I'm a music lover. Like, I love music, A LOT.
I almost always have music on at home, at work, and in the car.
I also use to collect records. You know, vinyl, wax, lp's... you get the idea, and this is one I just pulled out of the ole lp stack today.
Can you guess who might be in this band?
Here are a few more photos in case you're having a hard time.
Got it yet? Here's another hint, but read it before scrolling to the next picture:
If you listened to the radio, or any music at all, in the late 90s and early 2000s (to now, actually) then you have likely heard him play. He's a drummer and he played on these albums & songs with artists like Devo, Paul Westerberg, Danny Elfman, Chris Cornell, Rob Zombie, 3 doors down, The Offspring, Static-X, A Perfect Circle, Kelly Clarkson, and Miley Cyrus to name a few.
Answer
Yep, it's drummer Josh Freese, and in 1986 he was in a band called Polo, and as such, played the drums on Polo's self titled album.
Why do I care about this? Well, in 1986 I lived in Southern California and I had a friend called Brit Ash. Brit lived in the town next to mine and he also lived next door to Josh Freese and his family, and was friends with Josh. Inevitably I met Josh and the three of us would hang out from time to time.
At the time the band Polo played in Disneyland at the Tomorrowland Terrace. You know, the stage that was underground and would slowly rise to feature this band or that...
This area of Disneyland is now Star Wars land, and I'm not even sure if the stage is still there.
Anyhow, the thing I really remember about that time was that Josh's dad worked at Disneyland. He was not just some guy that worked at the popcorn stand or on a ride though, he was the bandleader of the Disneyland Band. I did not know that at the time, nor did I know Disneyland had a band, I just knew he worked there and he seemed like an executive. The cool thing about this, and about knowing his kid, is that in the summer of '86 Brit and I went to Disneyland FOR FREE 5 or 6 times.
I lived about 10 miles from Disneyland so my mom would drop the two of us off at the gate, we'd go to a ticket window and drop Josh's dad's name and minutes later he would show up and escort us in. To a 15 year old kid this was pure magic. We never went with Josh, we would go on days his band was going to play at Tomorrowland Terrace.
Brit and I never went backstage or even saw Josh other than on stage. We would barely watch the whole show before tearing off to go on more rides. Good times!
So back the Polo vinyl... I believe I bought this (or did Josh give it to me? Can't remember) at Tower Records, which was the record store to go to if you lived in SoCal.
Funny, huh? That's him in the center. Nice hair!
Anyhow I heard today that Josh is joining the Foo Fighters on their current tour so I had to dig this out and share that little story. I'll have to give it a spin on the turntable too. I remember liking the song We Can Work It Out and can still remember the tune of the chorus. Wonder if it holds up to time 😆
Thanks for coming with me on this journey to the past. Stay awesome friends!
