Dave Grohl applauds Ilan Rubin’s abilities as Foo Fighters’ new drummer
Author Benedetta Baldin - 22.4.2026
Frontman Dave Grohl of Foo Fightersdiscussed the band’s new drummer, Ilan Rubin, who joined the group last year to replace Josh Freese, in a recent interview with Studio Brussels’ Thomas Michiels, as per Blabbermouth.
Well, it’s funny. So [Ilan] was with Nine Inch Nails for 17 years or something [before he joined the Foo Fighters]. And with Nine Inch Nails, their music, it requires this very sort of pattern-specific grooves and rhythms, and the drumming, it has to be very linked up, and click track and everything like that. And it just has to be mechanical. So when he joined our band, it was the first time that he hadn’t played live with a click track in 17 years. And so he starts playing with us, and he still had this mindset that it has to be sort of patterned and sound like the record. And I’m a drummer too. And he would do something and I’d go, ‘Ilan, keep doing that.’ And he’s, like, ‘Are you sure?’ I’m, like, ‘Fuck yes. Go crazy. Just go fucking crazy.’ And you could see — he’s fucking started spreading his wings. And now it’s, like — he’s such a phenomenal drummer. His capabilities are off the fucking charts. And he’ll do drum solos sometimes during shows, and I’m just laughing, like, ‘How the fuck did you just do that?’ It’s unbelievable. So, yeah, he has this new sort of liberation and freedom with us that he’s just shining. He’s incredible.
