The Phoenix interviews Josh Homme (podcast mp3)
Eagles of Death Metal, "I Want You So Hard" (mp3)
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Homme's homegrown
Since his teenage days, which were spent blowing minds at “generator parties” in the southern California desert with his first band, Kyuss, Josh Homme has been involved in countless musical projects, as musician, producer, and curator. Here are a few of our favorites from his discography.
Welcome to Sky Valley | Elektra, 1994 | Kyuss’s third full-length provided the blueprint for loads of psychedelic riff-metal bands to come: thick, detuned, fuzzed-out guitars, hypnotic drums, and plenty of drugs. A landmark album.
Queens of the Stone Age | Loosegroove, 1997 | Although QOTSA’s com mercial breakthrough was their excellent 2002 album Songs for the Deaf (Interscope), which featured Dave Grohl on drums, we recommend checking out the band’s homonymous debut. The album finds Homme refining the stoner-rock sound that he helped define with Kyuss. The guitars are cleaner, although still heavy and huge, and the riffs more melodic, but still trance-inducing.
Desert Sessions 9 & 10 | Ipecac, 2003 | Starting in August 1997 at musician/producer Fred Drake’s Joshua Tree, California, home studio, Rancho de la Luna, Homme’s “desert sessions” have become something of legend: rotating casts of like-minded musicians doing drugs, writing, and jamming on songs while tape rolls. The latest volumes feature PJ Harvey, Dean Ween, and Twiggy Ramirez, among others. Homme says the sessions are “going to go on forever. It should be the longest-running mixtape in history.”
