The raucous night of nights finally arrived with Queens of the Stone Age rolling through Sydney on their way to Splendour in the Grass. The iconic five-piece were last in the country on a double headline tour with Nine Inch Nails in 2014 so this solo return Down Under is as sweet as ever. While they’ve been busy with their various side projects since then, their highly anticipated new album Villains is set for release in exactly one month from today.
Melbourne electro-punk outfit Ecca Vandal took the room first and damn-near nuked the stage with their signature abrasive, eve-of-destruction steeze.
QOTSA shortly followed, each member striding onto the stage with singer Josh Homme taking the rear; a silhouette hobbling out with a cane in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. They themselves ooze unadultered coolness but their music takes it to a whole other level. It was a truly unforgettable night.
Read our full live review here.
Ecca Vandal
Queens of the Stone Age
Photos: Dani Hansen/Howl & Echoes
The last time I saw Queens Of The Stone Age live was back in 2014, when they played a stadium co-headline show with Nine Inch Nails. It was wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but experiencing a rock show while sitting a million miles away in a massive arena is an entirely different experience to standing amidst a sweaty crowd at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion. This week’s concert felt like my first true QOTSA experience. It’s the way you’re supposed to see a rock show.
In town ahead of a headline set at Splendour in the Grass, and a month away from their highly anticipated new album Villains, there was a raucous energy in the air from the moment you stepped inside.
In the time since their last visit, the band has been incredibly busy with side projects; among other things, bassist Mikey Shoes last visited us with side project Mini Mansions in late 2015, while Josh Homme released his Iggy Pop collaboration Post Pop Depression as well as performing with Eagles Of Death Metal, and guitarist Troy Van Leewen also toured with Homme and Iggy Pop, released an album as rock supergroup Gone Is Gone this January, and is set to feature on Chelsea Wolfe’s forthcoming album Hiss Spun. So, for them to finally be performing together once more as Queens of the Stone Age, is thrilling to say the least.
Melbourne’s Ecca Vandal warmed the stage with a three-piece band, her uniquely cacophonous concoction of electro-fuelled punk hitting the mark across the fast-filling venue for half an hour ahead of the main event.
When the band took to the stage after a break, there was an immediately electrifying energy that neither decreased nor disappeared once for the remainder of their set; it took hold, and controlled the crowd for the remainder of the show. It was the opposite of sedate.
There was something genuinely fresh about the performance, perhaps because they haven’t played together much lately, perhaps because their nightly setlist varies wildly from show to show. That they kicked off with a track from 2007’s Era Vulgaris, Turnin’ On The Screw, was an wonderful surprise, and there was no shortage of career-spanning favourites to follow.
A little under half the set came from their last album, 2013’s …Like Clockwork. The album’s peaks and troughs served similar purpose to the movement of their stage show, such as the powerful boom of If I Had A Tail, and the lighter, more top-heavy Smooth Sailing. Elsewhere came tracks from Era Vulgaris, Lullabies to Paralyse and Rated R, with a seriously bugged out, drunken, extended version of Feel Good Hit For The Summer, marking the gig’s woozy halfway point — and I think they added a brief Amy Winehouse, Rehab, reference in the middle there, for kicks.
Those hoping for a set plied with new music may have been left for want, with only two new tracks, The Evil Has Landed and The Way You Used To Do coming through. With a catalogue this stellar though, it’s hardly a bad thing, and both tracks were at once brash and fresh, leaving me even more excited to hear Villains in full.
To everyone’s delight, the tail-end of the night was an affair strictly soundtracked by Songs For The Deaf’s biggest moments, only made heavier in the live setting. Homme and co. roared through Go With The Flow and No One Knows, before returning for a final encore rendition of its title track.
The set was peppered by bits and pieces of audience interaction, not much, just enough; this isn’t a band you come to see for the conversation. Their performance is unequivocally what a rock show is meant to look, sound and feel like; they serve up their tracks on a guitar-shaped platter with power and fervour unmatched by almost anyone else in 2017. It was refined and breathless – not rushed, but impressively tight. They know what they’re doing, and they know what their audience wants. It was a phenomenal night, one well worth the wait.
Images: Dani Hansen/Howl & Echoes
Queens Of The Stone Age have finally announced a brand new album, their first since 2013’s brilliant …Like Clockwork. While we don’t have a release date just yet, we do have the album name: Villains. We also know it’s been produced by super-producer Mark Ronson, who needs no introduction.
The news came by way of a funny three-minute teaser video directed by Liam Lynch, in which the band take a lie detector test. They’re asked a series of questions, throughout which they reveal album details including the name, release date and more.
As well as the information, we’re also treated to a preview of new single Feet Don’t Frail Me.
https://youtu.be/nscGRxzH2gg
Keep your eyes and ears peeled for more information coming on the horizon.
The news comes after months (nay, years) of hints and clues here and there, from dropping comments during podcasts to in-studio photos, to the cryptic website which appeared online yesterday.
QOTSA are set to perform in Australia at Splendour in the Grass as well as a set of headline tour dates next month. See full dates below.
Feature: A Complete History Of Queens Of The Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age have announced a headline Australia and Zealand tour, off the back of their headlining appearance at Splendour in the Grass this July.
Though the band haven’t released new music since 2013’s …Like Clockwork, rumours and speculation has been abound for the past year or so, with the Josh Homme-fronted group recently revealing that they had finished recording their upcoming album.
Queens of the Stone Age last toured Australia in 2014, when they delivered a blistering joint headline tour with Nine Inch Nails.
The band are set to play one headline show in New Zealand and three in Australia, including Sydney and Melbourne. Bizarrely, they’re skipping Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and even Hobart, opting for their first ever Northern Territory show in Darwin.
Tickets go on sale next Wednesday April 12 – click here for more details. Frontier touring have announced that absolutely no additional shows will be getting announced later, so get in quick or you WILL miss out.
Check out the dates below, and get excited. This is going to be one of the best shows of the year, guaranteed.
Read More: A Complete History of Queens of the Stone Age
Image: Supplied
It’s been four years since Queens Of The Stone Age last dropped any new music, so when news (kind of) broke last year that the band were working on new material, fans were understandably excited. Now, more than six months later, the band have released a few photos via Instagram, further indicating that something’s brewing in the QOTSA camp. The photos are blurry and pretty hard to decipher, but it looks like the beginnings of a track list, as well as a few guitars as whatnot.
2013’s …Like Clockwork was one of the band’s best releases to date, a thoughtful, introspective and powerful album that’s warranted dozens of listens in the time since. The alt legends are perhaps best known for their high-octane smashes like Feel Good Hit Of The Summer and Song For The Deaf, but …Like Clockwork saw them usher in slower tracks with more emotional range, without losing their feverish energy.
Hopefully they can continue this trend with their upcoming and hitherto unnamed album. Check out the pictures below and start packing because it’s all aboard the hype train ladies and gentlemen!
Image: Getty Images
Another day, another supergroup featuring members of Mastodon, Queens of the Stone Age and At The Drive In. Not to be deterred by past ventures (looking at you Kill Or Be Killed) it’s important to remember that you can never judge a book by its front cover, nor its imperfect back catalogue. Gone Is Gone are the latest collaborative effort to emerge from the contemporary metal scene, and one of the most likely to produce something that sounds genuinely unique. The casting on paper shows the promise of the project. With QOTSA/ A Perfect Circle/ Eagles Of Death Metal guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, ATDI drummer Tony Haajar, freelance composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Zarin and Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders, the group are kicking off 2017 with a very loud bang on debut album Echolocation. The LP promises a script of musical innovation and dark creativity. But does it deliver on originality, or does it fall by the wayside, dismantled by a collection of grinding musical egos?
The opening combination of Sentient and Gift suggests the former. From the beginning, a diverse range of musical flavours can be heard. The introduction is steeped in atmospheric ambience and mystique, not unlike the work of APC. From there the song descends into a doom-laden march that perfectly complements Sanders’ sludgy vocals, whilst Gift serves as yang to the yin, brightly bopping along with an unsettling, yet addictive urgency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlp4dPvrkMg
Although each member of Gone Is Gone can claim series metal pedigrees, it would be a stretch to label this a metal record. Resurge shuffles along with hint of that southern desert flavour that makes QOTSA such a musical force, while Van Leeuwen’s fingerprint can be felt on the grim and dreary Dublin.
As the album progresses, there are a few ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ moments, where you can practically see each member of the supergroup overthinking the construction. Ornament starts with a vocal fanfare that shows plenty of promise but never seems to quite get off the mark, save for the ending psychedelic jam that cautiously begins to develop before wrapping up too fast. Likewise, Colourfade floats through the murky waters of prog and sludge but dynamically doesn’t offer much variation.
That said, the background, home turf and influence of each member is to be considered; there’s no way that these many heavy music legends could come together and simply work seamlessly, without too many tugs in opposing directions, especially when comparing this album to, say, the entire back catalogue and established sound of a group like QOTSA or Mastodon. The musical chemistry here didn’t have those years to establish itself fluidly, with minimal time in the studio in order to meet the demands of scheduling for each member. With that in mind, Echolocation goes a long way to display the potential that this meeting of the minds can produce. Pawns bring the balls-heavy sludge that can be heard so clearly in the early Mastodon recordings, while the more experimental Slow Awakening and Fast Awakening sees the band really dipping their toes into the geekier side of concept composition; the former slowly and painfully establishes a rock solid foundation for the latter, which quickly becomes a flurrying rampage of screaming guitars and pounding percussion.
The main issue with the album is that it tends to feel a little stale, lacking enough diversity and drive to keep is dynamic and engaging. Thankfully, the album’s second half offers some variation, notably through the rustic, scruffy acoustics of Resolve. Think of this track as a soundtrack to the kind of scene featuring an old-timey bearded blacksmith getting sentimental with his son, and you have the essence of Resolve.
The title track closes out the record, offering the most variety since Gift. With an Eastern-influenced synth riff, the song calmly establishes a steady pace before breaking down into a dark, grungy chorus that shows off the kind of memorable hook that would have kept this kind of energy up throughout the entire record.
Overall, Echolocation rates as an above average first outing for a supergroup. There are dull moments scattered throughout, but as a body of work the sounds and structures are both unique and interesting, especially when you consider the background of each band member. With the limited amount of time available to members the variety of sounds achieved is certainly impressive. 2016 was the year contemporary metal artists took centre stage and brought some much-needed innovation to the genre. Echolocation isn’t blowing any minds, but it certainly offers something new, and marks the start of what is hopefully another year of challenging, boundary-pushing heavy music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5PyweqIDkA
Image: Supplied
Josh Homme casually dropped the news recently that his band Queens of the Stone Age were set to return for their seventh album. Now, long-time bandmate and suit-wearing aficionado Troy Van Leeuwen has taken it a step further. Speaking on 2 Hours with Matt Pinfield, Leeuwen revealed that the band were “already talking about what we’re going to do. There’s tonnes of idea bouncing around… We’re going to do something before the end of the year, as far as recording goes.” So with the impending return of QOTSA confirmed we go back to the very beginning and chart how they became one of the greatest rock bands of their time.
Josh Homme started his career as the young guitarist in legendary desert rock outfit Kyuss. The quartet boasted heavy and sludgy rock that was purpose built for long nights spent out in the middle of nowhere with little more than generators and a small audience of likeminded individuals to keep them company. While they are now viewed as an influential band though, at the time they went largely ignored by the masses. Upon their split in 1995 an EP arrived a year later with the flipside featuring three songs from Homme. It garnered little to no reaction, but this would be the first anyone would hear of Queens of the Stone Age.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-AOPFRXebg
The self-titled debut was released in 1998, and was almost entirely devised from one man’s vision. The new project, which also featured ex-Kyuss member Alfredo Hernandez, was a melodic approach to heavy rock. It was softer at the core, purposely more accessible, and seemingly more at ease to let its guard down than Kyuss ever was. The music still had the same driving rhythms that were familiar and a hard boiled edge that had been cultivated from too much time spent out in the harsh desert sun, but beneath that exterior was an undeniable sense and love for melody. For Homme, the debut acted as much as a departure from Kyuss as it was an arrival for Queens of the Stone Age.
The robotic riffs, chugging bass, and single eyed vision from the debut was then expanded upon for 2000’s Rated R. The sophomore effort was the first real indicator of who the band would later become and how it would operate and evolve. A whole host of guests put their fingerprints on it, but it still remained uniquely Homme’s vision. It was undeniably a stylistically restless and highly ambitious album. Nick Oliveri came in on bass and general mad man duties, while Mark Lanegan performed vocals for the first time with the band. Yet it’s not these sort of details or additions that stick with you about the album. It’s more about the fact that they had the gall to open it with a song called Feel Good Hit of the Summer that just lists an albeit impressive mixture of drugs in the system over and over again. They used just about any instrument they could get their hands on; bongos and xylophones included. Oh, and they enlisted the help of Rob Halford on backing vocals for no other reason than that he was working in the studio next to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2mybZ3KT2E
Songs about teenage acid trips, hangovers and the failure to keep secrets were then left behind in the dust as a sprawling drive through the desert gave the band their mega-hit and a concept album that still stands as one of the greatest in music history. The idea was simple for Songs For the Deaf; Homme wanted to recreate the desert road trip soundtrack. Monstrous riffs, screams and dusty guitar lines were a feature, and that was just on the first track You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire. In between classics such as the impossibly catchy No One Knows and Go With The Flow were splices of jerk-off radio presenters who loved the sound of their own voices more than the music they intermittently played. But while proving to be annoying at times and humorous at others, they anchored the album into the truths of the long haul desert car journey; The constant twisting of the radio dial to try and find something good to listen to. The window wound down fully while the wind hits you like you’re holding a hairdryer right up to your face. The vast nothingness of the desert on the horizon. And how the sweat underneath your armpits has made the shirt you’re wearing stick to the skin like glue.
Dave Grohl was brought in to play drums in the ever rotating fixture of the band. Mark Lanegan was made a full-fledged member and Nick Oliveri provided the Ying to Homme’s more refined and poised Yang. It was arguably the greatest line-up QOTSA ever had. It is arguably the greatest album the band has ever made. But that is part of what makes QOTSA so great, you could reasonably argue for just about every album they’ve made as being the best and not be wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s88r_q7oufE
After the brutal high point of Songs For The Deaf, Grohl returned to his day job with the Foo Fighters, Lanegan stopped being around as much, and Oliveri was kicked out of the band entirely. Fans worried about what Homme would be able to provide amongst all the upheaval, but what he gave them was a dark and twisted album. Lullabies To Paralyse had very little of the muscular swagger that the record preceding it had. Instead of trying to replicate it, QOTSA went in another direction entirely. Whereas the insane screams of Oliveri opened the last album, Lanegan opened this one with a lovesick lullaby. The difference couldn’t have been more marked. It was a brave move and was one that was backed by the first appearances of long-time members Joey Castillo on drums and guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen.
Along with Homme, the trio formed the core musicians for the album and, as was now the calling card for the band, a whole host of others came in and added their own touches. Long-time friends and collaborators like Alain Johannes, Chris Goss, Dave Catching, Jesse Hughes and Homme’s now-wife Brody Dalle all appeared on the album to varying degrees, while ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons played on stand out track Burn the Witch. It didn’t receive quite as much fanfare and critical praise as Songs For The Deaf and was seen as a massive departure by many, but Homme was happy with it. It was the most personal record he had made so far in his career and had by all accounts been a pleasure to make.
“To me, it’s not necessarily sad, it’s just dark. When the album starts, it’s already night time. And halfway through it goes past midnight. For me, I like to write about things that are dark or twisted. Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light,” he told Pitchfork at the time of the album’s release.
The fifth album Era Vulgaris followed two years later and featured yet more line-up changes. Current members Dean Fertita and Michael Shuman were drafted in alongside the usual cast. The talk of guest appearances was overwhelming as usual, with Julian Casablancas, Billy Gibbons, Trent Reznor and Mark Lanegan all rumoured to appear. However, not all of these came to fruition on the album as Homme again sought to redesign his band’s sound. Throughout his career he had always sought to defy expectations and flip them back on themselves, but here he returned in a way to his old sound of robotic riffs. The softer and richer guitar sound was replaced with jarring and spiky stabs (the smooth blues of Make It Witchu being a notable exception) along with the new heavy influence of electronic music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LT_kDj4Xzo
It would be another six years until QOTSA released their next, and currently, most recent album. Their sixth arrived with similar stories like all the other albums. There were returning members- Dave Grohl on drums for a few tracks and Nick Oliveri, departures- Joey Castillo, new arrivals like John Theodore, a whole host of guest stars including Sir Elton John, Reznor, and Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys, and anticipation for where Homme would take himself and his band next. However, …Like Clockwork wasn’t like any of the other albums.
“[Matador founder] Chris Lombardi told me that this is Act Two of Queens of the Stone Age and I agree with that. Act Two just happened to start with me waking up in a hospital,” Homme told Spin in 2013. For so many years he and his band had seemed indestructible, but in between albums Homme found out that he was not.
…Like Clockwork was forged after Homme “died” on the operating table after a routine surgery went wrong and he had to be brought back to life. The vulnerability stemming from this traumatic experience is heard throughout the record. On The Vamypre of Time and Memory Homme is accompanied by just his piano as he sings, “I want God to come and take me home ‘cos I’m all alone.” In I Appear Missing, he addresses his past mistakes in life with unnerving clarity as he comes around from his near death experience. “Pieces were stolen from me, dare I say given away.” It was a version of Homme that no one had encountered before. Introspective, fragile and confused are not words that you would have attributed to QOTSA at any other time during their career, yet on their sixth album it fit them perfectly.
“One thing that is clear, it’s all downhill from here,” Homme sings with his fading falsetto on the final track of the album. On a deeply personal record that addressed a man who was lost in the world that he thought he had in the palm of his hand, it can be seen as a dark summation of his situation. But Homme always talked about reaching around in the dark for the light. And while he did, he managed to find it, and shone the spotlight on himself in a way that he never had before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEIVlYegHx8
What’s to come next for the band is anyone’s guess. As of yet, there’s been no official announcements, or even rumours about direction, guests and the like. Much like how their last album was influenced by Homme’s near death experience, it’s possible that their forthcoming record will similarly hone in on the emotional consequences of more recent events – most notably, the terrorist attack in Paris last year, which saw dozens killed at a concert of Hughes and Homme’s other band, Eagles of Death Metal.
Whatever may be on the horizon for Homme and co, we’re so excited that they’re back, and we can’t wait to hear it.
Image: Brantley Gutierrez
As suggested by the multi-talented Josh Homme very recently, a much-anticipated seventh album is officially on the way from Queens of the Stone Age. Having spoken in the Let There Be Talk podcast about the entire band being locked in to discus what their next step was last month, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen has now confirmed (also via podcast interview) that work on a follow up to 2013’s … Like Clockwork has begun.
There’s no doubt that … Like Clockwork was a massive album in the QOTSA discography and it topped a ton of “Best Of” lists for the year. Since then, members have gone on to work across a number of projects. Homme and Jesse Hughes have been focused on Eagles of Death Metal, Mikey Shoes has been busy with Mini Mansions and Van Leeuwen and Homme were both involved with various aspects of Iggy Pop’s Post Pop Depression. Homme also starred in the Henry Rollins project Gutterdammerung – the “loudest silent film” ever.
Speaking on 2 Hours With Matt Pinfield, Van Leeuwen stated that “We’ve already started talking about what we’re gonna do next for the next Queens record.” He added that the band have heaps of ideas bouncing around and that as far as recording something “we’re going to do something before the end of the year.”
“We’re excited to get back together to follow-up …Like Clockwork, which was a really, really big record for us, personally. It was a big record for us ’cause it was the hardest record to make. And we’re trying to not do that again. We just want to keep things simpler and try that, I guess.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kzKfwwDFRc
Image: Diffuser
It’s no surprise that Queens of the Stone Age have been quiet since their phenomenal 2913 album …Like Clockwork. Josh Homme and Jesse Hughes have both been busy with Eagles of Death Metal, bassist Mikey Shoes has been playing drums and singing with Mini Mansions and most recently, Homme collaborated with Iggy Pop on Post Pop Depression, released earlier this year. That said, fans have been hanging for more – and I’m super duper excited to announce that Homme has now revealed that the band are back at work on what will become their seventh album across nearly two decades.
As reported by Consequence of Sound, Homme recently confirmed the news on an episode of the Let There Be Talk podcast. “Same everybody [lineup], we’re locked in,” he says. “We’re having a meeting tomorrow about what we’re gonna do.” This is the first news of new QOTSA since 2013, the sole exception being a surprise performance in LA last September.
You can listen to the full podcast here, which aired on Monday June 6. As well as the exciting QOTSA news, Homme discusses Kyuss, the death of Lemmy in late 2015, Iggy Pop and more. The QOTSA confirmation comes in right at the end, after the 1 hour, 23 minute mark.
Queens of the Stone Age last visited Australia on a joint headline tour with Nine Inch Nails in 2014. Perhaps we can cross our fingers and toes in the hopes of a 2017 tour?
Image: Diffuser
Another day, another supergroup. This time members from Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon, and At the Drive In have joined forces to make Gone is Gone, an experimental rock supergroup.
Tony Hajjar (At The Drive In), Mike Zarin, Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens Of The Stone Age) and Troy Sanders (Mastodon) formed the band and plan to release their debut EP later on this year.
The origins of the band came about when Hajjar and Zarin were working together on film scores and they realised that the potential to take their collaboration further was unmissable. Josh Homme’s trusty lieutenant Van Leeuwen was then recruited, with the trio meeting up and recording an EP’s worth of material inside their first few sessions together. The final piece of the puzzle coming when Sanders was brought in as the vocalist for the band.
“When thinking of singers, a few came to mind, but Sanders’ voice and presence kept on coming up in conversations. Both Troy’s had always talked about doing something together, so it was an easy connection. Sanders flew in and tracked some demos to the finished music, and it went from there,” Hajjar told Rolling Stone.
Gone is Gone is now a reality and as they gear up for their first ever show at the Dragonfly in Los Angeles on the 27th April, Sanders was left to reflect on how it all came together.
“The vibe from day one was, and has been, very therapeutic and refreshing for me. The chemistry was immediate,” Sanders said.
In the same interview Hajjar added, “It feels good to know that all this music will see the light of day soon.”
The upcoming record was taken from hours of jam sessions that the band played, with Sanders flying into LA to join the band periodically.
“The thought behind this band is to combine what most of us know from many years of being in touring/recording entities and our love of scoring,” Hajjar said.
The quartet will release their EP this summer via the band’s own imprint. The first single taken from the record is Violescent, which you can preview in a brief 30 second teaser below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxzfiI0P90A
Image: Music Radar