Queens of the Stone Age are coming to New Zealand for their first headlining tour later this month. UTR caught up with main man Josh Homme to discuss the re-release for their classic album, future plans for the band, and why finding favourite new bands is like ‘finding a dirty needle in a stack of dirty needles’.
Hey, how’s it going? What are you up to at the moment?
I’m standing in my bedroom, facing the corner, just checking it out.
So, you’re taking a break from touring and recording?
We’re just actually getting together and starting to write music for the next record.
And you’re about to come here for your first ever headlining tour in NZ?
Yeah, we were going to do this Soundwave Festival in Australia and we had so much fun in New Zealand last time. Plus, we have never headlined there so I demanded that we go to new Zealand cause it just seemed so long overdue
Do you have fond memories of the country?
Yeah I can’t wait! I want to go jet-boating in Christchurch and see as many sheep as I possibly can. I want to set a world record.
So, tell me about the re-release of the first album. What prompted it now?
Mostly that it was impossible to get it’d been outa print for so long. I’m not very nostalgic by nature so it wasn’t like ‘guys remember the days’ it was more like in the internet age this record should be able to get got you know, I really like this band cheap trick and they were doing shows were they were playing their first three records three nights in a row and so we started talking about ‘wow ok we’ll never get a chance to re-elease this thing and what if we just focused on the first record. I donno if that means we’re going to play it exactly start to finish we haven’t really decided it’s kind of a cool idea
It must be nice to re-visit the origins of the band?
Well yeah I’m just glad that it’s not like some bad haircut when I listen to it. I’ve listened to it and I love that record and it’s been really fun to try and put myself back in that headspace where I was just obsessed with trying to trance out on guitar.
Tell me about that headspace – what else was going on when you were writing that first record?
Well I mean I just remember thinking I hadn’t played for about a year and I started writing songs. The first song I wrote was ‘Regular John’, which is the first song on the album and I remember thinking ‘no-one’s playing this trance rock music that you can dance to’, but that’s primarily because I hadn’t heard bands like Can. I thought I could try and do this thing that hadn’t really been done, and then I found out it had kind of been done but not very much. You just kind of try and carve your own space I just wanted to start a band that within three seconds of listening people knew what band it was.
So you wanted to create a unique, individual sound?
The hardest trick is to retain things that are always there and change up the rest of it. It’s been really great trying to find new ways to be yourself in a way that people would go ‘Oh I know exactly who that is!’
QOTSA has been a band for a long time now. How do you think you’ve changed as a musician over the years?
You know, man I’ve always rejoiced in being able to be a musician. It seems such stupid luck that this is what I do. So I have always just enjoyed playing and the work and creating music that’s bouncing around in my head. I like to go for walks, and you walk and you start humming at that pace that you’re walking, and the next thing you know you’re on stage playing your walk with the hum. It’s almost stupid sometimes but it’s also so beautiful too. I guess in a lot of way I really appreciate more because before I was chasing this thing I was obsessed with and now I’m caressing this thing I’m obsessed with.
Is music an experience based thing for you then?
Yeah it’s like a religion for me you know. Whenever I had trouble and didn’t know what to say I could always play my way out of it, and it was so much easier to explain myself than trying to talk about it. You know sometimes English is like writing with a brick - you can’t quite make the point you want to. I think people can understand and relate to music where they can misunderstand what you’re saying.
What about QOTSA do you love, compared to your other projects you do?
Queens is my home and I feel like we can play whatever we want to. I don’t feel like we have to play in any certain style and I like the freedom of that. I don’t care whether it’s a love song or a hate song or an ‘I wanna get laid’ song, as long as it’s honest I’m ready to give it a shot. When everyone’s like ‘what type of music is it?’ I’m like ‘I donno!’ It’s a bit of everything. That’s such a boring answer in English but hopefully in music speak that’s the best thing ever.
So do you think this re-release of the album signifies a new era for QOTSA?
Honestly I feel like we’re a brand new band because of Mikey (Shuman) and Dean (Fertita) and it’s such a badass group of people to be around. It just feels like they’re bringing this other element that’s about to show up in this new record. People get very precious and they go ‘don’t you ruin my thing’ but I’m not as precious. I want something new and I want to listen to as much music as possible because when music is good it gives me the goosebumps.
Do you listen to, and are you inspired by contemporary bands?
Honestly, I don’t know if it’s the times or just me but it is harder now. I feel like there’s less stuff that I like, and so I end up listening to old stuff. I’m listening all the time because I want to like as much stuff as possible - it would be great if I loved everything! My taste isn’t like that and no-body’s is, so it becomes difficult. Your tastebuds get so particular and you want to try to break free of that. I’m always using my tastebuds - I’m licking everybodys CD, but the fact of the matter is that I feel like if there’s a bunch of great stuff out there I might be missing it. If someone puts out eight or nine songs I need seven or eight of them to be good. People don’t care about records anymore, which is fine, but if you’re just going to put out four songs make sure they’re all awesome.
Do you feel like the increase in access to music has made it harder to actually find quality stuff?
Absolutely. Before it was a mystery - who is this band and where are they from? So it’s eternally sexy and exciting, whereas now it’s like trying to find a dirty needle in a stack of dirty needles. It’s a bit overkill and I’m not trying to turn back the clock, I’m just noticing these things. You know, record stores were cool because I knew where to hang out no matter what town I was in. I could go to a local record store and be like ‘where’s a cool place to drink?’ It was like getting this key to the underground city, so I guess I miss that road map. It’s not even necessarily record stores singularly, but it’s that road map that I feel was already their but was torn up for the sake of an information superhighway. YouTube is the only thing that’s bad ass for me about the internet. Do I really fucken need to read reviews about every fucken restaurant in my hometown? Whatever! Let’s just go try a fucken restaurant.
Do you think these changes have affected the social significance and cultural relevance of music, then?
Well I guess it’s a bit like communism: everyone will play in a band and everyone can release music, when really, not everyone should do that. When Hendrix was around there were 30 rock bands and you needed to be able to rip to be in a band at all. Now, conversely, people who can actually sing use Autotune as well. Autotune was invented because shitty singers needed Autotune. I’m not after something perfect - I want little mistakes and scars and character – when I’m looking for something that’s classic, but it’s a little tough to do that when you’re listen to Gravel Girdys Bedroom Demo. The interesting part is that I love treasures in the trash, so it may be their demo is the classic track? It’s a conundrum.Tell me about the new album QOTSA are working on.
Well I think we have a delivery that’s unique. You could give us a song and it goes through our meat grinder and comes out the other end sounding like QOTSA. This delivery that is more important than the songs sometimes because everyone gets the same notes but it’s down to how you play them. We’re kind of playing this weird, dark, James Brown stuff and its really awesome. If I’m not backing a lyric I can’t even sing it - it makes me want to vomit - so I always know if I can trust it and let go I’m going in the right direction. I feel like we’re going in a really good direction right now.
