsal.

Smith makes the first cameo: "There's a white Mercedes blocking me," he informs the group. Later, Lee arrives with takeout P.F. Chang's, and Carey enters to let the group know that he groomed their poodles for them. The segment ultimately cuts to reveal Freese behind the drum kit, exasperated by all the interruptions.

"Excuse me! Guys can we just, like, I don't know, play a song or two?" Freese says.

The group then dives into a rehearsal of "All My Life."

Freese is a prolific drummer who has played with Guns N' Roses, Nine Inch Nails, the Offspring, Paramore, and Blink-182, among other groups. Speaking to EW in 2009, the drummer made light of the lack of name recognition he sometimes received. "I work with famous people, but I'm kind of under the radar," he says. "I'm probably famous to the drummer kid that lives down the street from me, but that's about it."

The newest Foo was recently part of the star-studded line-up at the band's tribute concert for Hawkins — who died unexpectedly last March at age 50 from cardiac arrest while the group was touring in Colombia — at London's Wembley Stadium in September.

Scott Dudelson/Getty Images Foo Fighters new drummer Josh Freese

Late last year, Freese shared that he played Hawkins' drum set during his tribute performances in a remembrance of his late friend.

"Taylor and I both grew up in Orange County...30 mins away from one another but whenever we were in a group full of musicians (usually far away from home somewhere) we'd joke that we were the only 2 guys from OC in the room," Freese wrote on Instagram. "We always had that funny little bond and he'd always remind me that he was tired of hearing about 'that other young guy from OC who was already making records and touring' when he was a teenager."

"I'd then ask him if he wanted to trade bank accounts with me, LOL!" he added. "F--- man, the whole thing sucks. He would've loved that show more than anyone though."

The band is set to begin their tour May 24 at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in New Hampshire and conclude Nov. 26 at the Grand Prix race-day concert in Abu Dhabi.

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