Biography
The origins of Queens of the Stone Age’s fluid roster trace back to the related Desert Sessions venture. As early as the 1980s, guitarist Josh Homme and his circle staged impromptu “generator parties” in a remote stretch of California’s Palm Desert, where live music for friends was powered by portable generators. After departing Kyuss and prior to assembling Queens, Homme revived the gatherings, this time capturing the results under the Desert Sessions banner while drawing in a shifting roster of hard-rock figures. Six volumes appeared at a rapid clip across 1998–1999 on the independent imprint Man’s Ruin, incorporating contributions from Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden, Hater, Wellwater Conspiracy), John McBain (Monster Magnet, Wellwater Conspiracy), Fred Drake (Earthlings), Brant Bjork (Kyuss, Fu Manchu), Alfredo Hernandez (Kyuss), Dave Catching (Earthlings), Chris Goss (Masters of Reality), Pete Stahl (Wool, Earthlings), and additional participants. Early releases were issued both on CD, with each disc pairing two volumes, and as double 10-inch vinyl pressings. Following the demise of Man’s Ruin and Homme’s formation of Queens of the Stone Age alongside former Kyuss colleague and Desert Sessions contributor Nick Oliveri, the series entered a temporary hiatus. Southern Lord soon resumed the project with Vols. 7 & 8, enlisting Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), Samantha Maloney (Hole, Mötley Crüe), and Alain Johannes (Eleven, Chris Cornell) alongside Homme. The breakthrough success of Queens of the Stone Age’s 2002 album Songs for the Deaf subsequently drew fresh attention to the Desert Sessions catalog. Vols. 9 & 10 surfaced in 2003 on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label, featuring Dean Ween (Ween), Josh Freese (the Vandals), PJ Harvey, Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson), Joey Castillo (Danzig, QOTSA), Natasha Shneider (Eleven), Troy Van Leeuwen (A Perfect Circle, QOTSA), and others. Several tracks that first appeared on Desert Sessions releases, including “Millionaire,” “Avon,” and “Hanging Tree,” later resurfaced in new studio versions on Queens albums. After a sixteen-year pause, Homme reactivated the series in 2019 with Vols. 11 & 12, joined on that occasion by Billy Gibbons, Jake Shears, Mike Kerr, and Les Claypool.
Albums
