Queens Of The Stone Age

Emerging from the stoner rock underground during the 1990s, Queens of the Stone Age rose to become one of the foremost heavy rock outfits of the twenty-first century, with the 2000 appearance of their major-label debut Rated R igniting that evolution. Steeped in hazy chemical indulgence, the record displayed the band’s knack for blending dense, gritty guitars with fluid psychedelia, a sound perfectly attuned to the arid terrain frontman Josh Homme regarded as home. Across subsequent years Homme stayed the sole unchanging presence amid the group’s shifting roster, steadying the unit while musicians and collaborators rotated through both studio and live settings. Dave Grohl’s stint on drums for 2002’s Songs for the Deaf broadened the band’s reach across America and situated them at the leading edge of hard rock. The lineup coalesced around the 2013 album …Like Clockwork, a release that restored the band to indie standing while delivering their initial number-one placement on the Billboard charts. Homme kept that same five-piece intact for the Mark Ronson-produced Villains and for In Times New Roman…, the 2023 album in which the group uncovered fresh sonic hues and textures inside their established range.

Queens of the Stone Age traces its origins to Kyuss, the stoner rock ensemble Josh Homme fronted in the early 1990s. Following Kyuss’s 1995 dissolution, Homme worked as a touring guitarist with Screaming Trees before forming a new project initially called Gamma Ray. An EP bearing that name surfaced in 1996, yet legal pressure from a German metal act also named Gamma Ray forced a change. Adopting a moniker suggested by producer Chris Goss, Homme introduced Queens of the Stone Age on the 1997 Roadrunner compilation Burn One Up! Music for Stoners. Later that year the split EP Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, pairing archival Kyuss tracks with fresh Queens material, formalized the handover between Homme’s two bands.

Homme and Joe Barresi jointly produced the self-titled 1998 debut, issued on Loosegroove, the independent label operated by Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Regan Hagar. With Alfredo Hernandez handling drums, Homme performed every guitar part plus most bass and keyboard duties, though he soon assembled a touring version of QOTSA that incorporated former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri and guitarist Dave Catching; the latter had already appeared on the first volume of Homme’s Desert Sessions collaborative series, released in 1997. This configuration proved unstable. By the sessions for the major-label debut Rated R, Hernandez had departed, leaving Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann to divide drumming responsibilities.

Co-produced by Homme and Goss and released through Interscope, Rated R swiftly expanded the band’s audience. “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” reached the U.K. Top 40. Festival appearances at Ozzfest alongside Foo Fighters and Hole increased visibility, while Oliveri’s arrest for performing nude at the 2001 Rock in Rio Festival generated further attention. The resulting momentum led Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl to join QOTSA temporarily for 2002’s Songs for the Deaf and its supporting tour, which featured Homme, Oliveri, Grohl, ex-Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, and A Perfect Circle guitarist/keyboardist Troy Van Leeuwen. Powered by the singles “No One Knows” and “Go with the Flow,” Songs for the Deaf elevated Queens of the Stone Age among leading modern rock acts and supplied a heavy, psychedelic counterpoint to the neo-garage rock prevailing in the early 2000s.

After the tour concluded, Grohl returned to Foo Fighters; Joey Castillo, previously of Danzig, took the drum chair. Capitalizing on QOTSA’s profile, Homme pursued outside work that included contributions to two Mark Lanegan albums and the formation of Eagles of Death Metal with Jesse Hughes, whose debut Peace, Love, Death Metal appeared in 2004. When Queens reconvened for the follow-up to Songs for the Deaf, Nick Oliveri was no longer present, having been dismissed over personal matters. With Alain Johannes filling the bass role, the band completed Lullabies to Paralyze, which included guest spots from ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and Shirley Manson. Issued in March 2005 after the single “Little Sister,” the album was supported by a tour that occasionally featured Lanegan in his final onstage appearances with the group.

Chris Goss rejoined Homme to co-produce 2007’s Era Vulgaris. Featuring fewer outside contributors than earlier efforts—Julian Casablancas of the Strokes appeared on the single “Sick, Sick, Sick,” while Lanegan supplied vocals on one track—the album arrived in June 2007 and fulfilled the band’s Interscope contract. A subsequent tour introduced bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist Dean Fertita, both of whom became permanent members. The band then entered a period of inactivity while Homme focused on other ventures, most notably Them Crooked Vultures, the power trio completed by Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones that released a self-titled album in 2009. A deluxe reissue of Rated R followed in 2010, and in 2011 the group reissued its scarce debut album with a short accompanying tour.

Recording for a new album began in 2012, during which Jon Theodore replaced drummer Joey Castillo. The sessions brought Grohl back into the fold and also accommodated Mark Lanegan, Trent Reznor, Alex Turner, Jake Shears, and Elton John, plus Nick Oliveri’s first appearance on a Queens album in ten years. With the finished record, Queens of the Stone Age signed to Matador in 2013; …Like Clockwork, released that June, topped the Billboard 200 along with the Alternative, Digital, Hard Rock, Independent, and Top Rock charts. Supported by singles “My God Is the Sun” and “I Sat by the Ocean,” the album marked a commercial peak. Afterward Homme and various Queens members contributed to the Sound City documentary and joined Iggy Pop for the 2016 album and tour of Post Pop Depression. For the seventh album, Villains, the band worked again with Mark Ronson and welcomed guests Nikka Costa and Matt Sweeney. Led by the singles “The Way You Used to Do” and “The Evil Has Landed,” Villains debuted at number three on the Billboard charts following its August 2017 release.

Following the Villains tour, Queens of the Stone Age entered an extended hiatus before resurfacing in June 2023 with In Times New Roman…, their third Matador release. The album was the first produced entirely by the band and contained no guest appearances. It earned Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song for “Emotion Sickness.”