Ilan Rubin has said the ‘drummer swap’ between Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails involving himself and Josh Freese was “an obvious great fit”.
Last July, it was announced that Rubin was leaving Nine Inch Nails to join Foo Fighters, just months after Freese had been let go from the latter band. Shortly afterwards, Nine Inch Nails confirmed that Freese had rejoined their band, having previously played with them from 2005 to 2008.
Now, Rubin has opened up about the sequence of events in an interview on the Go With Elmo Lovano podcast.
“There is no story, honestly. I think it’s just a very logical thing,” he said. “There was nothing behind it. And it’s very logical in the sense that Josh played with [Nine Inch Nails] from, I wanna say, ’05 to the end of ’08.”
“As far as I knew, my contract ended on a date. After that, it was, what am I doing next? And when this happened and the opportunity presented itself and it was just an obvious great fit and a great thing for me.”
Rubin, who played his first show with Foo Fighters in September, went on to explain that the ‘swap’ aspect was just a coincidence of timing. “As a result of me taking that opportunity, obviously Nine Inch Nails needed a drummer,” he explained. “And I would imagine that at this point in time, Trent doesn’t wanna spend however many weeks at a rehearsal studio playing the same songs over and over and over again to break in a new drummer. And aside from that, Josh has already done it before, so it was very logical on that. I mean, why else would you go find somebody else?”
He continued: “So I don’t think there’s anything particularly surprising there. But when the news leaked, ’cause it did leak, it was kind of billed as this drummer swap. Now that would imply that Trent and Dave were, like, ‘Hey, you know what would be a great idea? Why not?’ Which is the dumbest thing.”
“But the dots were obviously connected where there was a switch. But it was certainly not a swap. I left my tenure with Nine Inch Nails to join Foo Fighters. Nine Inch Nails needed a drummer, and the drummer they got was the guy who was no longer with Foo Fighters. And that’s literally what it was.”
He said he had some regrets about how it all played out in public, adding: “The only thing that kind of really bothered me at the time when that news leaked was that it kind of gave the impression that I just kind of said, ‘Well, this came up. I’m outta here. Have fun, guys,’ which was not the case at all. Everyone knew what my commitments were, and I’m a very, very loyal guy and I do what I say I’m gonna do. So it just happened to work out better that even though I was available for that [Nine Inch Nails summer 2025] tour, it worked out better for Nails to just have Josh, who was then gonna go do the stuff in 2026.”
At the time of his departure, Freese said he was “shocked” and “disappointed” to leave the band, and in December, he reiterated that he wasn’t sure why he was let go from the band.
The same month, Trent Reznor said that it was a “surprise” to him that Rubin was joining Foo Fighters. “As soon as I heard the news, I thought I could call Josh,” he added. “He was available and willing, and it just made sense on a number of levels”.
Last month, Foo Fighters said the sacking of Freese was a “decision that was best for all parties”.
Their 12th studio album, ‘Your Favorite Toy’, is due for release on April 24 via Roswell Records/Columbia Records, and later this summer they will embark on their European ‘Take Cover’ tour, including two concerts at Anfield stadium in Liverpool (find any remaining tickets here).
They’ll play some North American dates over the summer and autumn, too, and have announced an Australia and New Zealand leg for 2026 and 2027.
