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Queens of the Stone Age enter new "Era"
06/01/2007 10:17 PM, Reuters
Jonathan Cohen
The pace has been fast and furious
in Queens of the Stone Age's world since its 2002 album "Songs
for the Deaf" lifted the band out of relative obscurity and
into the upper echelon of new hard rock acts.
That set has sold 986,000 copies in the United States,
according to Nielsen SoundScan, and spawned enduring rock radio
hits like "No One Knows" and "Go With the Flow."
But its 2004 follow-up, "Lullabies to Paralyze," suffered
from a difficult birth on the heels of QOTSA bassist Nick
Oliveri's sudden dismissal from the group. Sales also suffered;
despite a No. 2 modern-rock hit, "Little Sister," the album has
shifted 346,000 units.
So frontman Josh Homme put the brakes on the whole
"Lullabies" operation and set out to create new material.
"'Lullabies' and everything around that was tough in many
ways," he admitted. "It was nice to just say, 'In a minute, in
a minute.' We took advantage of that moment. You don't always
get it."
Flanked by multi-instrumentalist Troy Van Leeuwen, drummer
Joey Castillo and longtime cohorts Chris Goss and Alain
Johannes behind the boards, Homme began penning new tracks
(such as the punishing first single "Sick, Sick, Sick," which
features the Strokes' Julian Casablancas) and tinkering with
other ideas he'd never been able to complete.
The result is "Era Vulgaris," due June 12 via Interscope.
"There are songs on every record that I've had pieces of
for sometimes 10 years," he said, pointing to new album tracks
like the warped opener, "Turning of the Screw," and "Make It
Wit Chu," which was released in a different form on volumes
nine and 10 of Homme's long-running Desert Sessions project.
Homme said he now finally feels comfortable with the band's
present lineup, enthusing, "I look at what Joey and Troy did,
and they exponentially expanded our wingspan. It has taken me
15 years to find guys like that, that want to skip the B.S. and
make something that is really gestalt."
Indeed, the band was so pleased with "Era Vulgaris" that it
omitted the intended title song, with a guest spot from Nine
Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, from the final running order. The cut
was instead leaked online, providing early buzz for QOTSA's
return.
In an odd twist, QOTSA this summer is touring tertiary U.S.
markets like Bakersfield, Calif., and Missoula, Mont., before
it embarks on a major-market run in September.
"We want to play to people who hardly ever get shows and
just burn the house down," Homme said. "I think we're too
stoked to not go deeper than we have before. It feels like the
right time to go, 'Hey, man, sorry I'm late, but here we are."'
Reuters/Billboard
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