NEW YORK – The Foo Fighters introduced a new drummer, Josh Freese, just before the release of their album next month and their first tour since the death last year of the American rock band’s previous drummer, Taylor Hawkins, which devastated the group and their fans.

Freese, 50, was featured on Sunday in an hour-long streamed rehearsal, Preparing Music For Concerts, which showcased a mix of jokes, surprise cameos by other drummers and a couple of poodles.

It started with the group’s lead singer, Dave Grohl, and other members standing around with their instruments in a darkened studio, bantering about whether any of them ever punched someone onstage.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

There were greetings of “Hey” as Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers entered.

He gestured with his drumsticks. “There’s a white Mercedes blocking me,” he said, and then left.

Then Motley Crue’s drummer, Tommy Lee, burst in, carrying bags of P.F. Chang’s Chinese takeout. There were cheers all around. “Put it in the kitchen for us,” Grohl said.

Danny Carey, from Tool, was the next to come through the door. He was twirling his drumsticks in one hand and, in the other, clutching a leash tethering a pair of large poodles that he said he just groomed. Then he left.

This, apparently, was a build-up to the appearance of Freese. The poodles are part of his family, according to his Instagram posts. He has also posted about his excitement over P.F. Chang’s.

A frustrated voice suddenly called out from the darkness, from someone who had seemingly had enough of the intrusions: “Excuse me!”

The camera swings in his direction. It was Freese, seated behind an array of drums.

“Guys, could we just like, I don’t know, play a song? Or two? Something?”

And they did.

The successive appearances of one top rock drummer followed by another were a way to tease the big news after the band went to “great lengths” not to reveal the identity of their new drummer, American trade publication Variety reported.

Freese is a veteran drummer who has performed with The Offspring, Sting, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails and others.

The Foo Fighters were devastated after Hawkins died at age 50 in March 2022 in a hotel in northern Bogota, in Colombia, where the band had been scheduled to play.

A beloved member of the group, Hawkins joined the band for their album There Is Nothing Left To Lose, which was released in 1999, and played on their next seven albums.

Sunday’s streamed event included Rescued, the band’s first new song since Hawkins’ death, which appears to reflect their lingering grief.

In September 2022 in London, Hawkins’ teenage son, Shane, performed My Hero with the band in a tribute concert to his father. At that concert, Freese, on drums, said he wanted to play on Hawkins’ set. NYTIMES