Post by littleredrooster on Apr 26, 2005 11:24:45 GMT -5
Queens of the stone age
(21-02-05) Trabendo, Paris.
Josh Homme went recently through snow and a bad flu for a performance of pure courage. Before cancelling the rest of the tour, Josh and Lanegan gave to Rock and Folk some exclusive comments.
On the phone, the voice of Josh Homme is as rough as a clandestine plum liqueur distiled in Transylvania. His short breath is not a really good sign a few hours before what all expect as an incendiary stage comeback. In spite of everything Brody Dalle's Lover keeps his usual humour as he recognise us: « How are you sir? Fuck I 'm dead sick and I must see a doctor if I want to play tonight, but lets drink something after the balance. »
At the end of the afternoon, Hutch, the sound guy and road brother of Josh since the Kyuss era, welcomes us insides the Trabendo. Just the time to say hello to the all smile drummer Joey Costello, to have a few words with Dan who will have the challenge to step into the role of Nick Oliveri and here is the big man. Pale and sweating, he proposes immediately to have a drink with Mark Lanegan. Lanegan was not supposed to be part of the tour but he accepted right away when proposed. We also talk about Dan Druff the new bass guitar : "He's monstrous, technically brilliant and humble" says a especially enthusiastic Josh.
The Night of the Hunter.
The QOTSA start violently their show with "Someone's in the wolf", one of the best song of the new album. The end of this intro fells a lot like psychedelic before the chaos strikes back with "If only", an old standard as the bastard's sons of the 'I wanna be your dog' from the Stooges.
"We're going to play a lot of new songs" tells Josh. "So if you don't know just do as if..." before starting "Medication" another new title whose rhythms and sounds are showing the punk roots of the Californian gang. The fuzz get back on top with an epic "Mexicola" and a "No One Knows" so nasty that it reaches unforeseen summit. In spite of his flu, Josh does not hesitate to provoque Troy Van Leeuwen for hardcore guitar face offs while Joey Castillo is close to deslocate his shoulders. Not like Nick, Dan Druff is not naked on the stage but he brings his sense of details and an undeniable groove, not hiding an ideal voice for the chorals. The masters of the desert rock are working on seducing with brutality an audience more and more feminine as years pass with "Little sister", the first hit of "Lullabies to Paralyze" which with its implacable chorus should soon be on every lips. At the end of "Monster in Your Parasol", Mark Lanegan appears finally on stage like Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter. He lends his unique voice to "Burn the Witch", a new massive built hit followed by "Song for The Dead" and "Song for The Deaf". Two songs so intense that they are draining the last energies of an ecstatic crowd. Once "You would Know" and "Avon" done, two of their bucks in the bank hits, the Californians offers th emselves a few minutes of rest. The assault resumes with "Precious and Grace" a revisited version of the 1973 ZZ Top classic. The voice of Mark Lanegan replaces perfectly the one of Bill Gibbons and QOTSA launch their last forces in a "Regular John" almost hysterical. A bit tired at the band passes on a few songs and the group get quickly to their hotel a few steps from the Meurice.
Clean the mess up
On the next day, Josh Homme announce the cancelling of a tv performance on Canal+. As his health is getting worse he fears for his voice. Mark Lanegan proposes to go for lunch and once installed in a tiny restaurant the talk does not take long to focus on Nick Oliveri for who Mark has a particular affection. He doubts that the original beard guy would join the band again. "Josh is not somebody who looks back. I have the luck to be the one he calls back regularly. If Josh goes to far sometimes, Nick really pushed it to far. After the cocaine, he is now on methedrine and God knows how this kind of amphetamine can turn you paranoid. Nick will be a brother forever but he has to come back on earth and clean the mess around him" . A few hours later the QOTSA are at the Man Ray for a nice huge diner. As if to nothing Josh says "I cancelled all remaining dates on the European tour not to screw my voice up. We are going back to Los Angeles where I will be able to rest quietly with my fiancée. In two weeks we start a crazy american tour with some extra instruments, with Alain Johannes and Natasha Schneider from Eleven. Every songs we'll have new instruments, it will be a musical monster orgy"
Cyril Deluermoz (Rock'n'Folk - Mars 2005)
You all should thank France and her friend for the translation.
(21-02-05) Trabendo, Paris.
Josh Homme went recently through snow and a bad flu for a performance of pure courage. Before cancelling the rest of the tour, Josh and Lanegan gave to Rock and Folk some exclusive comments.
On the phone, the voice of Josh Homme is as rough as a clandestine plum liqueur distiled in Transylvania. His short breath is not a really good sign a few hours before what all expect as an incendiary stage comeback. In spite of everything Brody Dalle's Lover keeps his usual humour as he recognise us: « How are you sir? Fuck I 'm dead sick and I must see a doctor if I want to play tonight, but lets drink something after the balance. »
At the end of the afternoon, Hutch, the sound guy and road brother of Josh since the Kyuss era, welcomes us insides the Trabendo. Just the time to say hello to the all smile drummer Joey Costello, to have a few words with Dan who will have the challenge to step into the role of Nick Oliveri and here is the big man. Pale and sweating, he proposes immediately to have a drink with Mark Lanegan. Lanegan was not supposed to be part of the tour but he accepted right away when proposed. We also talk about Dan Druff the new bass guitar : "He's monstrous, technically brilliant and humble" says a especially enthusiastic Josh.
The Night of the Hunter.
The QOTSA start violently their show with "Someone's in the wolf", one of the best song of the new album. The end of this intro fells a lot like psychedelic before the chaos strikes back with "If only", an old standard as the bastard's sons of the 'I wanna be your dog' from the Stooges.
"We're going to play a lot of new songs" tells Josh. "So if you don't know just do as if..." before starting "Medication" another new title whose rhythms and sounds are showing the punk roots of the Californian gang. The fuzz get back on top with an epic "Mexicola" and a "No One Knows" so nasty that it reaches unforeseen summit. In spite of his flu, Josh does not hesitate to provoque Troy Van Leeuwen for hardcore guitar face offs while Joey Castillo is close to deslocate his shoulders. Not like Nick, Dan Druff is not naked on the stage but he brings his sense of details and an undeniable groove, not hiding an ideal voice for the chorals. The masters of the desert rock are working on seducing with brutality an audience more and more feminine as years pass with "Little sister", the first hit of "Lullabies to Paralyze" which with its implacable chorus should soon be on every lips. At the end of "Monster in Your Parasol", Mark Lanegan appears finally on stage like Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter. He lends his unique voice to "Burn the Witch", a new massive built hit followed by "Song for The Dead" and "Song for The Deaf". Two songs so intense that they are draining the last energies of an ecstatic crowd. Once "You would Know" and "Avon" done, two of their bucks in the bank hits, the Californians offers th emselves a few minutes of rest. The assault resumes with "Precious and Grace" a revisited version of the 1973 ZZ Top classic. The voice of Mark Lanegan replaces perfectly the one of Bill Gibbons and QOTSA launch their last forces in a "Regular John" almost hysterical. A bit tired at the band passes on a few songs and the group get quickly to their hotel a few steps from the Meurice.
Clean the mess up
On the next day, Josh Homme announce the cancelling of a tv performance on Canal+. As his health is getting worse he fears for his voice. Mark Lanegan proposes to go for lunch and once installed in a tiny restaurant the talk does not take long to focus on Nick Oliveri for who Mark has a particular affection. He doubts that the original beard guy would join the band again. "Josh is not somebody who looks back. I have the luck to be the one he calls back regularly. If Josh goes to far sometimes, Nick really pushed it to far. After the cocaine, he is now on methedrine and God knows how this kind of amphetamine can turn you paranoid. Nick will be a brother forever but he has to come back on earth and clean the mess around him" . A few hours later the QOTSA are at the Man Ray for a nice huge diner. As if to nothing Josh says "I cancelled all remaining dates on the European tour not to screw my voice up. We are going back to Los Angeles where I will be able to rest quietly with my fiancée. In two weeks we start a crazy american tour with some extra instruments, with Alain Johannes and Natasha Schneider from Eleven. Every songs we'll have new instruments, it will be a musical monster orgy"
Cyril Deluermoz (Rock'n'Folk - Mars 2005)
You all should thank France and her friend for the translation.
