Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Seattle, Washington.[1] The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple lineup changes. Since 2013, the lineup has consisted of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). The band also has a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss,[2] the band originated from the spread of the Palm Desert music scene. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with former Kyuss members Alfredo Hernández on drums and Homme on all other instruments. Bass guitarist Nick Oliveri joined the band for its accompanying tour and became the band's co-lead vocalist alongside Homme. The band's second studio album, Rated R, which featured Mark Lanegan as a guest vocalist, was their major label debut, being released on Interscope Records. It was commercially and critically successful, and featured their breakout single "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret". The band's third studio album, Songs for the Deaf, which featured Dave Grohl on drums, alongside contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, was released in 2002 to universal acclaim and further commercial success.
Following Oliveri and Lanegan's departures in 2004 and 2005, respectively, Homme became the band's sole lead vocalist, with multi-instrumentalist Troy Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo collaborating on 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's electronic-influenced Era Vulgaris. After several years of inactivity, the band signed to independent label Matador Records in 2013 and released a loose trilogy of albums over a span of ten years: ...Like Clockwork (2013), Villains (2017), and In Times New Roman... (2023). The trilogy brought further critical acclaim and a new height of commercial success for the band, with ...Like Clockwork becoming their first number-one album in the U.S.
After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist,[4] before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996, they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo.[5]
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."[6]
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on Roadrunner Records' compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners. It featured guitarist Dave Catching as well as the bassist and drummer of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver, owing to connections Homme made while living in Amsterdam for a few months following Kyuss' breakup.[7] The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup.[8]
Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.[9]
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Catching, a former Kyuss guitar tech, joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.[10]
Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock,[101]stoner rock,[102]alternative metal,[103][104][105] and hard rock.[106] Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry,[107] with the album featuring solid and repetitive riffs in its song structure.[2]Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period."[108] The band's following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan.[108] Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird."[15] The band continued to experiment on their third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections.[109] Homme has described Lullabies to Paralyze as a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimmfolk and fairy tales.[110] In 2005, Homme explained, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me..."[111] The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of longtime member Nick Oliveri.[15] The band almost exclusively used semi hollow body guitars during the making of the record.[112] With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop their signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme has currently gone back to being the only lead vocalist in the band[113] and uses more distinct vocal melodies.[114]
Homme has on numerous occasions described their music as "rock versions of electronic music," stating that he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. This heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music has been dubbed by Homme as "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the Roskilde Festival 2001.
Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style.[115] He demonstrated the 'Josh Homme scale', which he claimed was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (b2) omitted.[116] In the same interview, Homme referenced some of his earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix.
(1998)
Queens of the Stone Age
(2000)
Rated R
(2002)
Songs for the Deaf
(2005)
Lullabies to Paralyze
(2007)
Era Vulgaris
(2013)
...Like Clockwork
(2017)
Villains
(2023)
In Times New Roman...
Studio albums
Queens of the Stone Tour Buses at Viejas Arena - December 15, 2023Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999)
