Ilan Rubin (Foo Fighters, formerly of Nine Inch Nails) shares more about the dummers’ exchange between the two bands

Ilan Rubin discussed how he got the job as the new drummer of the Foo Fighters when Josh Freese left in 2025 in a recent interview with Go With Elmo, the weekly podcast presented by Elmo Lovano, a well-known musical director, producer, and inventor of Jammcard, as per Blabbermouth.

Well, at some point in time I got a call from Dave [Grohl]. We talked about some stuff. He knew that my touring commitments [with Nine Inch Nails] at the time were coming to an end, and I was available after that. I know that’s a bit of a vague way of putting it, but there’s some delicacy here. ‘Cause I went from a band I’d played with for almost 17 years. So that was an end of a lengthy, extensive era for me. And this new chapter has been incredible — still very new, obviously. I don’t even know how long it’s been — maybe six, seven months, give or take. I have no idea. But it’s been incredible — the most outgoing, inviting people and organization. Kind of just feeling like everything fits like a glove is great, especially after having played with so many bands for such a long time. I’m not saying that those weren’t great in their own right, but I’m very much a creature of habit. So I like to stay where I am. Even though my career kind of unexpectedly turned into this thing where I’ve played with multiple bands, that was never my intention — ever. But I stay where I go. And going into a whole new world can be very daunting, but it’s just been so welcoming that I couldn’t be happier. Everything’s awesome. So much fun. Everything is fun, which is great. The smiles are real, and I can’t get enough of it. I don’t know how many shows we’ve played up to this point, but it’s still super fresh. Very exciting. And it’s a great place to be and a great group of people.

Ilan responded as follows when asked if he had known Dave before receiving a call from him.

We had met a few times over the years, but it’s not like we were ‘buddy buddy’ texting all the time. [He had seen me play with the Nine Inch Nails] probably a couple of times over the years, probably going back to, like — I don’t know — if I had to say, maybe 2017 or so. But there would be years in between of seeing one another again. I haven’t really talked about this whole sort of chapter, so this is a new thing. Not that I have anything to hide here, but it was just kind of, like, ‘Hey, you probably didn’t expect to hear from me, but there’s some stuff going on, and I see that your last date is’ — whenever it was; time is a giant blur, regardless of bands and touring. I have two kids, and I don’t know what day it is today. But that’s how it started.

Ilan remarked this while thinking back to his early Foo Fighters rehearsal sessions.

For those who are somewhat familiar with the story or with the band, or this chapter with the band, at some point there were some auditions. And very understandable considering that it’s such a massive band, but things didn’t work out perhaps the way everyone had hoped over the last couple of years. So they really wanted to make sure that whoever kind of came in was — I don’t know— vetted as best as possible. Make sure you check everything else out before you make your choice. These are assumptions here. But, yeah, so I played a second time, and then I was invited. But it was a great time. I mean, sitting down, playing songs. And like I said, very inviting group of people. And the songs are obviously incredibly fun to play.

I like to be prepared. So I’m a bit of a perfectionist in that way. And when I got the batch of songs that they wanted to play, I really did my research, because, obviously, the band’s been around for so long. A lot of these songs have gone through different iterations over the years. And as somebody who’s toured a lot with various bands, I know that things can change from tour to tour. So I really did my research as to what they had been doing for the last couple of years and just showed up as if it was ready to be night one of a tour. And we just played smoothly, and that was that

Ilan responded as follows when asked about the “story” of the alleged “drummer swap” between Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails, in which Rubin left Nine Inch Nails to join Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails promptly announced Freese’s return as his replacement.

There is no story, honestly. I think it’s just a very logical thing. There was nothing behind it. And it’s very logical in the sense that Josh played with Nails from, I wanna say ’05 to the end of ’08. I auditioned in ’08, took over the next shows, I think it was February of ’09, and was with the band up until last summer. The last tour I did was a European tour of the ‘Peel It Back’ cycle. And as I said earlier, when I was gotten in touch with, Dave and management, everyone was very well aware that I had a commitment up to this point, and was I doing anything afterwards? And at the time there was nothing I knew about. The tour that Nine Inch Nails had just triumphantly wrapped up was not on the books. So 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…

I guess I need to take a step back, is that at some point in time, for whatever reason, Josh was no longer with Foo Fighters. And that was the first thing. So it’s not like Josh was no longer with the band and they had already been talking. None of that was a thing. They dealt with whatever they dealt with. They needed a drummer. And whenever it was getting a little too close for comfort in terms of shows that were coming up in a few months, I was gotten in touch with. As a result of me taking that opportunity, obviously Nine Inch Nails needed a drummer. 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? And going back to what we were talking about earlier, in terms of wanting to feel comfortable, Trent wouldn’t have to think about anything ’cause he knows that Josh can do it and has done it. 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.

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. And it worked out great for me that rather than having to… And get this: had everything gone the way it was originally supposed to, I would’ve finished that American leg of the Nine Inch Nails tour, I would have had a week to rehearse with Foo Fighters and then play a festival in Jakarta. That’s what it would’ve been. That’s what everyone had agreed to, and that’s what it was. I was gonna go play with Nails, have my last tour, and then jump in and really put in the work to go learn all the songs that they wanted to do, and that was that. But because it worked out this way, I had so much more time on my hands, just because Trent had made the decision, ‘Well, we might as well have Josh just play now because he’s gonna be playing the next leg of the tour. Let’s just rip off the Band-Aid’ — my words, not his — ‘and just do it now rather than doing it later.’ But that allowed me to, rather than have a week with the band, to have a couple of months to leisurely learn 40 songs or whatever it was, hang out with the guys, get to know everybody really well. And it gave us the opportunity to play these smaller kind of pop-up secret shows.

Upcoming shows of Foo Fighters:

• Tuesday, April 28, 2026 – Bridgeport, CT, USA – Total Mortgage Arena (with Frankie and the Witch Fingers)
• Friday, May 8, 2026 – Daytona Beach, FL, USA – Welcome to Rockville
• Saturday, May 23, 2026 – Napa, CA, USA – BottleRock Napa Valley
• Wednesday, June 10, 2026 – Oslo, Norway – Unity Arena (with Royel Otis, Otoboke Beaver)
• Friday, June 12, 2026 – Stockholm, Sweden – Strawberry Arena (with Royel Otis, Otoboke Beaver)
• Monday, June 15, 2026 – Warsaw, Poland – PGE Narodowy (with Royel Otis, Otoboke Beaver)
• Wednesday, June 17, 2026 – Munich, Germany – Allianz Arena (with Inhaler, Otoboke Beaver)
• Friday, June 19, 2026 – Paris, France – Paris La Défense Arena (with Inhaler, Otoboke Beaver)
• Friday–Sunday, June 19–21, 2026 – Landgraaf, Netherlands – Pinkpop Festival
• Thursday, June 25, 2026 – Liverpool, United Kingdom – Anfield Stadium (with Inhaler, Otoboke Beaver)
• Saturday, June 27, 2026 – Liverpool, United Kingdom – Anfield Stadium (with Royel Otis, Die Spitz)
• Wednesday, July 1, 2026 – Berlin, Germany – Olympiastadion (with Idles, Fat Dog)
• Friday, July 3, 2026 – Vienna, Austria – Ernst‑Happel‑Stadion (with Idles, Fat Dog)
• Sunday, July 5, 2026 – Milan, Italy – I‑Days Milano, Ippodromo SNAI La Maura (with Idles, Fat Dog)
• Wednesday, July 8, 2026 – Madrid, Spain – Mad Cool Festival
• Friday, July 10, 2026 – Lisbon, Portugal – NOS Alive
• Tuesday, August 4, 2026 – Toronto, ON, Canada – Rogers Stadium (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Thursday, August 6, 2026 – Detroit, MI, USA – Ford Field (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Saturday, August 8, 2026 – Chicago, IL, USA – Soldier Field Stadium (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Monday, August 10, 2026 – Cleveland, OH, USA – Huntington Bank Field (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Thursday, August 13, 2026 – Philadelphia, PA, USA – Lincoln Financial Field (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Saturday, August 15, 2026 – Nashville, TN, USA – Nissan Stadium (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Monday, August 17, 2026 – Washington, DC, USA – Nationals Park (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Saturday, August 22, 2026 – Los Angeles, CA, USA – Hollywood Bowl (with Gustavo Dudamel, LA Phil & YOLA)
• Friday, September 4, 2026 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Rock in Rio
• Saturday, September 12, 2026 – Fargo, ND, USA – Fargodome (with Mannequin Pussy)
• Tuesday, September 15, 2026 – Regina, SK, Canada – Mosaic Stadium (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Thursday, September 17, 2026 – Edmonton, AB, Canada – Commonwealth Stadium (with Queens of the Stone Age, Mannequin Pussy)
• Sunday, September 20, 2026 – Vancouver, BC, Canada – BC Place (with Queens of the Stone Age, Gouge Away)
• Thursday, September 24, 2026 – Louisville, KY, USA – Bourbon & Beyond
• Saturday, September 26, 2026 – Las Vegas, NV, USA – Allegiant Stadium (with Queens of the Stone Age, Gouge Away)
• Thursday, November 5, 2026 – Brisbane, QLD, Australia – Suncorp Stadium (with Full Flower Moon Band, Mini Skirt)
• Saturday, November 7, 2026 – Townsville, QLD, Australia – QLD Country Bank Stadium (with Full Flower Moon Band, Downgirl)
• Tuesday, November 10, 2026 – Sydney, NSW, Australia – Accor Stadium (with The Belair Lip Bombs, TEENS)
• Thursday, November 12, 2026 – Newcastle, NSW, Australia – McDonald Jones Stadium (with The Buoys, C.O.F.F.I.N.)
• Saturday, November 14, 2026 – Melbourne, VIC, Australia – Marvel Stadium (with The Belair Lip Bombs, Frenzee)
• Tuesday, November 17, 2026 – Adelaide, SA, Australia – Coopers Stadium (with Kurralta Park, Spooky Eyes)
• Monday, January 19, 2027 – Christchurch, New Zealand – One New Zealand Stadium (with Dartz, Seek Help!)
• Thursday, January 22, 2027 – Auckland, New Zealand – Western Springs Stadium (with Dick Move, Ringlets)
• Sunday, January 25, 2027 – Perth, WA, Australia – HBF Park (with Southern River Band, Las Quokka)

Tickets can be found here.