INTERVIEW: Queens Of The Stone Age
- Posted on August 31, 2008 10:02 PM
- 1 comment
Make Mine A Queens Of The Stone Age Sandwich Please
Reading Festival
22nd August 2008
Interview by Katie Spain
Queens of the Stone Age performed their last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals last weekend and we caught up with them backstage for a quick natter before their set at Reading. Not only did the Californian band provide a fitting lead-up to Friday’s headliners Rage Against The Machine, they also proved that their music is still as fun for them to play as it is for the fans to listen to. You’ll be hard fixed to find such a straight-talking pair of Rock stars as frontman Joshua Homme and guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen. This was definitely one of the most gob-smacking, inspirational Rock man sandwiches I’ve had in a long time.
Joshua: Sit between us and be the meat between our buns. This feels special; I always thought we were the buns of Queens Of The Stone Age.
I’m going to keep this interview as fun as possible…
Joshua: We like fun and we like buns!
What’s the must see band at Reading, apart from yourselves of course…
Joshua: We just saw Biffy Clyro, I’d like to see some Duke Spirit, I’d like to see some Dizzee Rascal. Jude Lee our bass player is also doing double duty... so he’s doubling the buns.
Troy: He’s putting the fun back in the buns.
Joshua: Yeah, fun buns!
Troy: Don’t forget about Rage too.
You guys are playing tomorrow too – does that mean you get to party tonight or do you have to take it easy?
Troy: No, no, no… we just do what we do.
Joshua: We live our life on the edge of a knife.
I don’t imagine that you’re the type of guys who take it easy…
Joshua: Well you know what, there’s a lot of very un-Rock Rock out there these days and we’re on a revolt against it.
Troy: Yeah, yeah, we’re starting a movement.
If you’re allowed to tell me, what tune are you going to open with tonight?
Joshua: An alternate version of ‘Go With The Flow’. You’re the first one to know… actually, he was but you’re the first meat in the buns situation that we’ve had today.
Let’s go back now, if your memory is still serving you properly. What’s your first musical memory?
Joshua: Mine is going to see Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins at the Festival in Sandpoint, Idaho .
Troy: Wow, I can’t really beat that but I’ll say that I have something on par. Well, you know my dad was a musician and he played me all of Chuck Berry and all of the 45s and Jerry Lee Lewis and I just remember being in the den and he’s like “You’ve got to check this out kid”.
Joshua: He got his first boner listening to Chuck Berry too… and it’s never gone down!
That’s called Viagra darling, not Chuck Berry.
Joshua: Well that depends on who you’re talking to.
My colleague and I wear a lot of glitter…. What does it take to be a real Rock chick? What are we doing wrong?
Joshua: You know, to me Rock and Roll is very ‘now’. Sp all you have to be is something I’d refer to as a ‘nowist’. Yesterday is unchangeable and technically, five minutes from now is always five minutes from now. So right now is all you’ve got; you’ve got to live for the moment… and have glitter.
I like it! We got a lot of grief from the local English Reading boys on the way in here.
Josh: Do they not like glitter?
Either that or they don’t like females to be honest.
Troy: Maybe you were walking past the leather troupe or maybe they were just intimidated by you.
Joshua: They were intimidated b your glitter but trust me, they want it near their pants.
Troy: You said keep it fun!
Joshua: It’s the funnest thing I know.
What’s the best thing about life in a band? Is it still as fun as it used to be?
Troy: Yeah, absolutely.
Joshua: Absolutely. Creating the songs in your head, making them come alive and chasing that passion is the best thing ever. It's really hard in this life to be understood and music is the best way so it's awesome.
You’re fortunate to be able to express yourself through the musical avenue.
Joshua: We’re fortunate that people have gotten into it because you can’t expect that to happen or to last. So we’re pretty lucky… very lucky. It makes you not want to change. Musical safety is death so it keeps making you want to keep striving to f*** shit up.
Is it really the sex, drugs and Rock and Roll we all imagine?
Joshua: To be honest, yes.
Troy: I’m going to agree with you, yes.
Joshua: I’m not going to bullshit you, yeah.
QOTSA song requests for Grass Roots Radio Show
Joshua: The Damned – ‘New Rose’
Troy: Chet Baker – ‘My Funny Valentine’
Related links:
Reading Festival review.
Queens Of The Stone Age Official site.
Queens Of The Stone Age concert tickets.
Reading Festival concert tickets.
Comments (1)
Ash
I should have been there.
Posted on September 1, 2008 9:35 AM
Post a comment
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.seatwaveblogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/3418
