Josh Freese was born on Christmas Day, 1972 in Orlando, Florida but has lived in Southern California since he was 6 months old. Having been brought up in a musical family (father conducted the Disneyland Band and mother was a classical pianist) he was surrounded by music from an early age and began playing the drums around the time he was 7 or 8 years old. He started playing professionally at the age of 12 (in a Top 40 band at Disneyland) and starting touring and making records at the age of 15. First with Dweezil Zappa and then The Vandals. Currently still a member of The Vandals, Devo and A Perfect Circle, Josh Freese has also worked with many respected artists in the last 15 years as a first call session drummer and sometimes as a temporary replacement. Since the last A Perfect Circle tour in 2004 he has been playing on numerous records and splitting his touring time between the likes of Sting and Nine Inch Nails while still doing some moonlighting with Devo and The Vandals. He also completed drum tracks for the band, Black Light Burns, which consists of Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit, Big Dumb Face), Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails) and Josh Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv).
Freese was a member of Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 2000, replacing Matt Sorum. He recorded the song Oh My God for the End of Days Soundtrack and recorded pieces for the still unreleased Chinese Democracy album and supposedlly co-wrote the music to the title track. He left the band in 2000 to pursue the then forming "A Perfect Circle".
Freese has been a member of punk rock band The Vandals since 1989 and continues to work with them. In 2003, The Vandals released a live DVD as part of Kung Fu Records' The Show Must Go Off series. The DVD is of particular interest to Josh Freese fans thanks to the inclusion of the Josh Freese-cam, a camera focused on Freese for the entire duration of the show, also including a picture-in-picture of Freese's kick drum pedal. Their "Sweatin' To The Oldies" DVD is also a nice showcase for Freese's punk rock chops.
He has been a member of the band A Perfect Circle since their first album, and is considered one of the three core members alongside Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howerdel. The band is currently on hiatus while Keenan works with one of his other bands, Tool.
He toured in 2006 with Nine Inch Nails on their With_Teeth tour and will be touring with them throughout 2007 in support of their upcoming release as well as finsishing up another solo record with hopes of release this year.
Josh I hope to meet you one day, you're work with APC is a big influence on my drumming, although you've done much other work that is equal to and way better than that. Anyway I wish you well in your Family life, that's the most important thing! Thanx for the ADD! Drummer and Musician since 91 -Bryan Stoots
So i saw Nine Inch Nails last night here in Vegas and.... it does not feel the same with out you on the kit, but it is understandable with your family... I would do the same.
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