| Josh Freese was born
Christmas Day, 1972 in Orlando, Florida, but he grew up in Southern California, where his
family moved when he was 6 months old. Josh got into music at a young age, much because of
his family's involvement in the music business. His father, Stan Freese, is a professional
tuba soloist, and he has conducted the Disneyland Band. His mother is a classical pianist,
and Josh's grandparents were also working with music. Josh has a brother named Jason, who
according to Josh is a superb saxophonist who also knows his way around keyboards. Jason
toured with former Eagles guitarist Joe Wals, among others. Josh started playing drums when he was 7 or 8 years old. One of his first
influences were Alex Van Halen. As he grew older he discovered Vinnie Colaiuta and Terry
Bozzio, who both had a big impact on him. At age 12, Josh joined the band Polo, which was
performing in Walt Disney's Tomorrowland Terrace: "Imagine five dumb young white kids
in Orange County California, Star Search Champions in Disneyland. Hence the horrible name
Polo. I was about twelve or thirteen, and didn’t know any better. I don’t want
anyone to think that I was an adult, playing Huwey Lewis and the News covers at
Disneyland." In 1987, Josh joined the band of Dweezil Zappa, son of Frank Zappa, and
toured with them. He also appeared on the 1991-release "Confessions". The next
year he joined Vandals, who had discovered him playing in Walt Disney's Tomorrowland
Terrace.
Josh stayed with The Vandals over the next years, but in 1994 he was close to join Pearl
Jam, after their drummer Dave Abbruzzesse (who has also worked with Guns N' Roses) was
fired. But after auditioning and waiting eagerly for a verdict for a couple of months, he
saw the job go to Jack Irons.
In 1998, Josh was invited to join the reformed Guns N' Roses, and he signed a two years
contract as the replacement of Matt Sorum. Josh recorded drum tracks for their record
"Chinese Democracy", before he left the band in early 2000, due to the bands
incapability to finish and release the album When Josh was asked by Bunt Mag to tell what
he thought about Axl he said: "It's amazing what a good guy he is, but he just has a
bad reputation through press and stuff".
After leaving Guns N' Roses, Josh was asked to join a band formed by Maynard James Keenan
(Tool) and Billy Howardell (guitar tech for Tool, The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch
Nails). Josh had met Keenan in 1997 on Lollapalooza where Josh was playing with Devo and
Keenan was singing with Tool, and when Josh was in Guns N' Roses, he met Howardell, who
worked for the band. As Billy had written some music, they asked Josh to join the band
they were putting together. Troy Van Leeuwen (ex-Failure, Enemy) also joined on guitar and
Paz Lenchantin joined as the band's bassist. The band name was decided to be A Perfect
Circle. They went in studio, and about one and a half year later, the debut album was
finished. "Mer de Noms" was released worldwide in 2000, recieving pretty good
reviews. It sold more than one million copies in total. The album was also the first rock
album released in China since Guns N' Roses' "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use
Your Illusion II" were released in 1991.
Originally, A Perfect Circle was supposed to be a side
project only, but eventually it became the main priority for the members. "As the
songs took form and as we recorded we realized how into this project we were," Josh
said. "It was no longer really a side-project. We were like, 'God, we've got to do
this full-time.' So we got a good deal with Virgin, and they've been great to us. We got a
three record deal".
A Perfect Circle went on a support tour after the release of "Mer de Noms". Josh
also kept himself busy working on his first solo record: "I would work on it for one
day, then I'd be off [on other projects] for a month," he said. Josh wrote, performed
and produced all the songs himself. "Most of the songs were written on guitar and
they're super simple and straightforward".
The album - which was his first - was titled "The Notorious One Man Orgy" and it
was released July 11, 2000: "It's kind of a fun power pop, obnoxious, lighthearted
record that I made at a friend of mine's garage up in Laurel Canyon," Josh said.
"Just some songs I wrote. I play all the instruments on it and sing. I've got a few
"real" guitar players that step in and play a solo here and there because I
can't play a guitar solo to save my life. But I play all the rhythm guitars on the record.
Stone [Gossard] from Pearl Jam plays on some of it, Warren from the Vandals plays on it
and Mike Ward from the Wallflowers also plays on it. My little brother Jason, who plays
keyboard and sax for Joe Walsh, plays on some of it. Other than that, the drums, guitars,
bass and vocals are all me. It reflects more of the stuff I grew up listening to, which is
everything from the Pixies to Ween and Devo and the Butthole Surfers and the Replacements.
It's a fun power pop, punk, quirky kind of thing. I enjoyed making it. It was fun to do.
It was hard to find the time to do it, but I did it with the little chunks of time I had
open here and there over the year. I made it for cheap, put it out on an indie label, and
hopefully a couple of people will want to buy it and enjoy listening to it". Josh
recieved good reviews in the press. "They usually say something like, 'Wow, a drummer
made a cool CD'."
Josh didn't do a tour to support the release because he had many other projects he was
working on. "I'm too busy right now. And that I haven't worked up the guts to sing
and play guitar and front a band. It's even more my stage fright. I've been behind the
drums my whole life - it's like a security blanket. Standing in front of people and
opening my mouth kind of freaks me out."
While Josh has kept himself busy with his solo project and being in bands like Guns N'
Roses and A Perfect Circle the last years, he's also still in the Vandals: "Even
though we make records and tour all over the world we all are involved in other things as
well. It doesn't take up all of our time 100% of the time year round. Luckily we have a
few friends that are great drummers and if there's a tour or a few shows that I have to
miss we can usually find someone that can step in and save the day, eg: Brooks Wackerman,
Adrian Young, Derrek (of Suicide Machines fame), etc." Through the years Josh has
worked with more than 50 bands, and appeared on more than 100 records, including Tori
Amos, Devo, Paul Westerberg, Suicidal Tendencies, Chris Cornel and Juliana Hatfield. Josh
has also recieved many awards: #2 studio drummer and #2 up and coming drummer in Modern
Drummer magazine 1999, nominated for a "Bammie" (California Music Award) and 2nd
year in a row for Outstanding Drumming. Josh Freese is rated as one of the top drummers
both in the US, and worldwide, and he's been hailed "The Bruce Lee Of Drums".
(Updated December 28, 2005) |
Artist Name:
Josh Freese
Real Name: Josh Freese
Born: Christmas Day, 1972, Orlando, Florida
Instruments: Drums, Guitar, Vocals
Other Bands: Vandals, A Perfect Circle, Polo, Josh Freese
Worked with: Michael Jackson, Suicidal Tendencies, Devo, Paul
Westerberg, Tommy Stinson
Parents: Stan Freese is his father
Siblings: Jason
Children: One son |