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  • Queens Of The Stone Age | Queens Of The Stone Age 27.11.2007 | Queens Of The Stone Age Interview
    #1 Are Queens now more of a collective than a fixed band with permanent members?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    I think we’ve always been about an ideal more than either of those two things. And an ideal is to play music the way you listen to music. I’ve always listened to whatever I like no matter what genre or what style it is, and I’d like to play music in that way, too. So, I think what we are a good mix tape, you know, that’s what we’ve always tried to be.


    #2 What determined which of you played which instruments on the record?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    Well, there’s a lot of switching instruments on this record, and I mean the deciding factor was did you have a part, did you have something cool to say on a particular instrument? I mean, to be honest, we’re kind of all fighting to play bass because it’s fun to play, you know. And wanted to do Nick right and have Nick be psyched about hearing cool bass parts and stuff, too.
    So, it’s a gut feeling that decides who plays what and what it is that you play. You know, it’s the same gut feeling that says which song should go on the record, and there’s a lot of guts being used, you know.


    #3 Is it right or wrong, as some have done, to characterize Queens as metal?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    Characterizing Queens as metal, is it right or wrong? That’s a good question. It’s wrong.


    #4 Instrumentally, you guys stray quite a bit from the hard rock template. Was the idea to challenge the norm, or do you just prefer certain sounds?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    I think this is a band that’s always wanted to figure out what’s being done out there in music land and then not do that. And I also think that it feels good to recognize that a record is a snapshot of your music in time and that it should be a good photo.

    But after that you don’t try to reproduce the photo, that you’re jamming songs and having a good time with them yourself and that they stay mobile because if you want to hear it just like the record, play the record, you know, sort of a thing.


    #5 Joe Barresi is back as producer after a two-record absence. Why did you decide to hook back up with him?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    I like working with Joe Barresi. He’s an insider. He’s one of us, you know. I like to work with other people so I want relationships to last, you know, musical relationships. And so, I think sometimes that means going off and finding out information, and working on your own and then coming back and sort of bringing it back to the group, you know.

    And Joe made all the Kyuss records with me and the first Queens record, and so it just seems natural to work together again. He and I have great communications that borders on telepathy. And Joe, when he makes records he makes them for the band and not for anyone else.

    And so, it’s important when you’re making music for yourself to work with someone that that’s their priority, too, is to make something that the people in the studio making it are the most important. Because if we really love it then the chances of everyone else loving it is greater, you know.


    #6 How did you describe to Joe the kind of sound you were going for on this record?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    In describing to Joe sounds for this record it doesn’t take much for Joe and I, because I like to engineer as well and we both like to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. So, it was about more doing what we know to do.

    And this one sonically the framework of it is much like the first record in that it’s dry and natural. So, it didn’t take much explanation. It’s more about kind of the discovery after we’ve gotten to that point and what do we add to show not just left and right but depth, you know, forward and backwards, and different reverbs and vocals that make sound more spherical, you know, than just horizontal, you know


    #7 Can you talk about “Little Sister”, its video, and a handful of other album tracks?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    “Little Sister” is a song that I’d been working on for a number of years. And, you know, I write all the time. I don’t just write like I don’t sit down and say: I’m going to write music. So, I spend a lot of time waiting for songs to finish themselves so that I can play them, you know.

    I think of music as something that’s bigger than any one person. And so, you kind of spend a lot of time like almost, you know, praying at the altar of music and praying for it to be good for you, you know, and doing a rain dance sort of a thing like “Rain Man”. And so, “Little Sister” is a song that just sort of developed over time and got to its right place.

    And I like the amalgam of imagery that it puts forward, that throwing a little pebble at the girl’s windows late at night, you know, trying to creep in the back door, you know. And I also love the Elvis song “Little Sister” because I like the sort of sexual twist that’s put on by “little sister don’t you do what your big sister done”.

    “Little Sister”, you know, everyone keeps saying that I co-directed it, but I didn’t. It was directed by Nathan Cox off a treatment that I wrote because there were so many treatments that came forward that were, you know, too story-like and had a conclusion in them, and in all that stuff like that. And I think for right now it’s just better if we just do a performance video where it’s just us playing. Keep it simple, you know.

    So, that’s the “Little Sister” video. You know, just trying to use color to contrast the different parts of the song and trying to draw out the music that’s there, there’s all sorts of little detail work in that song, and to just kind of show the camaraderie in the playing of that song.

    Some other tracks that I think are key tracks are “Someone’s in the Wolf” which is the longest song. It’s about seven and a half minutes long. There’s no concept but if there was a loose sort of a vibe it would be that the album’s kind of like a dark little fairytale. And so, “Someone’s in the Wolf” is really expressive.

    I was reading a lot of fairytales before we started making this record like the old Brothers Grimm fairytale, and I like how they have such harsh endings because really they’re like a warning to children, you know, like don’t go in the woods. Be careful. Listen to your folks, you know, all that stuff. And I like the harsh real world message of some of these fairytales, you know.

    So, “Someone’s in the Wolf” is kind of like my version of a fairytale, you know. And we did a video for that, as well. We did videos for songs that weren’t going to be singles cause we just wanted to make art and do stuff that was mysterious, you know. And so, there’s a “Someone’s in the Wolf” video that will be able to be seen that’s seven and a half minutes long, you know. And we went out to the Sequoias which is the redwoods and giant tress and filmed for four days in the woods running around. So, it’s very much we went all in, you know.

    Another key track I think on the record is “A Long Slow Good-bye”. And this record is much more, you know, sort of like rip your chest open and pour your heart out a little more without it being like some journal entry, you know, that’s really sappy and annoying, hopefully. So, “A Long Slow Good-bye” is a song that I’m proud of, you know.

    And I think “A Long Slow Good-bye” has nice imagery. You know, lyrically a lot of the times I think that people should finish the sentence themselves, and that what lyrics should be is a good catalyst, and they should generate color and thought and imagery, and should really try to be the best poetry you have available to you, you know.

    And so, I think I’m proud of lots of the stuff that’s on there and in particular “A Long Slow Good-bye”. It always makes me think of someone standing alone under a streetlamp, you know, past midnight, and I like dark images like that.


    #8 Taken as a whole, does love or anger triumph on this album?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    Well, I think definitely love triumphs. I think this is a dark record but it’s dark so that you can see where the light is and you see where the reach for the light is. And I think all of us have to deal with things where they’re beyond your control, and it’s what you kind of do with the things that are beyond your control. I think it’s best to just let them go and say fuck it, you know.

    And so, this is more the expression of reaching for the light. And I think that’s why it starts in such a dark place, you know, so that you see the full stretch for the light. Some people interpret things like that as being depressing but I say that they’re already bummed anyway so fuck them.


    #9 The title Lullabies To Paralyze seems pretty accurate when considering some of these lyrics. Is there an idea of sleep as a dangerous place?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    You know, for years I haven’t slept so much, you know. It think I’ve been too busy staying awake to sleep. But I like things that work on many levels and I think “Lullabies to Paralyze” works on a lot of levels because if you want to take it on a surface level it just sounds sweet and dark.

    And I like the idea of being cradled by something that won’t let you go, you know, as imagery, you know. And hopefully you’re cradled in something that you don’t want to be let go from either. I also like that the title bridges this record and the last record in that it’s a lyric from “Mosquito Song”.

    And I also think that, you know, lullaby, it being something that’s supposed to be sweet and sung to you before you fall asleep, that fear of being paralyzed in the sweetness kind of speaks for itself, you know.


    #10 Did you have other titles in mind and then go back to that “Mosquito Song” lyric? What were some other working titles?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    I didn’t have any other titles. You know, there were so many rumors and innuendo, and all this stuff surrounding Queens of the Stone Age that I just started adding more rumors to it. Like, I put out all these fake titles and I said that our record was coming out in November. And what else did I say?

    Basically, if there was a negative rumor that someone brought up to me I would just encourage it, you know, because I just wanted to help destroy the Queens, you know. To me it was just like the press is a fake world so let’s just help, you know. And I think it really lowered the bar, you know. And, you know, like when someone was saying: Well, Mark got fired, Lannigan, you know. And I was like: Yeah, Mark is fired, too, yeah. But he was just touring his own solo record, you know.

    I think for me that there was enough bullshit floating around that the helping of it helped me because it gave everyone else something to focus on while I was just making the record. Because I’d rather talk about what I did than wax esoteric about what I’m going to do. I think, you know, the press always theorizes about what’s going to happen but it just goes to show you they don’t know. Sorry.


    #11 Is Lullabies a concept album?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    No, it’s not. It’s the antithesis of it really because after doing kind of a loose concept with “Songs for the Deaf”, making fun of radio and stuff like that, that it seemed stupid to try to do another concept situation. You know, it seemed like it would be a pretentious endeavor, you know. So, this is just songs back to back, just boom, boom, boom, boom, bang.


    #12 Tell us about some of the new instrumentation on the album.

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    Really it’s kind of the same as it ever was. There’s more use of lap steel and there’s a lot of horns and stuff like that. I really love the sound of five tubas in a room, you know. It’s really intense, you know. And to see people blowing that hard is kind of comical, too. So, it’s almost the same sort of instrumentation just, you know, like on thirteen instead of ten, you know.


    #13 You play a fair amount of bass on this record. Was that a way of liberating your songs from the style of a single bass player?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    No, I played a lot of bass on this record. Troy played a lot of bass. Alan Johannes played a lot of bass. I think the reason to do that is because, you know, my long time bro, Nick, wasn’t there, and so I didn’t want to make things uncomfortable by adding someone new to that. And it seemed like it was kind of like disrespecting Nick or something. It seemed like it should be in our hands, you know.

    And I wanted Nick to be proud of what was on there, you know. And so, when I was listening to the record with him I was like: Yeah, I hope he likes the bass, you know. And he did, so that’s good, you know. It’s like music has always been a personal family affair, you know. And so, I think it was important more than ever now that it was still that way.


    #14 Does the desert put you in a certain frame of mind? Where do you go to write?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    I love the desert because in its primary situation there’s nothing out there, so we went out there to just play. And, you know, I think it was important to move our own gear into the studio out there in the desert where we were rehearsing at the Rancho, and just play together and sort of be together and have cell phones not work. It’s almost like making it hard on yourself by making it easy again, you know.

    So, I’m from there and for me it’s like, you know, it’s going home, you know. And I think one of the main ethos that we’ve always worked under is to make it personal because it is personal. And that was a great way to start, you know, no outsiders, because all I’ve really been getting is outsiders that were speaking like outsiders, acting like they knew what was going on but really not. And so, I think it was important to go home, you know.


    #15 There¹s a kind of fantasy element to this record. Is that becoming a larger part of your songwriting?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    Well, the fantasy element that’s there I think is just to sort of encourage more mystery in rock n’ roll. And there’s some things I wanted to say and there’s so much direct stuff that’s already on the record. But some of the stuff I wanted to say I didn’t want to say directly because I just didn’t want to make that type of record. I’d rather say burn the witch, you know.

    And so, it’s just fate that I’m reading these fairytales, and that some of the stuff I had to say I would rather do like a Brothers Grimm fairytale. It’s a warning for me, for you, for everybody. And I’d rather ask a question than answer one, you know.


    #16 When choosing players, do you opt for guys you can mold and shape, or guys whose style of playing already fits.

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    I don’t like to play with people where I have to tell them what to do because I’d rather just do that myself than tell somebody what they need to do. I mean, if you even just thought about it for a moment, the concept of you have something that you want to get done but you tell someone else how to do it so they’ll never really do it the way you want to do it. That’s starting off with the wrong foot up your ass, you know.

    I think it’s important to get people that are good at what you’re not good at because we already have one of you so let’s get somebody that specializes in something that the rest of us don’t, because then their vitality is there and they’re really a necessary puzzle piece, you know. And I think specializing is a great thing and I love to work with people. I love people. I like to collaborate and that’s why I don’t have like a solo record or something because it’s that relationship with people that I like the most.


    #17 This album reveals you to be quite a singer. Have you been working on your voice?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    You know, your voice is a muscle and now that I’m on a fourth record I have, you know, these four records of working and singing, and stuff like that. And for me, I didn’t really want to be the singer. I mean that much is obvious cause there’s been people singing and stuff like that.

    And singing is something I’ve really learned to enjoy and kind of come to grips with, you know. So, I just enjoyed myself. And, you know, it’s a bit like watching your hair grow, you don’t notice, you know. So when someone says the singing has come a long way I feel like: Oh, that’s cool. But I don’t really think about it.


    #18 This record will probably be bigger than the last one, which was bigger than the one before, and so on. How big do you want to be?

    Real Audio Originalkommentar von Josh Homme

    Man, I don’t really give a shit. You know, let me just break it down, I love to play. I come from a small town in a desert. I never thought I would be here. And I just want to play, man. I don’t care if it’s big or small, you know.

    Like, Nick is gone and that affects me the most because I didn’t want it to be that way. And some people are going to be like: Well, I don’t like it now. And to them I say: Fucking good-bye. This is good-bye. Let me be the first to say it, good-bye. Because all I’m doing is wanting to just play.

    I just love to play music and I like people, you know. And there’s all kind of things that get shoved into that along the way but that’s not alright with me, you know. So, I want to say most of all like I’m just going to show up and play, you know. And I’ll let everyone deal with that because I’ve already dealt with the hard part.

    You go ahead and deal with the easy part whether you want to listen or not. And either way, I understand because when it comes to the Queens whatever anyone is dealing with I’ve dealt with it already, man. So, I’ll either be drinking with people after the show or not.

    And it’s going to be five thousand, five million or five, I don’t give a shit, you know. Because I’m really proud of this record and I put a lot into it. I put what I am into it. And after that, I can’t control it. It’s not up to me, it’s up to you, you know. And I’m okay with that because when I left the studio I knew I loved this stuff and I got to save my friendship, and so both of those are a victory, you know, and the rest is up to you. And I’m okay with that, too, you know. So, let’s get it on.

Top Video

Queens Of The Stone Age Queens Of The Stone Age - 3'S & 7'S (Clean Version)
Queens Of The Stone Age Queens Of The Stone Age - 3'S & 7'S (Clean Version)

Releases

  • Queens Of The Stone Age, Era Vulgaris Tour Edition, 0602517545229
    • Bravado Shop, More Than Music by Deutschrock Merchandise GmbH
    30.11.2007
    Queens Of The Stone Age | Era Vulgaris Tour Edition (CD) Tonträger Audio Format: CD Album
    Artist: Queens Of The Stone Age
    VÖ: 30.11.2007 VÖ: 2007 Label: Interscope | CD Bestellnr.: 0602517545229 Interscope
    Getreu dem Motto: „Für die Besten nur das Beste“ gibt’s ab 30.11. was ganz Exklusives für Deutschland: „Era Vulgaris“ erscheint nämlich als Doppelalbum, das es so NUR in deutschen Landen geben wird. Josh hat sich dafür extra 2 Tage im Studio verbarrikadiert, um bisher unveröffentlichte Tracks wie "Make It Wit Chu - Live Acoustic", "Era Vulgaris - Richard File Remix" und "I'm Designer UNKLE Remix" exklusiv für Deutschland abzumischen. Außerdem bekommt ihr dazu noch die Bonus-CD “LIVE IN AMSTERDAM” mit den Tracks "Monster In The Parasol", "Misfit Love", "If Only", "I Think I Lost My Headache", "Into The Hollow", "Go With The Flow", "Regular John", "Avon" & "Song For The Dead".
    Details ansehen

Releases Single

  • Queens Of The Stone Age, Make It Wit Chu, 0602517472815
    • Bravado Shop, More Than Music by Deutschrock Merchandise GmbH
    23.11.2007
    Queens Of The Stone Age | Make It Wit Chu (CD-Plus (+ROM) Maxi) Tonträger Audio Format: CD Single
    Artist: Queens Of The Stone Age
    VÖ: 23.11.2007 VÖ: 2007 Label: Interscope | CD-Plus (+ROM) Maxi Bestellnr.: 0602517472815 Interscope
    Am 23.11. erscheint die neue QOTSA-Single „Make It Wit Chu“. Aber bei der handelt es sich nicht einfach nur um einen schnöden Silberling, denn: Alle, die sich im Juni die limitierte „Sick, Sick, Sick“-Sammlerbox gekauft haben, können die nun mit „Make It Wit Chu“ weiter bestücken.
    Die Single wird nur in dieser Version veröffentlicht und im Online Store eures Vertrauens gibt's "Make It Wit Chu" natürlich auch.
    Details ansehen

Tour Dates

Exclusive Downloads

  • Queens Of The Stone Age, Era Vulgaris (+ exklusiver Titel)
    Queens Of The Stone Age Era Vulgaris (+ exklusiver Titel)
    mehr
  • Queens Of The Stone Age, Celebrity Playlist
    Queens Of The Stone Age Celebrity Playlist
    mehr
  • Queens Of The Stone Age, Make It Wit Chu
    Queens Of The Stone Age Make It Wit Chu
    mehr
  • Queens Of The Stone Age, 3's & 7's
    Queens Of The Stone Age 3's & 7's (Closed Captioned, Clean Version)
    mehr

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