Transcript for:
Insights from Drummer Josh Freese Interview

hey everybody I'm Rick biato Josh freeze the new drummer of the Foo Fighters is known for his Dynamic style and creativity combined with Incredible Precision in chops you can see H the sheer power and intensity of his drumming in this video I took at soundcheck last week with a perfect circle he has an amazing career that spans multiple genres and includes collaborations with iconic artists like 9in nails dvo sting Guns and Roses The Offspring the vandals and A Perfect Circle Josh has played on over 500 albums and is one of the top session drummers of all time last week he stopped by the studio here's my interview Josh welcome thanks I need to ask you this you're now the new drummer of the Foo Fighters what does that feel like well it continues to be Bittersweet in the way that uh you know part of me wants to say like I wish I wasn't there at all right you know what I mean I wish there wasn't a reason for me to be the drummer food Fighters I was friendly acquaintances with Taylor for like 25 years and then in the last five six years we've be became a lot closer and which makes the whole thing even more odd you know some of the guys in the band I've known for a long long time I known Chris shifflet and Ramy for 30 years well before they were in the band and I met Dave before he was Nirvana I met Dave at a uh at a concert at Cal State Long Beach in like 1990 when he was was in Scream before before he was in Scream and scream had just broken up and he was kind of stranded out in La kind of he was doing some odd jobs and trying to like make some money to get back home back East we were there to see uh a friend of mine's band this band called Big drill car that was great from costaa they were playing and I'm standing on the floor watching them play and a pal of mine my friend Chris says uh see that guy over there with the long hair I go yeah he goes that guy's a killer drummer and I was 17 and I was playing with the vandals and I was in dzel apples band and I thought it was hot stuff so I'm like who's that guy how good is he really he's better than me you know you know my buddy Chris like no that guy's killer man I go really goes yeah he's in the spam scream they just broke up like yesterday he's super bummed I'm like oh wow that's a drag okay so anyways after the show Chris introduces us talk for a few minutes cool guy obviously was bummed that his band had just kind of like imploded right on the road H 6 months later or something my buddy goes remember that guy remember that long-hair guy from the big drill car show I go yeah he goes he joined that band Nirvana I was like oh cool good for him like Nirvana was just the baby band sure from Seattle you know I knew the bleach album I liked bleach yeah you know would see their name on a marquee like opening opening up for Sonic Youth and stuff and just go yeah that's kind of they a cool Bandon I like that band and then to go make that record man and I was like you know the rest is history right I think that my coming into the band was something that I wasn't planning on by any means even after Taylor's passing first thing I thought was how are these gu is going to move on from this right Taylor was such an important component yeah to that band you know on and off stage and he wasn't just a drummer you know such a big personality the whole thing that uh when I got news of of his passing I was like oh man yeah I mean after the initial shock of dealing with that and thinking man the f figh is like you know are they even going to go on right what they what's what's the food Fighters without Taylor hins yeah I mean does Dave go solo now I mean I who knows man because that's got to be a tough one I wasn't talking to those guys at the time I was letting everyone have their space and yeah I just I couldn't imagine what was going on in that camp and just really my heart went out to all of them that summer when they're putting those tribute shows together the one in London and the one in La I was really happy to be a part of it to be there with a bunch of other fellow drummers and fellow musicians that were all buddies of tailor right you know I mean I don't know if closure is the right word but it was like I grieved on my own and then it it it felt felt good or therapeutic to be able to be around other people that knew him very well right you know I mean that that part was was healing uh in a lot of ways at least for me I'm assuming it was for a lot of other people that were down there too and the communal thing of all these great musicians and all these great drummers that all love Taylor to death you know that it was uh it was special you know and and I went in there and did those the one in London and the one in LA literally just to be there to be there for those guys and to be there for all my fellow drummers that were mutual friends of ours and just to to be a part of that just felt nice and felt good on my children's lives I had zero plans of being called to be the drummer and everyone and their mother my neighbor walking the dog hey Josh the food Fighters call you yet other people hit me up other dramers Reddit forms Josh ree is going to be the guy I'm going I really I don't even know if they're going to continue on and most people I knew said oh they're going to have to you know they're going to they're going to figure it out I like well maybe who knows I didn't ask them that question during those tribute things once again I wanted to give everybody space and I wasn't I wasn't going to be another guy coming at Dave going so dude if you need a drummer you know I'm around I'm just saying you know I didn't mention it once you know and was busy enough and making a good enough living already that I wasn't freaked out about it I wasn't going God I hope they call I hope they call I was like you know what whatever happens is g to happen and that's how I kind of like to roll right right months went on after that second uh the LA Performance I guess was September and David said that he'd written a bunch of songs he wanted to get and he was going to record a bunch of stuff you know after those shows so cool so sound like keep was going to make a record and then I guess it was right before Christmas that year 2022 I got a call from him I got a missed call I was on a walk with my wife and some of our dogs and and I go H Dave just tried calling me like 20 minutes ago and she's like I know why he's calling you I was like even your wife easy even your wife no I'm not thinking that I'm I swear to God that's not why I thought I go you know what he might be having a New Year's Eve party he might be doing a project where he has all those drummer friends of ours that performed to the thing we each play a track you could be calling me for numerous reasons but I'm not going to pretend like that's calling me I called him back and we small talked about you know Christmas and our kids and do they still believe in Santa Claus and who's the hardest to you know shop for and this just this silly Small Talk family stuff if anything I said hey you know did you go record he goes yeah we recorded a bunch of stuff and I play drums and really happy with the way it sounds really excited about it and uh we had the drummer talk and we want you to be the guy and it felt it felt felt like someone kind of like socked me in the stomach I didn't go wow yippy this is so cool I didn't get excited like that it was more it was almost like I had like the wind knocked out of me yeah I was like oh my God I like here we go you know cuz I knew what am I say no you know it's like have time to think about it and all that but I like come on it's like even when after the holiday was Dave and I got together and talked and he played me the new record we're talking and even like there's sometimes when like you go you know you got to do this right I'm like yeah it couldn't have gone down any other way after being asked and being asked by someone that I've respected forever not just as a songwriter and a singer guitarist but as a drummer Drummer yeah first and foremost for me Dave is such a bad man D Dave is always has been always has been and just innately has this thing that like we were talking about earlier with Bernard pery and it can't that stuff can't be taught it just can't be taught right you can try and explain to somebody but you're either going to do it or you're not you know and he was blessed with that being able to do it and just deliver you know I mean so for me as a drummer is great and I used to talk about it with Taylor all the time like oh man so cool like a Dave you know like you love Dave's drumming and and and we talk about it and I've I've made records with bands where the singer maybe used to play drums right but Dave's Dave's a drum drummer's drummer that's right you know I mean and so it's not like oh yeah he used to play drums like no he's a drummer you know what I mean and I've tried to let that be a source of inspiration yeah and uh and excitement when I'm playing with them and playing a band with them rather than letting it intimidate me or freak me out cu if you could if you start going down that path it could intimidate you and freak you out my God I'm R drummer but it's more he makes it so comfortable and good and uh natural the way we play together and as a drummer his rhythm I was going to ask you about that his rhythm's amand you got a break you know got a four bar break and the guitar is playing I'm making sure to keep that time in the high hat so the guit to worry with Dave never have to it's just it's right there yeah all the time people don't really talk about that with Dave about what a what strong Rhythm player he is I mean of course it's so cool it's so cool and when he turns around and we lock in we're playing it it's it luckily maybe one day it will will become nerve-wracking it's never been nerve-wracking for me it's always fun and exciting cuz it's kind of uh late out that way it's not some heavy trip or weird thing it's like it's it's just all good it's all good stuff okay so when you do ever long though at the end of a set yeah yeah yeah 3 hours into it a you know pasting yourself and making sure you drink enough water and ate your weedies that morning I'd like to take a second to talk to you about this channel Believe It or Not 57% of the people that watch here regularly are not subscribed so I would encourage you to hit the Subscribe button now this will help me get even more of my dream guests in the future thank you so Josh I couldn't begin to talk about all the different bands that you've been in and all the records you've played on first of all let's talk about how many records have you played on if you had to guess 2,000 H probably closer to 500 okay but I mean there sessions there's tons of other things there soundtracks and jingles and you know stuff like that that recording sessions that maybe didn't turn into an actual album but were used for different things you know I mean I've been lucky you know I mean I honestly it's a combination of it's hard work there's Talent involved and there's luck involved you know and um all three of those things have to kind of be aligned to hopefully crack through that door to be able to do what we love doing for a living right I joined the Musicians Union when I was 12 and started playing in a cover band out at Disneyland every weekend my dad dad's music I my dad conducted the Disneyland Big Band y all through my youth so you I still I look back and see pictures of me when I'm like 3 years old with like a Disneyland band hat on like a toy saxophone or sometimes drumsticks like marching up and down Main Street with the band me and my brother by the time I was yeah about 12 years old I started playing a cover band out in Tomorrowland and my dad was now hiring entertainment out there and stuff and joined the union and played out there for three years but then started recording I guess the first record I made I was either 15 or 16 with dzel Zappa and then it just kind of started snowballing I started like kind of playing with whoever would have me right and uh and between being able to play well with a click track and showing up on time and not being loaded you know uh you just start getting kind of you know a reputation for being dependable and being able to get in and get the job done as well it wasn't until like kind of years later I I I remember being at Pro drum on V Street one time this is probably 25 years ago I'm in there I'm talking to Stan and Jerry and they go uh hey congratulations on the modern drummer thing I go what modern drummer thing oh you're in the readers pool you got you got number two Studio drummer I'm like Studio drummer am I a studio drummer I just thought I had a lot of friends that like had deadbeat drummers that were sleeping in or you know like whatever you know like got in a band fight the night before or whatever I I just thought I had you know weird luck and timing as far as that went but I go God I guess I have pled a lot of Records in the last couple years God maybe I am a studio drummer I I think with that also is and maybe why I was getting hired for some of the records I was playing on is number one I didn't set out to be a studio drummer and number two I think there was probably qualities to my playing that was uh not like other Studio drummers maybe I was a little rough around the edges because you understand the aesthetic of punk rock you understand the aesthetic of all these different genres of music that don't necessarily require the same skill set that you would normally associate with a session drummer right I think session drummer it sounds so kind of like polite and Slick you know and I guess sometimes I can play polite and slick but I can also like give it some dirt and some grease you know and I think that that's that's what helped probably a lot too was the fact that I wasn't coming in like a guy that was just kind of had gone to music school and was just doing that you know people would hire drummers in particular session drummers to play on records because the drummers in the bands couldn't cut the parts in the studio yes that was not an uncommon thing right there were times where maybe the maybe you wouldn't be listed as the drummer on there but you'd be thanked on on record and I'd say Josh obviously play drums on that yeah the other one that would make me laugh sometimes is if I play the drums on the whole record would have the name of the drummer in the band and then somewhere down the line it would say additional percussion Josh fre like additional percussion okay how about every freaking hit tell give me one story there must have been a time when the drummer in the band was there when you were playing their parts I'm sure there were many times give me the a most awkward oh God give me a give me a like okay I've got two I've got two really awkward ones and a third one that's kind of has a happy ending to it but it was a little bit awkward I'm not gonna mention the name of the band okay that's okay it was a famous band okay and they had made a record and there was one song that they just were not happy with and I knew the guys in the band I knew the drummer not well but I knew him and my buddy of the singer I'm laughing but it's just because this is painful and it's not that it's funny it's just like oh God it was one of these um so he goes hey can you show up to the studio on whatever Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica I go great so I'm driving there and I'm about 10 minutes away and I get a text and it says where are you I'm like five minutes away go to Starbucks and hang tight I go why it's like because we've been mixing for two weeks we've been done the drummer hasn't been by the studio once and he just randomly stopped by on his way out of town like going to LAX or something and the drum doctors my cartridge company is pushing these road cases in the back of the studio and say my name all over them and the drummer goes what's going on in here he goes oh Josh fre is playing drums so and so it's like oh man and he's like what I like so I'm sitting at the coffee shop waiting for these guys to like finish their fist fight in the parking oh no it wasn't that bad you know I mean I'm going oh God what's going to happen and it all worked out okay they had a conversation and of course you know there's been those situation before where the drummer would be like you know Josh you know like that I'm like don't get mad at me get mad at your producer or your singer they're the guys that I didn't decide that they want me to play on this they decided they want me to play on this and if it's not me it's going to be somebody else you know what I mean right they decided they have to do something to get this track to where they want it you know and sometimes I've also been in a situation where the drums to me when they I come I'll come in and listen they sound fine to me but them knowing sometimes having laid the foundation if you go to lay down a foundation and it it's going to work but you don't feel great about it you'll always hear that one little edit even if no one else ever hears that edit you're always going to hear that one edit or that one part you go God that sounds weird to me so me not knowing what it sounded like before whatever having that to to go by it kind of sounds pretty good to me but they're like we no we just can't deal with this tap we we have have to fix it or we need something more uh to uh to to make us want to finish it or make us feel good about it right the end product there's another time I was at Henson it might have been A&M back then 25 years ago I'm recording with the band and as I'm playing I see through the the glass into the control room and they were like a new band I didn't know anyone in the band I knew the producer but I see a face I didn't recognize come to the control room guy all tattoos and look like he was in a rock band and um and I'm playing and I see just the body language and like going oh God what's happening in there and I finished and like yeah man you give us a minute and the drummer showed up in the middle of the freaking I know I laugh but I mean oh no I've been replaced in the studio and it hurt and and you know I know a lot of people have been I know a lot of since then too I it happened to me years ago and it's probably happened to me since but it doesn't feel good and you go home you go my God you know you know I'm doing it all wrong my career is over I suck everyone hates me like no I've worked with great great musicians I've worked with great great guitarists that have gone and to play on something and then even my own ear I'll go God that just didn't feel right or just didn't just didn't work doesn't mean this guy's not a fantastic guitar player just let's let's try something else we got to try something else cuz just it's not working for that particular track but then the one I was going to tell you that was interesting and it was kind of awkward but it was it was cool and it went the other way is that sometimes and a lot of times there these young bands would get signed and they come out to LA to make their record and they realize the drummer can't play with a click track yes and it's just not going Happ that's very common very common right and so I would get called and do a lot of those things and sometimes the drummer would understand and go hey I get it I've never made a record before I'm 20 years old and okay that's fine whatever other times they get a you know knock down drag out fight and the guy quits the band he moves back home and then you know whatever the band's over he's out of the band but this one particular time I was making a record and the drummer was a fan of mine and he was a young guy and the producer said to me do you mind if the drummer sits next to you while you track the drums and kind of like learn about it and he and he wanted to he didn't shut down and get angry he was more like okay I get it and I'd like to use this as a learning experience great he had a really open mind about it but it's funny like if if you were me on the drums the guy's chair was like right here like you trying to touch me like that you know so I'm like oh God Like You better play really good right now this guy's G to go wait why did we hire this guy why I could do that um so that was that was kind of weird but it wasn't it wasn't a bad Vibe it was just like I kind of I kind of felt bad for the guy the whole time I was like hey man you know these parts are easy you're going to be able to do this in no time don't worry about it you know trying to give him kind of sort of a pep talk rather than like yeah you know the fantasy Studio drum they brought in and you know a few friends of M used to joke that there was like this time frame you know between like 2001 and 2008 or something that all these bands if they weren't happy with the way it sounded if the label just wasn't quite soled they just go let's recut the drums with Josh freeze that'll make it all better I mean I don't know if that's true at all it is true but at least they they're like grasping for a St and that was one fix well let's get freezing here to play the drums and there's a psychological thing though with labels that they would do or they have a have a a drummer Planet they have a certain mixer oh this mix isn't good we need to get so and so to mix time there would be formulas where a producer uh I won't mention the bands but there's one well-known band in particular that the the producer uh hired me to play on this band's record came out great record was a hit they get a drummer drummer's great he goes on tour just like a new guy no one knew him whatever they come home hire the same producer and the producer's like I've got to bring Josh Freez in and I'm thinking God the drummer's actually totally capable of doing this and I even would say they should give that kid a shot because he's totally capable the produc like nope nope then we want no uh room for error or whatever we're just going to bring you in no it's we're going to get it all the tracks will be done in two two days you know maybe 3 days and then we can move on and and everyone would be happy I okay they get used to that formula you know what I mean and and almost superstitious yeah sometimes well we got to do it this way we're going to go back and we're going to recut drums again at at at Henson or you know the village or Ocean or whatever you know and they want to do it that way to just go we've covered our asses here you know and done everything they can do to you know hopefully have a success again with it you know Josh will you play on any type of Kit you will right yeah you like simple setups though right I do like simple setups yeah fck I'm too lazy to set up all the extra stuff set up all that I think you know when I was a kid you know I'd see footage of like you know famous rock and roll drummers uh from when I was growing up like you know Neil per uh Alex Van Halen who was really one of my first big drum loves was Alex MH um these guy are these big huge drum sets and it looks very impressive right but you know I'm never going to be able to afford that or have that on my house I got a little five piece kit that I'm lucky to have and uh you know I got a couple extra Roto Toms for Christmas one year so I had some extra Toms it was cool it was kind of like Alex Van Halen or Terry bosio and then I got a little bit older and it was like and I got into the guys that didn't use all those drums and I got on the guys that played like four piece kid for example uh for example examp Le uh Jeff Baro Steve Jordan uh it's funny I say Stuart Copeland steuart Copeland had a lot of bells and whistles himself lot of symbols and stuff yeah you know um and even like you know like Vinnie I was heavily into Vinnie for a long time two rack Toms two floor toms done ride a couple crashes you know it wasn't a really involved drum kit Charlie and Ringo they both played that four piece setup you know and I kind of everything for me kind of starts about there and I might one gig I might have a rack and two floor toms another gig might have two racks two floors there's always the one rack and the one floor is kind of like the meat and potatoes of it I mean with the food Fighters I use two racks two floors but I only use one more crash symbol there there's only one more symbol compared to what's up there I use a ride and three crashes hats but I do a I've got the two kick drums when we were in rehearsals I was busting out some double pedal stuff and Dave being a drummer is like oh that's awesome I love that double base thing you're doing there I'm like really okay I was just kind of messing around like do it do it okay so I'm doing it and then it's so crazy I showed up one day at a rehearsal and we were just on the exact same page I thought like a day or two before I was like am I just going to come up and have the same setup that I always have a rack Tom two floors boring kick snare whatever uh and that and and just I was thinking God do I dare have two kick drums is that totally ridiculous to show up with two kick drums and I I come to rehearsal and Dave's like I was thinking about it man he goes you should just go for and have two kick drums I'm like no no I was think of the exact same thing I thought You' never go for he's like oh I think it's cool and then ran it past Pat and Pat sm's the the punk rock you know Elder Statesman you know and if it's cool with Pat then it's cool and uh I was like Oh yeah double kick all the way I thought he' be like double kicks for heavy metal guys or say something like that you know like no no no you gota you gotta go for it you know I've only used double kick like actually two BS once in my life years ago on the on a Warp Tour with the vandals and I think I was just being a smartass I was being funny by having two kick drums this lime green drum set that I had um but I really I I I like them I like having the two kicks and is it strange to get used to yeah kind of it's not that much different than using I use a double pedal it's not that it's not that when you're actually pushing a second kick drum it is a little bit different it is a little bit different because there there's different Force forces involved with that yeah I I do like it though and it's almost weirder now to go back and play a double pedal on a single Kick Drum yeah because i' I've gotten used to that I've got used to that that the the rebound of the kick head you know with the left foot what are what are the actual drum sizes cuz I'm very curious about these things like what you playing a 20 22s 222s that's a great question you have no idea kidding I'm using a TW my main KY is a 23 okay right did they screw up that day or something they making it no DW I don't know did you say Okay I need a 23 in two 23 in KCK do you have a 23 and a 22 or they start they started making 23in kicks a couple years ago and I've got two or three of them I really like them okay a joke I have with a friend of mine and old drum Tech of mine is go I like it because it's a little bit bigger than a 22 but it's not quite a 24 it's a 23 um I like that it's weird yeah you know what I mean I do like this it's a little bigger than a 22 which I've always basically played a 22 once in a while he's a 24 but very rarely a little bit bigger than a 22 people have the same reaction you have when I say heuse a 23 in K they got 23 in is it like 23 by 18 something like that or what it's actually 16x 23 okay and the other Kick Drum is 16 by 22 but that seems so small I'm thinking about wait a minute okay 16 by 22 okay yeah so it's 23 main kick is 23 and the other one's 2 okay so Danny Cary told me that so his two kick drums are different a bigger one on the left I think he said he used the 22 because he had the rototoms there and he need wanted a smaller kick right just it taking up less space too but he also felt like it sounded it sounded different he wanted to hear the two different sounds of them mine just both go I don't tell any difference Okay so you have the you have this these two kick drums and then you said you have two racks and two floor toms yeah and then these two little like Piccolo Toms that get hit about three times in a you know in a night they're just kind of like fun little auxiliary like they sound like rototoms they're just all attack and nothing else and you know he has a simple setup man I've I've never I mean I joke around about being too lazy to bring all my stuff around I mean most of the time I'm not setting up anyways but uh yeah it's like I'm always like whatever's laying around I'll play but I mean I've been lucky enough too I've had a relationship with DW Trum since I was 12 kind of what happened right before I started playing out Disneyland is growing up in Orange County and my dad's connection with the music department at Disneyland I would get Nam show badges okay I'm now going back uh you know without being prompted but I'm going to tell you a little story about um so I would get to go to the N show when I was 10 or 11 years old and I'd go and not only see all this awesome gear that was way cooler than the little music store down the street of my house had right but there's all these famous musicians I started reading about a drummer magazine so I'm going oh my God it's you know John Robinson oh it's Peter urin oh my God Vinnie Cal and I met Vinnie he was playing the Simmons booth in 84 and just I wasn't ready for it I recognized his name from a Yamaha drum ad but that's all I knew about him Oh's that dud for the yeah I know this he's famous he's modern I know who that guy is well I was think fourth grade right so go in the SIM Booth to watch him play and I'm just like oh God I was not prepared and it's that was what started on a a lifelong journey of you know listening to Vinnie and being a a Big Vinnie fan uh but I follow him around the N show like a lost puppy and he was cool he like come on kid we're g to walk over to zilon I'd walk over zilon he'd sign a 100 autographs between here and there we get a zilon and he'd be all sweaty from his little Simmons performance in the booth so he'd get a shirt he'd get me a free Z oh my God I got a freeze zilan shirt this is awesome I started kind of hanging around with Vinnie and and and just kind of like follow him around and and then uh he'd be playing gigs up the baked potato and my dad would drive me up and we'd sit behind his drums as a kid and watch him play and he kind of really sort of took me under his wing I never officially studied with him that's always a bit of a rumor people go you used to study with Vinnie right I've never sat down behind the drums of Vinnie ever okay but he would the Dr he would save me a seat when I was 12 years old watch him with a big potato play with these guys and just who would he be playing with back then the the the band I saw him play with all the time there's legendary anyone that was in LA going to the baked potato in 84 85 knows this band they were called Dog cheese and they were legendary it was Joanie Mitchell's backup band basically the time was Vinnie Larry Klein on Bas who was married to joury the time then yeah Michael landow one of my favorite guitarists and good friend yep uh and Steve tavalon who played like an electric it's called an ewe e right the midi like midi saxophone or whatever the hell that thing was yeah um anyways once again I I had no idea what I was in store for and I'd go see them play and it was like they would go there to like blow off steam and just like shred yeah you know they're out on the they're out on tour kind of being somewhat polite and they'd get home and they just like tear into it and it was it was life-changing sing those gigs you know really really truly was but back to the the N show I would myself go and just sit down back you know there's always like a kid at the N show you know there's always some kid play the drums oh look at the cute little 10-year-old oh he's really whatever it's like a novelty thing right I was that kid at one point and Simmons was making this cheaper Drum Set uh more affordable than the SDS 5 and seven at the time for parents to be able to buy their kids and it was cb700 by Simmons yeah and they were like 600 bucks or something right but their whole thing like look parents they can wear headphones and not drive you up the wall while they practice and I made a couple commercials for Simmons that ran on Nickelodeon and MTV when I was 12 11 12 and then I started playing at the N I started playing at the N shows I went down uh I play in Anaheim I went to like I played at Pas that year in 8 when I was 12 for them and alongside Chad wackerman Chester Thompson Jr Robinson like it's heavy cats but once again I was just the novelty I was like look at the cute little 12-year-old you know and that was about it right but still this day I'm good friends with Jim Kelner and I'll never forget and Jim and I laugh about all the time Jim and Jeff were there together and they're like oh look at this kid you know we and and I followed kler and parar around all weekend and then was friends with Jeff as much as it can be being that much of a age difference when you're a kid but Jeff was really good to me and and I got to know him a bit uh before he passed away in ' 92 and I still know Jim to this day you know and we finally retell that story of you know meeting at the Nam show when I was playing the electronic drums so through playing at the Nam shows and all these like kind of different drum functions for Simmons as the little kid I got a zilden endorsement and I got uh DW where they had the hot pedals right they had the chain drive pedals and the double pedal and there was such a small company it was hard for them to kind of like really fully get into the drum game like as a full-on player and compete with the gretes and the lwigs and the Thomas and you know what I mean because they with this little baby company and uh they kind of made their bread and butter from the pedals and then slowly got the drum thing happening you know I got my first DW kit in 1988 they were still a really small company the only two guys I really heard of that played them were Chad wackerman and Johnny vatos Hernandez from oo Boingo okay and other than that there was like Colin Bailey who like wrote B drum control the author of bass drum control there was like five or six endorses or something right I remember playing in 1991 or maybe 92 at the now no longer there Universal Amphitheater in LA with I was in that band infectious grooves for a little while with Mike Mir and Robert Trio we were playing there it was the first time I played the universal Amphitheater I roll in I'm like I'm playing Universal Amphitheater tonight all excited right and I get there and my drums are on a riser and the two opening bands drums are also on risers and they're both DW and I'm like what everyone's got DW drums now cuz it you know it's cool I remember being not much longer before that being at the whiskey I'll never forget guy putting a microphone the sound man at the whiskey put a microphone on my kick at soundtrack he goes wow DW I go oh you play drums he goes no I play guitar but I've just I've heard about these drums I've never seen one they was so kind of elite still and small you know and that day I walked Universal amp the and just oh every yeah everyone on the blocks got these drums now and there was two seconds where it's like you're pissed that everyone's discovered your favorite band that was like a small little band and and then I went straight from being like mad about it to like good for them everyone deserves to hear these drums and play these drums and they deserve to be a successful company you know okay so you then you switched from zilan to pisty 2002 something like yeah in 2002 2003 is when I officially switched over them I mean I love that I've been with the same Drum Company since I was in sixth grade and I've got no plans on leaving you know uh I I I I always kind of would bum out when I'd see guys like one second they're doing an ad like I can only play such and such drums they're the best ever and a year later they like oh I love these drums you know never mind 6 months ago I'm like come on man you know and there's a lot of those guys out there right of them and it would always bother me growing up I always just like smell I was like oh God and um but I started kind of like secretly playing some Pisces stuff in the studio probably around 2001 or two they'd come out with the uh Signature Series line oh yeah and Ross the drum doctors was kind of like we'd be doing my drum cartridge on a session and he would kind of sneaks some in he was like you should check these out I'm like oh whatever I don't know I started playing and I was going God these sound great these sound really really nice they recorded really nice they felt great to play I'm like God these are I really like these so I started using them more and more in the studio then I go out and play live and I would have to play the symbols that I'm supposed to play and I started kind of uh resenting it you know interesting and the thing is zon's always been the biggest symbol company in the world and the leaders and that and um and they're fantastic symbols for me I was just wanting to hear something different and I couldn't really tell you exactly what it was I just know that I really loved playing these Pisces symbols and I was enjoying playing them more than my other symbols it was that simple you know even had people at the company when I was trying to like switch companies the zilon people they were all great and i' always had great relationships with everyone there they were like you know what do we do or what can we do more can we do more ads I was like this has nothing to do with ads no one pissed me off there I think you guys are all great it's really just I just want to hear something else I want to play something else that's it there's no money involved there's no ads or clinics that I got or didn't get or whatever none nothing political on any level right and then I'm playing them and I'm kind of thinking about drummers like peers of mine and drummers that I really kind of like that resonate with me a lot and that's not why I switch but it helped me when I'm going God Jeff played these Alex played play them Terry plays them Stuart plays them AB plays them Steve Jordan plays them plays them I'm like those are my guys okay so Josh do do you even know what what your symbols are you said you have a 20-in crash you mentioned it down in my drum room you said I have a 20-inch crash on this side it's 20 I think it's 20 right what do you got like maybe 18 you know dude I've been supposed to do some there's some like Rig Rundown that I filmed in Australia a couple months ago and it's up to me to edit it cuz I actually like taking forever to do it and I've been looking through the footage it makes me laugh cuz my drum Tech with the Foo Fighters Fiona she's filming me and she goes Josh I've seen because I just watched this footage the other night made me laugh she goes I've been reading things where guys are writing in saying why do you use the 15-inch sound Edge high hats and I sit there I go I have no idea why I use them cuz John bonam played them I didn't even know he played them they sound great and to be honest and I say this in the thing as a nod to pisy I'll kind of show up in whatever pisy on the kit I'm cool with meaning even for my own gig like I'll show up and some of us go oh you got a tra 19inch traditional here and you've got a 22in uh you know uh Dark Energy Mark 2 ride and a 19in 2002 with 14inch signature hats I go great probably a little bit before I started playing with the food Fighters I started using 15 in high hats like maybe two years ago why do you like that I used to see there was a pisy ad that ran when I was a kid with Jeff picaro in it and he's standing there with all these symbols just on stands around him and he's wearing a never he's wearing a Toto sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off right right and it showed it it showed on a list his list of symbols that he plays and they were like 19inch crashes and a 20-inch crashable and I was a little kid I was playing like 16 I had a 15inch k crash 16-inch KS maybe a 17 but I wasn't like man enough yet to handle the big symbols or even understand someone how someone could play symbol's that big like a crash symol that's 20 inches oh my God sounds insane to me but now as an adult in the way I play is I it's funny like a 18 is small for me really feels small and 19's almost too small I like 20s 19s and 20s for the most part and uh I just started playing the 15in high hats I don't know about a year and a half ago but even five years ago I couldn't imagine I just I was I used 14s forever sometimes 13s but most of the time always 14 you know so you've mentioned Jeff picaro a few times so far what about Jeff's playing did you love I mean it sounds cliche to say yeah but his Groove and his feel and it just felt confident and good I mean I was a kid when Rosanna was ah hit right so there was a bunch of crap on MTV and then once in a while something really cool whether it's a police song or something Prince thing once in a while there'd be something come on and go okay this is really good right and just that the the I mean come on the drum sh was like I said it sounds silly to say cuz every drummer has said it for 100 years now but right that track is so good and ever since I was a kid I listen to go God this is so good I try and play it shuffle it was hard to do how's he do how what's the ghost note learn about Ghost Notes you know and uh it's just a magical drum track you know and then go back and listen to other Toto stuff and I listen to uh the Steely dance stuff they played on when he was what 18 or something you know uh and there wasn't a bunch of flash they didn't need to be you know what I mean and there was other guys that were providing plenty of flash but not what Jeff did right yeah hearing a drummer like that play and the amount of confidence that comes across in they're playing sounds silly to say but as a listener makes me feel like more confident or like at at peace with everything I used to go see buddy Richard play when I was a kid out Disneyland he'd play out Disneyland they'd have these big band Summers and the last week of the summer at least for the last four or five years that he was alive he'd play like five nights a week there he do like a five night St four night stand whatever two shows a night and I got to go with there and I saw him play 10 times I saw him play from about where we're sitting to where that drum set is on the side where the monitor desk was at Carnation Plaza at Disneyland my dad and I'd be watching my dad have me there and I'd be watching buddy play and he'd have a faking sweater on and a collar and a sport coat and sweat and just going for it just eating the drums up man but similar thing when I would go see him play what I love there was an excitement I'd feel before his show would start because I'd go I'm about to see like the greatest drummer in the world play right now and he's not going to up he's going to just he's going to I know he's going to kill it no matter what I'm about to have my mind blown and I watch play and I have my mind blown but it was such a fun good feeling of knowing that like he's got this and similar thing with with Jeff or any great drummer where you just go they've got this you know and and and and you don't question it you just sit back and enjoy it I mean one one of my favorite compliments I've gotten from other musicians I play with is uh them saying that when we're playing that it makes them feel more confident if they're playing bass or they're playing guitar just knowing that that is going to be happening no matter what and they don't have to worry about that like that's a huge compliment you know what I mean if I can make other people feel more comfortable and at ease to do what they do and go out there and and and and and feel like you're Invincible you know what I mean it's like what else could you ask for you know I feel like I'm talking in circles right now so so you're here in town playing with a perfect circle speaking of circles yeah I put out a post today I did a breakdown of the song weekend power which is one of my favorite songs ever I just love that song and I love your drum part on it because it is so unusual that you play the kick drum through pretty much the whole song why would you come up with a beat that has the kick drum playing incessantly like that and it sounds so good I I love playing that song I love the way it came out and I too think it's interesting in a in a almost like machine kind of it has it has a machine it's Relentless and the pattern kind of you know well for the most part like in the versus they're exactly the same and uh you know the thing that really saves my right leg from falling off and the part where I go well it's not that hard like I was talking about earlier in the car is it's broken up between I'm actually not just going like that the whole time right I'm doing I'm breaking it up between the snare drum and the tong so you don't play it on on no I'm going I'm going it's just such an interesting choice yeah of a drum part I think it's brilliant thanks number one and number two it's funny because I don't remember the way that went down meaning I don't remember if Billy had the Riff and I went in there and just started playing that I don't know if there was something that he had programmed that sounded similar to that I said oh yeah I'll do something like that CU sometimes it'll be something like that he might have something programmed I'll go do it I won't do it exactly like that but I'll use that as a reference point of him knowing of me knowing that's the way he wrote This Groove and this song and this is kind of like the the this the springboard for it I think you know it's interesting because I watched some of your I think I watched the whole Stuart copelan interview you did recently and there songs like I think we were talking about Murder By Numbers I think he was talking about how like us drummers and other musicians listen to stff go oh my God these drums are so cool how did he come up with that thing where in the second course he's just hitting the ride in the kick drum he takes the back beat away it's so crazy like and weird and he's like I don't know I just played it it's almost like it was a mistake and now we all consider it legendary well I thought it was interesting he was saying things like I didn't even know the songs at all and I didn't you know I'll hit this crash late and then we just edited like wait what and that's how a lot of the perfect circle stuff was especially the first record which I'm really proud of I will say out of all the hundreds of Records I played on there's a lot of and I I feel like I can say the stuff that I think is good because I think there's a lot of stuff I've done that is not very good that first Perfect Circle record there's some really interesting things on it because like a lot of the drums we cut at our friend Scott's house who had this home studio and he'd let us come in for like a couple hours before uh he was working on the Rob Zombie album and that session would start at 2 p.m so me and Billy would going at 11: a.m. I go cut drums on a song and then Billy would go listen we have 15 minutes let me just play this thing just play along so I can have something else to write to at home and then we'll re-record the track one day yeah there's a couple things on there that I just kind of played along and yeah there's a weird feel that happens in the middle of nowhere in the second verse cuz I didn't know it was going to be a second verse and in the end we kept the completely spontaneous oh yeah I've got not a care in the world because I don't think anyone's ever going to hear this so I'm not purposely playing like an I'm trying to play something cool but I'm not that worried about it because I know I'm going to get to recut it right and there's a few of those things on that record we did recut and there's a I think there's an interesting kind of cool uh spontaneous uh free-spirited feel and vibe to it that I wouldn't have captured if I had learned the song practiced the song then you you can't do that weird fill there because that would cover up the vocal but I wasn't worried about that because I I didn't know there's going to be a vocal in that one spot because you know what I mean it was so off the cuff you know that's what makes I think that special and what I was saying is out of all the having to relisten to some of this perfect circle stuff before this tour that we just started uh it's been fun for me because those first two records maybe the first three but especially the first two records I'm really proud of I think a lot of it is a really great representation of my druming you know what I mean yes and more so than a ton of other stuff that I could mention and bigname bands I've worked with I'm like whatever that's okay well don't you because you were part of the band and that's the other thing that makes it special I've always been the second or third or eighth drummer and whatever band I'm playing right right right and perfect circle with the exception of it's interesting Tim Alexander from Primus who's on tour with us right now he played on some of the very early uh Perfect Circle demos too okay he played on some demos cuz he was friends of Maynard and they was there was this project that Billy and Maya were kind of putting together and wasn't really a band yet there was no name Tim played on some stuff I played on some stuff and it just worked out to where so songs like Judith was there a drum program for that there was programming on it but it sounded much different than the drums that we ended up putting on on on that on that track and it's funny that's one of my favorite tracks that's in the top five oh my God that's one the most brilliant drum tracks I love that the song is amazing I love that track and I love the way the whole thing works and the Dynamics of it and the end of the big kind of like climax of the song and the drums going that over the bar double time thing you know I'm really proud of it and I thought it was one take Billy says it was two takes but we did it like that we cut drums at Sound City when Sound City was still around and uh and we had like an evening to get a bunch of stuff done and we put up there and we'd been rehearsing the song we' been playing the song a bit you know so I knew it it wasn't like I don't know how the song goes I knew exactly how it went and I loved the song and uh when we cut it I just remember going for it and and and loving it right being like a little kid just like loving it there was so much joy in what I was doing and I was I felt so inspired doing it and then when I found out they're like oh that's going to be the first single I was like yes yes you know usually something you're really excited about is going to be track 10 and no one ever hears the freaking thing but I was like oh my God this be a single and then next thing you know we're shooting a video with David Fincher directing it okay so if you're gonna track a song how do you decide what what kind of GrooVe to come up with it it it can work a bunch of different ways right I mean sometimes the obvious one is going I'm want to hear what the Baseline is you know and and sometimes uh when I'm going into cut a song with a band whether it's a demo or you know it's got temp drums like drum machine in on it or a past drummer that played on it sometimes sometimes guys will say we don't want you to hear what we had because we don't like it we want to just see what you come up with first okay okay and maybe what I do is great and they go great or maybe what I do they go that was cool but just less of the kick drum stuff great and then you settle on that and usually it's comes together pretty quickly right other times they'll say here's the drum machine we have programmed it we love the beat we want you to do this but just you hate that no okay not all the time no not necessarily because depending on what it is not all the time but sometimes yeah sometimes well I'll tell you what's interesting for me what's been nice being the age I am now and have have having done it as long as I've done it when I was new to the studio game all you hear when people reference stuff would be like go for a botom thing on this great I know what that means go for like a steward thing in this I know what that means right think Ringo in the bridge I know what that means you know what I mean so I can take that as a guideline or once once again kind of a you know a launching pad to do something else with it right but now having done it as long as I've done it a lot of times people go we want you to do what you do you know know do what Josh re would do on this right great cool now use that as an example um and I'm getting kind of hired to be me and not to Jo but still I might be hired on a record to be me but on a specific track they go think Ringo or think so you know I mean and and that's fine because then you know kind of where they're coming from and and then you can kind of hone in on something from there even if it ends up not being Ringo we start with okay I'm going to think Ringo in this in this bridge and then it might morph into something else you know I mean it goes so many different ways one of the things that that I notice about your playing it's not just the grooves and the parts you come up with it's also the consistency of what you play the consistency of the hits mhm the the accuracy of the tones of the of the drums when you're playing on the toms and you're hitting the snare the way you you'll play Ghost Notes and and they'll be just the right levels do you think that that's another thing why people hire you absolutely yeah I mean I've had producers and Engineers pull me aside and say say exactly like that I say exactly what you just said which is you know I love the snare drum is in the same spot every head right you know I mean or this is going to or also like a I'll do almost like a self mixing thing yes where when you're in the studio and you can be bashing on something super loud right and maybe you're riding the crash symbol right yeah you don't have to do these full swings and hit it you can kind of just keep this nice wash happening and not even hit not hit it that hard right the kick and snare or there and the symbol's just kind of like over the top you know what I mean and you're not trying to kill it and it shows when you go back and and on the other side of the glass and listen back it sounds nice and it sounds like sort of like a like once again like a kind of a self- mix thing where you're not uh killing him with symbols the whole time whereas you know distracting from the track or whatever um but the consist the consistency with the click and like you said the hits the deliberate hits of that stuff at least in regular like you know pop music and rock music you know there's other things I might do where you know they do want it to be a little more dynamic or uh all over the place but for the most time it's for the most part they want the it's interesting CU Dave Gro to me was one of the guys that would he would ride the crash that's one of the first times I would see that and to me that was kind of like a level up above kind of chaining on the high hat and you know what's funny that's that's another one I for years have gotten to go think think roll on this one and I know what that means too right when someone says think Groll in the course I know exactly what that means it's fun to be able to pull from all these different guys and I think any musician will tell you whether you play guitar drums whatever your style just ends up being this like combo deal of all this stuff that is seeped into your DNA whether you like it or not because you spent that many hours listening to this guy and this guy and this guy and maybe this guy you could never do those things that he did but he could do that one thing and you were really good at that and this guy took this from and uh and it just kind of like you know you kind of morph into your own little weird style hopefully you know I mean another compliment that I like and I don't I don't get it often is when uh people go oh man I heard this song on the radio the other day and I was like it it was it's just sounded like if it's not you someone else is doing you I'm like what does that mean do you know what I mean like do I really have a noticeable style I don't think so uhhuh in all honesty there's things sort of but for the most part I I don't know there must have been times when you've played on a track that had no vocals and then you realize wait a minute is that me what's what's what's a song that was like that all the time there's lots of stories like that my favorite one one one of my favorite ones was I I'll never forget I was having lunch with my mom in Costa Mesa in Orange County California about 78 years ago and I'm in this restaurant and the music's not playing you know music's quiet but there's music playing in the bathroom and some song and I went God I I called a certain style of music I called NASCAR Rock right it was just real mid just kind of middle of the road vanilla not that interesting or whatever and I'm listening to him God I'm rolling my eyes as some and I thought myself God I've played on so much stuff like this I've play so much crap like this and it gets I didn't rec song gets the chorus I'm like oh this is me I know this song so that's that's that's definitely happened more than once but then there's the things like with the with the vocals that you don't expect to be on there one was like for instance that big that first Evan Essence record when I was tracking the drums I didn't hear any vocals did you play in that record yeah yeah and um and yeah I didn't hear any vocal and actually vocals end up being kind of the best part that b Amy sing great right and we were we were trying the music I didn't think much of it to be honest I was like whatever and uh and then she really kind of like who produced that record I'm trying to I was trying to think of that you know who produced it who's that the guitarist from Ugly Kid Joe Dave fortman that's right that's right yes Dave fortman yeah the offered it I think to my friend Jay bomgardner who owns NRG Studios and I think Jay might have mixed the record in the end uhuh but that band evess they were like they were a baby band no one knew who the hell they were wind up records wind up records right yeah I made a few records for that that uh that label three or four records during that time that first Seether album yeah Seether I played on their first record um whatever that there was a band the guy that raps on the big aan esscence song the 12 Stones 12 stone 12 Stones they were unwind up at play on their record okay and uh yeah whoever waved a couple bucks at me I play on the record you're on every on everything at that time a lot tons of stuff you know and I told guys that'll ask me how do you break in the studio scene or how do you end up working with someone so it's like even if it's not something that you love maybe musically the band maybe there's a guy in the room maybe the bass player was really great and you uh form a relationship you know and maybe he calls you a week later for some really cool thing that he's working on and just being there there's always uh room to learn and take something good out of that situation that scenario so I made a point of uh unless I really hated the people personally or really hated the music or whatever I'd say do everything you know I just get out and play with whoever you can play with I still tell people that if you're trying to cut your teeth and get involved in stuff show up and show up for free and show up on time and and you know and don't be a drag to work with what I mean how often would you ever read charts very rarely the the time period that you were doing sessions you they would bring you in to play your own parts right and then you would just write you would write a chart to whatever you heard just if there was a kick oh the chorus starts on an upbeat and you need there's a kick here and that's pretty much it you would write your own chart and read it is that correct but my chart said and it's actually kind of funny it was on the you can probably Google it and find it there's a I was on the cover of not modern drummer but the drum magazine once where I'm holding these pieces of paper is a whole thing about reading music and it showed me with my charts that I make right they say intro 8 verse 16 pre8 chorus crash ride 8 reintro 4 verse 8 and just just bars really I'm just reading down bars yeah if there was something really tricky rhythmically I'd write out that figure if there's no way I'm going to remember it but most of the time I'm making these kind of straightforward rock and roll records you know I mean I'm not it's funny because people go oh you're so versatile it's like yeah but it's all under the pop umbrella I say so it might be Michael bé it might be Suicidal Tendencies and there's a big difference between those two bands but almost it's not I'm not getting hired to play bbop right you know and straight ahead Jazz I'm not getting hired to do Latin sessions and stuff so it's really like it's it's all I look at It's all under the pop umbrella and whether it's hardcore or really mellow singer songwriter stuff it's you know chances are this would be an intro chances are the verse I'm probably to play the high hat the chorus I might open the high hats or go to the ride symbol it's like is there there's not you know what I mean not to make it sound like it's too paint by numbers but there's certain things especially on a straight ahead session that's maybe what they want there and you know what I mean yeah and then it makes it even more special when you do your other project or the perfect circle things where I can do whatever I want and it's not so formulated do you love touring because you've played in so many different acts I like being able to do both but you know my kids are older now they're not like all out of the house but they're all still at home but they're not little little yeah and I I kind of used to think oh you know when my kids get a little bit older it's going to be easier when they're not three and five and six to it's going to be easier go on tour when they're teenagers but not really right it's just different sets of uh obstacles and things to navigate it it's funny because well we talked about him earlier but real quick the the producer Bob rock yeah my good friend Bob Rock he gave me some really great parenting advice a long time ago he's lived in Hawaii for years he had never met my wife and at the time I had three kids I was trying to get up to his house to say hi and we' known each other for a couple years worked on a bunch of stuff so I said Bob I'm G to be in Maui you got to meet my wife and kids he goes great so we're over there and I said I'm trying to rent a van so we can drive up to your place and he finally just said you know what let me come to your it's going to be easier for me probably to visit you than you bring everybody up here so he came to visit me and he comes out we're at the pool and like my sons are like pulling each other's hair my daughter who's like a year old just like pooped out of her like swimming diaper things my wife's freaking out and I'm going dude oh my God he caught me in this like parent pulling your hair out moment and I said something like man God you got it easy your kids are all grown you got it easy and he goes he goes I trade places with you in a minute and I'm like whoa no he's like little kids little problems I'm like oh wow so anyways now it's it's not any easier necessarily it's all you know certain aspects of it make it easier when they're older because they can understand things better they're old enough some may get get on a Plane by themselves come out and hang with Dad for a couple days um but yeah it's never really easier it's just it's just different but I do enjoy going out and playing shows but like anything if you do too much of it you end up burning out and not wanting to do it so getting to do it here and there is is is great you know so let's talk about some of these bands that you played in multiple times like Sting yeah you played with sting a couple different times yeah so what was that like well I mean in 2004 I just gotten off the road with a perfect Circle and I was trying to stay home and I'd been home for a little while and then a guy that was managing me at the time said hey I got a call from Sting's office and he's going to go out in 2005 and he kind of wants to do kind of a more of a rock band thing he wants to do bass drums and two guitars no percussionist no keys no horns no background singers just two guitars based in Drums uh and he wants to play a bunch of old police stuff and my manager said and he's had two or three people very close to to him say this is the guy you got to get so you kind of have the job if you want it without auditioning I was like oh God so now I'm freaked out like what am I going to go first day of rehearsal and things going be like who suggested this kid what what's going on you know I was going oh my God cuz what excited me what also freaked me out aside from being a big police fan and and a big steart fan was you know Sting's famous for having awesome musicians and Sting's famous for having the greatest drummers in the world so part of me was like let's go and the other part of me was like I was like all freaked out like oh god really I was up for the challenge uh but also a little bit freaked out by it I went to meet with him uh he was opening up for Annie Lennox or they were doing like a joint coight tour or whatever thing Annie Lennox and and he were on tour and they were playing in Orange County near where I lived and they said why don't you come down to sound check and meet sting I was like great so go to sound check met Dominic for the first time you know lifelong friend and uh they said oh sing's going to walk over to catering with you I said oh great so we walk over to catering and he gets in line with all the other truck drivers and monitor assistants and tchs and people and hands me a plate we go to thing he's like so you know Vinnie huh I heard you know Vinnie I go yeah I've known Vinnie since K he goes we love Vinnie Vinnie's the best man I'm like yeah yeah cool and we start talking about drummers and we talk about Vinnie we talk about Stuart and we talk about songwriting and we talk about jazz we talk about punk rock and we talk about all this stuff about a half an hour and he goes well you got the gig if you want it I'm like great cool when do we start and he's like we're going to rehearse in February over in Tuscany at my estate in Italy I'm like of course we are where else would I got to go to the countryside of Italy to rehearse a sting and so uh yeah it was great I went over there and uh I was really nervous the first day I got there what's the first song you played with him you remember the song hounds of winter oh yeah weird song to start with really weird song great song but we started and I was like oh God I was like Vinnie recorded the song it's real simple but still I'm just like I'm feeling all the weight of all this and I'm reading into all of it the history and going oh my God and and just hoping that that I knew that it would be good eventually it might take five minutes it might take an afternoon hopefully not an afternoon I was hoping to run out the gate have them go awesome instead of like let's let's work on that a little more it's kind of interesting is Sting being a bass player right has a different Rel he's connected more to the drums it's kind of important to himely I will tell you the moment that I did one of these was uh up until that afternoon and that afternoon changed me still to this day for the better I used to be a little bit insecure about shuffles right I think a lot of people are or can be right I little insecure about shuffles I didn't want to tell him that cuz then they'd watch me play and go yeah he's not doing that quite right so I walked in like I didn't say I wasn't scared about anything uh and we went to go play uh Faith If I Ever Lose My Fai you an amazing Vinnie track from the great Vinnie track Su Tales right yeah and it's so just like I like I like to use the word expensive it just Vinnie's Vin part is perfect it's perfect it is perfect yeah and so I'm going oh God Vinnie's got this expensive ass clean shuffle man it's so good and I was really freaked out about playing it but once again I didn't want to say I was freaked out at all I want to be yeah I've got this we go to play I'm like and we play through it and we stop and thing goes you're the only other guy since like Vinnie recorded that that make that sound like that and I went oh thanks and I turned around I went yes God I was and that changed my whole outlook on like shuffles and my own confidence when he said that like nonchalantly a matter of fact that might be one of the only things he commented on that afternoon other than like yeah sounds great we played that song he goes man other than Vinnie you're the guy for that song man and I went I like if you only knew how much I was sweating that what's a fun sting song to play well I mean you know some of the stuff like like uh some of the old police stuff like you know playing next to you me great right you know spirits of the material world uh yeah messaging a bottle walking on the moon that's like a like for a drummer that's got to be so fun those are such amazing it's funny because it's a combination of things there's certain things you kind of got a hit right certain marks or figures yeah and then there's certain things that I you know put my own intive but my own style into something you don't you I'm not playing every fill like it is on the record nor does he want that right nor did Stuart ever play right exactly right but I'll never forget this one thing in particular we played message in the bottle during the I hope that someone gets my before the message and right yeah the TA thing and I'm playing it and we finish it and sting goes can you not do that Tom thing and I'm like dude I know that I'm the new guy and I've only known you for 24 hours I have to play that to you have to yeah I don't know just you know and go I've air drum that on my steering wheel since I was 16 as has every other drummer or maybe even non- drummer Len that song it's just it's so cool D like well yeah I don't know and I went okay and then but I go up to him like at dinner or later that day on a break and I go I really want to play that Tom thing and messenger bottle and I think that he would appreciate sometimes that I'm still thinking about it MH be that I care at all then I just like okay yeah I don't have to play the Tom thing who cares I like I felt strongly about it it's an important part to the song and it's so be Sac religious to not hit it right like I it just felt like uh yeah it felt like I wouldn't be doing it justice it would be a crime to not play that you know Stuart told me that the only fi that he ever played was that exactly was the one from the magic I'd play that Phil of course that's another one you have to that it's a part it is a part it's a moment man you know okay so going back to food Fighters when you're talking about the uh precourse of Everlong every fill that Dave does on that every fill in that song is really you kind of have to play it that way because everybody expects right you just expect that that's the part though right right right right that's some things are parts and some things are there to be played with or uh reinterpreted or what makes something aart and what makes something good question right I mean that might be right subjective but uh I think like for instance that that Phil and uh every little thing she does is Magic I knew like why that because everybody's air drummed it yes it happens in a moment of the song it's it's that that chorus or whatever the climax of the song and that thing happens and it's so specific and direct and and and and uh you can't ignore it yeah it's not just like someone going it's not just a little thing told him he had to play that yeah and he's right you know what I mean I mean not that he had to but come on man everyone in the room going air drum that thing okay but but Dave's drum part on on Everlong it it would be hard to vary any part of that right because it's not Jammy steuart's stuff is more Jammy of course right yeah yeah Dave had a lot of specific parts and just from a songwriting uh aspect alone yeah which I always appreciated even before he made the first Foo Fighters record even just on the the Nirvana stuff yes he'd play stuff that fit the song that made sense that stood out in a good way you know I mean not like where you go oh my God what's the why the that really was abrupt and weird in that one part there was never it all made sense all the time you know and and the parts were deliberate enough with what was great you come back to the second chor and he'll he might play the exact same field going to the second course because it was at the end of the first verse he did again the end of the second verse maybe the third verse he makes it slightly different right but they were uh yeah it wasn't Jammy at all it was like deliberate on Teen Spirit he would always slightly put he almost he just the very last second hit that to make it even more impactful the each time he comes to that the new Down Beat Just slightly laidback and it made it way more intense I've sat by him when he plays the drums yeah I sat by him a long time ago too when he's playing the drums and it's it's insane it there's so much power and energy and inertia that's going into what he's doing that it's uh it's impressive it's uh it's almost a little scary like you start to like back up from them you're like God damn dude chill God damn you going hurt somebody yeah it's it's intense and you know as Prince said once he's got heavy foot he's got a really heavy foot you know and then he comes down and plays those flams man like nobody else it's just like it's barbaric you know it's intense do you normally bury the beater where you'll hit or do you come off the head on your Kick Drum I think a little bit of both okay to be honest yeah I don't know what the hell I do now that I'm thinking I'm thinking about like I think yeah I think I come I think I come off of it [Music] I will watch drummers you know I used to look at videos and and I look at drummers and you see like Elvin Jones or something he comes off it or yeah kind of dance around it and stuff and and then uh and then some people will do it sometimes like Vinnie will do it sometimes and other times he won't do it yeah I I think I do a little bit of both and it just depends on uh depends on the groove and the amount of uh energy or you know or strength that I'm playing it or not playing it you know depending on the Dynamics of it you know we were talking earlier like as far as Dynamic things it's funny because I get hired so often and more so couple years back but still sort of like if you want the heavy hitting alternative rock drummer you got to hire Josh freeze right and it would bump me out because I really like playing soft quiet sensitive things I really do because I think I like the extremes I like stuff that's really hardcore and intense I like stuff that's really light and beautiful right and then the lukewarm part is just lukewarm right when I get a chance to play on on more Dynamic lighter sensitive things it to me is as much fun and just as challenging if not more like anyone will tell you know when you don't have all that room for subdivisions you're not playing fast when you're playing slow and quiet slow and quiet is way more different difficult than hard and fast any day of the week right and so for me that's always a little more interesting you know and being a songwriter myself and being a fan of songwriters uh I love getting a chance to do that stuff like we were talking in the car about like that Ron seith album what we talking first about the stuff I was doing with Michael bé I love the stuff I recorded with Michael bé and uh Ron seith another Canadian another record I did with Bob rock that album uh it's called long player Late Bloomer it's beautiful one of the songs I remember we flipped the snare over and it's almost like a kind of train beat you know but I've got a I think I'm playing the bottom of the snare it's kind of like it was probably on the probably wasn't on my lap probably on the stand but because the the head's so thin and just the way the mics were in the amount of compression in the room and this and that I I play the beat like my fers I mean I'm not even using sticks you know and it the track sounds so good to me and I'm just as proud or if not more proud of like a track like that than let's say a suicidal Tennessee song that I plan on or a vandals track I plan on or some hardcore thing that sounds like it really took a lot to do that stuff is takes more you know what I mean right and and and just the way it's like walking a tight rope you know it's just it's so delicate the delicate naked stuff is really for me uh challenging in a good way and can sometimes separate the men from the boys you know anyone can go you know do that but to do the really you know this stuff is tricky when you're out touring like when you come on this uh perfect circle tour for example how often you change your heads will your Tech change your heads every day will you change a snare head out once in a while snare head is usually the one to go or something yeah the snare head's usually the one to go first and uh I have them changeed like every I wouldn't even say every sometimes it's every other gig but usually like every third gig okay the snare head the floor toms will last forever for the most part for a long long time same with the kick and the the smaller the rack Toms maybe once a week or something I think when I was younger and I got on tour you'd almost like you'd hear these s yeah you got to have your heads changed every day no you don't have have to and it ends up being sometimes not that great I I like the heads that have been lived in a little bit right I uh once heard I don't know if it's true of that Ringo never changed his heads during you know some of drump kids during the entire Beatles that wouldn't surprise me right I heard the same thing about Charlie Watts I heard there was like a Gretch kit that he used with that natural finished Gretch kit like he had never changed the rackt head well think about it I love that he's hit it that hard right once in a while you know it could last for 50 years like that I thought it was so cool um I mean Kelner like gets old heads from people when they're like taking their heads off the drums like oh let me have those he wants to use them on his drums like old worn out heads for a specific thing a specific sound oh you know the a story I want to share real quick I don't know why I want to share but I think it's kind of cool you know that uh when Jim was going down to record I thought he did more recording with Steely Dam for some reason but he only recorded on one track he only did Jo Jo on on the Asia which I saw we were talking about earlier tonight he had a copy of it the CD sitting right over there kind of random so when Jim went to record that track which is an amazing drum track amazing yeah so so cool and um he stopped by I think it was Pro drum Pro drum again on Vine he stopped by there and was like I'm going to buy he was all psyched to go to the Steely dance session and what of a 19 76 756 well the record came out in 77 so6 he's like I'm going to go get a snare drum and I'm going to take them off the rack and whichever one sounds the best right away that's the one I'm buying even if this nrum here is a cheapo and sounds great and over here there's this really nice vintage Black Beauty but maybe it needs to be tuned a little bit and it would sound amazing I'm not going to waste my time tuning whatever one sounds awesome right then and there that's the one I'm going to get and use on the session okay I want to say it was a vistalite lewick vistalite nothing that special about that snare drum and on paper compared to a bunch of the other drums they probably had there at the store probably not the greatest snare drum compared to the other ones anyways he ends up getting that one uses on Josie never plays it again and it's sitting like 10 feet from my gear and we both keep our stuff with the drum doctors in La my God I actually haven't seen it but supposed he said I mean I think if you go back in corner you might not ever come back so like you might be lost forever Magic The Magic snare yeah he's got yeah he's got so much gear back there you know but somewhere is that magic snare from Josie that was played on Josie and had never changed or supposedly never play again wow chines democracy yes sir you were in guns and roses and you were a composer on the title track composer been so fancy but Guns and Roses composer yeah I mean the the time I spent with Axel in the studio on that record the one of the main things that Drew me to it was talking to him about when he needed drum and he goes hey man I heard you write music and you know if you've got a cool idea we'll work on it I'm I'm open to anything and everything it's like wow cool yeah and so I wrote three or four songs that ended up like there would be an A List and a B list of tracks on you know on the old dry race board or whatever forever I had three or four songs on the A-list that my might have had like 30 songs right or 25 songs or something and but they all had working titles because they they were just kind of instrumentals at the time right and the one that made it on the album I left in the beginning of 2000 and when I left they continued to work on that album for another couple years maybe for a while and then someone said hey man your tracks on the record like I still talked to some of the guys that were still in the band working with them that song surviving and it might might be the title track the album like really awesome great too bad no one buys records anymore um but I was like oh that's that's cool it's funny I was telling someone the other day yeah there was there was two or three other three or four other ones that ended up on that a cuz I guess he's there's songs that are being released now kind of slowly like that are seeing the light a day and some of them are from back from those sessions a long time ago so there may be some other tracks yeah there there might be there might be CU there was two or three that that that uh that were definitely in in the running and and musically were kind of fun and interesting tracks but I I don't know if he ever was able to match up anything lyrically and vocally with them but you know you never know but yeah so I wrote the the music to the title track Chinese Democracy and it's it's always a funny thing to throw in when I if I walk into a room where people are talking about oh my God ches democracy blah I heard that that record blah blah blah or they'll be saying something there's a lot of okay so when lot of lore about that Al when the record came out did you believe it was actually that it actually came out finally holding in my hands this isn't really out this is there's no way you know it one of those things where I'd go back and forth going well theyve spent so much money on it it has to come out and I go that's what you that's what I always heard about it then I'd say it doesn't have to come out doesn't have to come out then I'd go yeah but it has to come out but it doesn't have to come out um I was glad he finally put it out because there's a lot of people that worked hard on that record for a long time and I think that uh uh you know ax was at a point where the time I spent working on that record another thing that I really liked about him was he was really open-minded about about collaborating and about about music and uh there's lots of situ situations especially on that level where I could come and say dude you're the drummer here's the song play the drums you know I mean but he's like I love that riff let's work on that like awesome great there's not a lot of guys I've been a bands with that there's that old joke what's the last thing the drummer said before he got fired hey guys I got a song idea I love a good drummer joke by the way that's a good drummer J got a good drummer jokes no well I know that joke oh I'll tell you the best musician joke ever and this is Dominic Miller favorite joke of the world we've been sending Dominic Miller a lot of love off camera and maybe on camera too it's a joke from my dad who's musici his whole life right this Dominic's favorite joke which is how do you get a musician to complain I don't know give him a gig you know you think about it for a minute ago oh yeah okay yeah you get a great gig next you know you're bitching about the catering oh my God this is cold I hate the cater the dressing room's so small like relax guy I've got some really great Billy Gibbons stories I used to hang out with Billy Gibbons a lot who's one of the most eccentric yet hangable musicians I've ever known me some guys are eccentric rock stars and they walk in the room and everybody kind of like the air shifts and everyone gets a little uptight and it gets weird because so and so is in the room now Billy gib's like he's so easy to hang out have you ever spent much time with him I've met him before but I've he should be on the show he loves talking music he loves talking gear he'd be great to be on your show sorry I I'll just I'll go and go and go but I guess it's better that than I had so and so in here who didn't say you know that'd probably be a lot worse no this is my favorite kind of interview where I don't have to do any work at all Josh it's been such great such a great time we got the good we got the good Su in the aw looking forward to the gig tomorrow hey man I'm happy to have gotten to come down here I was it's funny because I'm glad the way this worked out so organically you really you've been on my radar for so long now and I've been wanting to come on and have a chance to talk to you the way we've been talking so we didn't have any idea that any of this was happening till a couple hours ago till like 3:00 this afternoon and it was like I was just dying to be able to sit down one onone and and talk with you for a little while so I I had a blast man been great do it again definitely appreciate it Josh awesome thanks yeah man I'd like to once again thank Josh for being my guest today remember leave a comment hit the Subscribe button and give it a thumbs up thanks for watching