Josh Freese

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Lore & Background

Joshua Ryan Freese was born on December 25, 1972, at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida. His father, Stan Freese, was working at the newly opened Walt Disney World Resort as the director of bands and leader of the Walt Disney World Marching Band. His mother, Patricia, is a classical pianist and a writer. In 1974, Freese's father was transferred to Disneyland Park in Southern California to lead the Disneyland Band. Freese and his younger brother Jason spent summers at the park while their father worked. Freese said that some of his earliest memories are of he and his brother marching with the Disneyland Band holding toy instruments. Freese's first job was at Disneyland as a shoe shine boy during the summer of 1985.

In Their Own Story

Freese began playing the drums when he was eight years old. His father set up a Yamaha drum set he had received through a promotional deal. After playing around on that drum set for two years, Freese's father took him to the 1983 NAMM Show, an annual music industry trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center. There he attracted the attention of the crowd by playing on a vendor's sample drum set. Freese returned to the NAMM Show in 1985, where a representative from Simmons found the 12-year-old Freese playing a sample drum set and signed him to an endorsement deal. Freese played a Simmons electronic drum set at PASIC and in television commercials for Simmons. In 1988, Freese met and befriended Ahmet Zappa at a shoot for the TV movie 14 Going on 30. Zappa got Freese together with Zappa's brother Dweezil and the two began playing together casually. Dweezil then asked Freese to record with him, and Freese dropped out of high school to pursue recording full-time. Not being old enough to drive, Freese's father drove him to the recording session in Los Angeles before Freese began staying with the Zappas during the week and going home to Orange County on the weekends.

Reader's Guide

Freese was a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 1999, replacing Matt Sorum and signing a two-year contract. Initially hesitant about joining the band, he was persuaded by his friend and collaborator Paul Westerberg of the Replacements, who told Freese, "You should do it. Go do it. It sounds totally wrong; go do it. What are you going to do, be in some totally cool alternative band? Are you going to join the Foo Fighters or something obvious?" Coincidentally, Freese would subsequently go on to join an alternative band, A Perfect Circle, and later joined Foo Fighters. With Guns N' Roses, Freese recorded the song "Oh My God" for the End of Days soundtrack and co-wrote the song "Chinese Democracy" with Axl Rose. Freese drummed on 30 tracks to potentially be included on Chinese Democracy, but his recordings were scrapped and re-recorded note-for-note by Bryan Mantia. He was credited with arrangements on four tracks on the album, released in 2008. Freese left Guns N' Roses in 1999 to join A Perfect Circle alongside Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and the band's founder Billy Howerdel. Freese said he chose to make the switch "because it seemed like a more tangible thing that was really going to happen." A Perfect Circle's first album, 2000's Mer de Noms, was the highest charting debut for a rock group at number four on the Billboard 200 in its first week of sales. The band's follow up release, 2003's Thirteenth Step, charted at number two in its opening week with over 233,000 copies sold. Freese ultimately played drums on the band's first three albums before leaving in 2012. In March 2024, Freese confirmed he would be touring with A Perfect Circle in April for the first time in 13 years.

Did You Know?

• Josh Freese was born on Christmas Day, December 25, 1972, at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida.
• His first job was as a shoe shine boy at Disneyland during the summer of 1985.
• At age 12, Freese was signed to an endorsement deal with Simmons after a representative found him playing a sample drum set at the 1985 NAMM Show.
• Freese dropped out of high school to record with Dweezil Zappa, and his father drove him to the recording session because he was not old enough to drive.
• Freese learned to play drums thanks to Devo's 1980 album Freedom of Choice.