Queens of the Stone Age

“We are unpredictable - we don’t follow conventions.”

On the eve of their live Belfast bow at the start of February, long time Queens Of The Stone Age axeman Troy Van Leeuwen explains the band’s recent ‘bump in the road’ and assures us the future is rosy for the world’s last great rock’n’roll band.


All, it would seem, is not well within the Queens Of The Stone Age camp. Literally and figuratively. As we catch up with them, they’re finishing off a UK tour with criminally under-rated goth-punks, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, and amid the celebrations AU senses a darker edge to proceedings. A week previously, our scheduled interview was cancelled (along with all the band’s UK promo and a gig in Newcastle) as Queens’ head honcho Josh Homme was hospitalised with a severe chest infection. Add to that the recent news that the band are unhappy with their American record company Intersope, and the fact that recent album ‘Era Vulgaris’ left some old-school QOTSA fans a little underwhelmed and you begin to worry for the future of the band.

“Everything’s amazing in the band, trust me,” says stalwart guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Troy Van Leeuwen, who is, by his own admission, a little merry on wine. “Every band hits bumps in the road and you just have to get over them. We’re really looking forward to some time off before Christmas before we head back out and tear people a new one.”

One reason why Queens have been hit ‘a bump in the road’ is largely due to the fall-out after the mega-selling ‘Songs For The Deaf.’ Once the campaign for that record ended, everything seemed to fall apart for the band. First, there was the divisive and still relatively shrouded in secrecy firing of their bald, berserker bassist Nick Oliveri. Then there was the matter of Homme hooking up (and marrying) ex- Distillers’ frontwoman Brody Dalle once she split with Rancid singer Tim Armstrong and of course the real clincher in the whole saga - the band’s refusal to make ‘Songs For The Deaf Pt. II’. Instead, QOTSA followed their mainstream breakthrough with the utterly nihilistic ‘Lullabies To Paralyse’; a record full of overly long, brooding songs which didn’t sit too well with some of their newer fans.

“I’m still really proud of ‘Lullabies’,” offers Troy. “We put everything into that album and we didn’t back down from anyone. It would’ve been easy to come out with a more radio-friendly album to cash in on our success but that’s just not how we do our business. The last track on the album, ‘Long Slow Goodbye’ is still one of the songs I’m most proud of in my career. I think it’s amazing.”

But for all Troy’s bravado, in sales terms, ‘Lullabies…’ was a bit of a misfire. Admittedly it featured some bona fide classics in ‘Burn The Witch’ and ‘Everyone Knows That You’re Insane’ but on the whole it was a misunderstood record and many missed the urgency and punk rock vibe that former Kyuss’, Dwarves’ and Queens’ four-stringer Oliveri brought to the table.

“We’ve never had a regular line-up and I guess we never will,” says Troy. “I think that’s why we’re exciting and why people love us. Queens Of The Stone Age are unpredictable and we don’t follow conventions or clichés. Every album is different and that’s because it has so many different musicians collaborating with us.”

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Issue #51 - I Told You This Would Be A Good Issue

Featuring Biffy Clyro, Of Montreal, Duke Special, Frightened Rabbit, Cold War Kids, Jay Reatard, Pat Mills, and more.