Photo by Nora Lezano
If you weren’t paying attention to Josh Homme in the years between his fifth record, Era Vulgaris, with Queens of the Stone Age and the release of ...Like Clockwork last year—that awkward period where Homme did a bunch of side projects—then you missed out. Homme is a master of rock and roll, and he pretty much makes everything terrifically badass.
There were about six years where no one really heard anything about QOTSA. Homme was working on Eagles of Death Metal and then Them Crooked Vultures—his other passions. Where Jack White has become almost obscure, Homme has picked up the reins as the epitome of a rock and roller in the past decade. He even hung out with the rock and roller of food, Anthony Bourdain, a few times in the desert he inhabits.
...Like Clockwork is a shift in QOTSA’s music towards more of a psychedelic, hard-hitting version of the desert rock that the band has previously made. All of the earlier desert rock elements are still there, but there are certainly a few tinges of what Homme must have learned from John Paul Jones while playing together in Them Crooked Vultures. QOTSA are making what could be considered stadium rock, but they’re somehow capturing the old blues intonations and classic builds of rock and roll’s past.
The main thing QOTSA and Homme haven’t lost is the diversity. Their songs range from somber love ballads to loud, angry jams. Get over your fears of what some call “alternative rock” or “radio rock” because QOTSA have long dropped those labels. It’s just good rock and roll, and not many people can pull it off these days.
And Queens of the Stone Age will be doing just that at the Keller Auditorium on Tuesday, April 15.
