Foo Fighters Tap Nine Inch Nails’ Ilan Rubin As New Drummer

Ilan Rubin in 2020 (photo: Lloyd Bishop / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images).

Nine Inch Nails touring drummer llan Rubin will replace Josh Freese behind the kit in Foo Fighters, multiple sources confirm to SPIN. The decision to hire Rubin, 37, was made two weeks ago following the departure of Freese, who was let go in May. Freese had filled the Foos’ drum role since 2023 in the wake of Taylor Hawkins’ sudden death in March 2022.

In a bizarre twist, Freese himself will replace Rubin when Nine Inch Nails returns to the road Aug. 6 in Oakland, Ca., as confirmed by a post on NIN’s Instagram Stories. He was relieved of his Foos duties when the band informed him they’d opted to “to go in a different direction with their drummer. No reason was given,” Freese wrote on social media at the time. “Regardless, I enjoyed the past two years with them, both on and off stage, and I support whatever they feel is best for the band.”

Rubin has been touring with Nine Inch Nails since 2009 and was inducted with them into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. He was on drums for NIN’s recent summer European tour dates, which began in June, but after auditioning for and then winning the Foos gig in mid-July, he broke the news to NIN leader Trent Reznor last week that he was leaving to join another group, thus opening up the opportunity for Freese to return to the gig he held between 2005-2008.

A San Diego native, Rubin has played with everyone from Angels & Airwaves and Paramore to Beck and Phantogram. He released a solo album as the New Regime, Coup, in 2008.

He’ll have plenty of time to rehearse with his new Foo Fighters bandmates, as they won’t be back on stage until Oct. 2 in Indonesia. The group canceled a number of concerts last year following the revelation that frontman Dave Grohl had fathered a child with a woman other than his wife. A new track, “Today’s Song,” was released on July 2.