Biography
Lifelong friends Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme first joined forces on Eagles of Death Metal, an outfit that began as an informal side project before maturing into a complete ensemble defined by its heavy riffs and irreverent character. Although the group’s name suggests otherwise, its sound fuses high-energy garage rock, boogie rock, and hard rock while incorporating touches of glam rock, blues rock, and swamp rock. The 2004 debut Peace Love Death Metal, captured in rapid fashion, showcased the duo’s rawest material, whereas later releases such as 2008’s Heart On and 2015’s Zipper Down adopted a more refined yet still irreverent stance. After the 2015 terrorist attack at Paris’ La Bataclan that claimed 89 lives during one of their concerts, the band continued forward; their 2019 covers collection Eagles Of Death Metal Presents Boots Electric Performing The Best Songs We Never Wrote highlighted the tracks that comforted Hughes following the tragedy.
Hughes was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and relocated to Palm Desert, California, at the age of seven, where he soon met and befriended Homme. The two formed a close bond as teenagers while playing on the same local soccer team, yet pursued different paths after high school: Homme established Kyuss and later founded 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 classmate, then struggling 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 several tracks on Vols. 3-4 of Homme’s Desert Sessions series in 1998. The new act was nevertheless set aside while Homme launched Queens of the Stone Age alongside another mutual high-school acquaintance, bassist Nick Oliveri.
Once QOTSA achieved recognition with 1998’s Queens of the Stone Age, 2000’s R, and 2002’s Songs for the Deaf, Hughes and Homme revived Eagles of Death Metal as a sustained undertaking rather than a fleeting diversion. They reconvened in 2003 and tracked three days of material, often preserving songs on the initial take. Homme wore an Eagles of Death Metal T-shirt during QOTSA’s Lollapalooza dates that summer, and an early preview, “I Only Want You,” surfaced online. During a subsequent break from QOTSA commitments, Homme and Hughes, accompanied by guitarist Timmy VanHamel, embarked on the Eagles’ inaugural tour as openers for Placebo in late November and early December. Their first full-length, Peace Love Death Metal, emerged in March 2004 through Homme’s Rekords Rekords imprint and AntAcidAudio, a sister label to 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. After 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, issued in October 2008, displayed greater polish while retaining its gritty edge.
Following the Heart On touring cycle, the band entered a prolonged hiatus. Homme devoted time to Queens of the Stone Age and to Them Crooked Vultures, a power trio completed by Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. In the meantime, Hughes issued his first album under the Boots Electric moniker, Honkey Kong. Featuring contributions from Homme, Castillo, Money Mark, and Juliette Lewis, the record surfaced in September 2011. Hughes also became an ordained minister with the Universal One Church in 2012 and appeared 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 examined the creation of Eagles of Death Metal’s fourth album, Zipper Down. Released in October, the set featured reworked tracks 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 renowned Paris venue La Bataclan when terrorists struck the club, killing 89 attendees, including the band’s merch seller. The members escaped and canceled the remainder of their European dates. Charity initiatives benefiting victims and survivors drew proceeds from sales of their Duran Duran cover “Save a Prayer” and their original song “I Love You All the Time.” The group returned to Paris a month later in December to perform with U2, confirming the resumption of their European tour and offering free entry to the Paris show 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, which appeared in August 2017. The following year, Eagles of Death Metal composed music for the film Super Troopers 2, while Hughes released the limited-edition covers album The Eagles of Death Metal Presents Pigeons of Shit Metal, a title referencing Axl Rose’s description of the band before removing them from the opening slot on 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, presenting renditions of songs by Mary J. Blige, David Bowie, Kenny Rogers, and additional artists that aided him in overcoming depression after the Paris terrorist attack.
Hughes was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and relocated to Palm Desert, California, at the age of seven, where he soon met and befriended Homme. The two formed a close bond as teenagers while playing on the same local soccer team, yet pursued different paths after high school: Homme established Kyuss and later founded 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 classmate, then struggling 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 several tracks on Vols. 3-4 of Homme’s Desert Sessions series in 1998. The new act was nevertheless set aside while Homme launched Queens of the Stone Age alongside another mutual high-school acquaintance, bassist Nick Oliveri.
Once QOTSA achieved recognition with 1998’s Queens of the Stone Age, 2000’s R, and 2002’s Songs for the Deaf, Hughes and Homme revived Eagles of Death Metal as a sustained undertaking rather than a fleeting diversion. They reconvened in 2003 and tracked three days of material, often preserving songs on the initial take. Homme wore an Eagles of Death Metal T-shirt during QOTSA’s Lollapalooza dates that summer, and an early preview, “I Only Want You,” surfaced online. During a subsequent break from QOTSA commitments, Homme and Hughes, accompanied by guitarist Timmy VanHamel, embarked on the Eagles’ inaugural tour as openers for Placebo in late November and early December. Their first full-length, Peace Love Death Metal, emerged in March 2004 through Homme’s Rekords Rekords imprint and AntAcidAudio, a sister label to 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. After 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, issued in October 2008, displayed greater polish while retaining its gritty edge.
Following the Heart On touring cycle, the band entered a prolonged hiatus. Homme devoted time to Queens of the Stone Age and to Them Crooked Vultures, a power trio completed by Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. In the meantime, Hughes issued his first album under the Boots Electric moniker, Honkey Kong. Featuring contributions from Homme, Castillo, Money Mark, and Juliette Lewis, the record surfaced in September 2011. Hughes also became an ordained minister with the Universal One Church in 2012 and appeared 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 examined the creation of Eagles of Death Metal’s fourth album, Zipper Down. Released in October, the set featured reworked tracks 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 renowned Paris venue La Bataclan when terrorists struck the club, killing 89 attendees, including the band’s merch seller. The members escaped and canceled the remainder of their European dates. Charity initiatives benefiting victims and survivors drew proceeds from sales of their Duran Duran cover “Save a Prayer” and their original song “I Love You All the Time.” The group returned to Paris a month later in December to perform with U2, confirming the resumption of their European tour and offering free entry to the Paris show 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, which appeared in August 2017. The following year, Eagles of Death Metal composed music for the film Super Troopers 2, while Hughes released the limited-edition covers album The Eagles of Death Metal Presents Pigeons of Shit Metal, a title referencing Axl Rose’s description of the band before removing them from the opening slot on 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, presenting renditions of songs by Mary J. Blige, David Bowie, Kenny Rogers, and additional artists that aided him in overcoming depression after the Paris terrorist attack.