You may have heard murmurs about Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron joining Foo Fighters, but Cameron insists the rumors are unfounded, leaving fans to continue guessing about who might fill the late Taylor Hawkins‘s seat when the Foos hit the road this year.
Speculation swirled in fan communities late last week when an article by the U.K.’s The Sun cited an “insider” who claimed that Cameron and Atom Willard (Angels & Airwaves) were currently the front-runners for the gig. “The Foos have been working with a number of musicians close to Taylor and the band over the past few months,” the source told The Sun. “Matt and Atom are front runners to drum at the gigs, the first of which is in May. … Primarily it will be Matt but Atom will be on rotation with him. They have both been rehearsing at Studio 606, The Foos’ studio.”
The report continued, “Matt was a great friend of Taylor’s and is very close with the Foos’ frontman Dave Grohl. … foo The final arrangements are being put in place but it’s looking very likely that Matt will be playing those gigs across the US in summer.”
In a Saturday post on his Instagram story, however, Matt Cameron refuted the claim: “FYI the internet rumors are false,” he said. “I haven’t joined the Foos.”
At the end of 2022, Foo Fighters vowed to continue on without Hawkins in a statement to fans. Since then, the Dave Grohl-fronted band has been named as a headliner for a number of major festivals including Bonnaroo, Boston Calling Music Festival, Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival, Germany’s Rock Am Ring, Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival, Sea.Hear.Now, and more, but has yet to perform in public. The band also added a handful of hard-ticket headlining shows to its 2023 tour schedule including a May 24th concert in Gilford, New Hampshire, currently the first date on their calendar. The band has yet to make an official announcement about who will play drums.
The only Foo Fighters performances since the March 2022 death of Hawkins came as part of a pair of star-studded tribute shows in the drummer’s honor in London and L.A. in late 2022. Stand-in drummers for the Foos’ abbreviated sets at those shows included Taylor’s son, Shane Hawkins, Travis Barker (Blink 182), Josh Freese, Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine), Rufus Taylor (The Darkness), Nandi Bushell, and more.
No official announcement has been made as to who will fill in for the late drummer at the 2023 shows. For a complete list of Foo Fighters tour dates, head here.