Eagles Of Death Metal

Lifelong companions Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme formed Eagles of Death Metal, which started as an occasional diversion before maturing into a complete ensemble defined by its guitar-centric, wryly humorous character. Even though the group’s title implies something different, the music fuses high-energy garage rock, boogie rock, and hard rock while folding in touches of glam rock, blues rock, and swamp rock. The 2004 debut Peace Love Death Metal, captured in haste, presented the pair’s material in its rawest state, whereas Heart On from 2008 and Zipper Down from 2015 pursued a sleeker yet still audacious direction. After the 2015 terrorist attack during their concert at Paris’ La Bataclan that claimed 89 lives, Eagles of Death Metal carried on, issuing the 2019 covers set Eagles Of Death Metal Presents Boots Electric Performing The Best Songs We Never Wrote, an album drawn from songs that had comforted Hughes in the attack’s aftermath.

Hughes, born in Greenville, South Carolina, relocated to Palm Desert, California at the age of seven and soon met Homme. The two became close as teenagers playing on the same local soccer squad, yet pursued separate paths after high school: Homme launched Kyuss and later Queens of the Stone Age, while Hughes enrolled at the University of South Carolina and worked as a journalist. Several years afterward, Homme persuaded his former friend, then despondent after a divorce, to begin playing music together, with Homme on drums and Hughes handling guitar and vocals. Eagles of Death Metal materialized shortly thereafter, first appearing with a handful of tracks on Vols. 3-4 of Homme’s Desert Sessions series in 1998. The project was nevertheless shelved while Homme concentrated on establishing Queens of the Stone Age alongside another high-school acquaintance of both men, bassist Nick Oliveri.

Once QOTSA achieved success with Queens of the Stone Age in 1998, R in 2000, and Songs for the Deaf in 2002, Hughes and Homme revived Eagles of Death Metal as more than a fleeting experiment. They reconvened in 2003 and tracked three days of material, often preserving the initial take. Homme wore an Eagles of Death Metal T-shirt throughout QOTSA’s Lollapalooza touring that summer, and an early preview of “I Only Want You” surfaced online. During a break from Queens of the Stone Age commitments, Homme and Hughes, accompanied by guitarist Timmy VanHamel, embarked on Eagles of Death Metal’s inaugural tour as openers for Placebo in late November and early December. Their first full-length, Peace Love Death Metal, reached stores in March 2004 through Homme’s Rekords Rekords imprint and AntAcidAudio, a sister label of Mike Patton’s Ipecac Records. The band subsequently supported the Distillers on their European dates. Hughes and Homme regrouped in fall 2005 to record the second Eagles of Death Metal album. With assistance from Jack Black, Brody Dalle, Mark Lanegan, and QOTSA’s Joey Castillo, they completed Death by Sexy in eight days. Following a short U.K. run late that year, the group toured with the Strokes in spring 2006 ahead of Death by Sexy’s April release. Heart On arrived in October 2008, displaying greater refinement while retaining a gritty edge.

After completing the touring cycle for Heart On, the band entered a prolonged hiatus. Homme focused on Queens of the Stone Age and on Them Crooked Vultures, a power trio that also included Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Meanwhile Hughes issued his first album under the Boots Electric moniker, Honkey Kong, which featured contributions from Homme, Castillo, Money Mark, and Juliette Lewis and appeared in September 2011. Hughes was ordained as a minister through the Universal One Church in 2012 and performed in Björn Tagemose’s 2015 silent film Gutterdämmerung alongside Henry Rollins, Grace Jones, and Iggy Pop. That same year, the Vice documentary The Redemption of the Devil chronicled the creation of Eagles of Death Metal’s fourth album, Zipper Down. Released in October, the record contained reworked material from Honkey Kong plus a cover of Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer.”

One month after Zipper Down’s arrival, Eagles of Death Metal (without Homme) were onstage at the historic Paris venue La Bataclan when terrorists struck the club, killing 89 attendees including the band’s merch seller. The members escaped and canceled the rest of their European dates. Fundraising efforts benefiting victims and survivors drew proceeds from sales of their Duran Duran cover “Save a Prayer” and their own track “I Love You All the Time.” The group returned to Paris a month later in December to perform with U2, confirming plans to resume their European tour and offering free entry to the Paris concert for all Bataclan survivors. Another Paris performance from February 2016 was documented as I Love You All the Time: Live at the Olympia in Paris, issued in August 2017. The following year Eagles of Death Metal composed the score for the film Super Troopers 2, while Hughes released the limited-edition covers collection The Eagles of Death Metal Presents Pigeons of Shit Metal, a title referencing Axl Rose’s remark before removing the band from the opening slot of Guns N’ Roses’ 2006 tour. Hughes revised the project for June 2019’s The Eagles Of Death Metal Presents Boots Electric Performing The Best Songs We Never Wrote, which included renditions of songs by Mary J. Blige, David Bowie, Kenny Rogers, and additional artists whose work had helped him manage his depression after the Paris terrorist attack.