Queens of the Stone Age

As you might have guessed, this blog is due to a recent concert, Queens of the Stone Age, at Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Columbia, Maryland, on July 17, 2014.   QOTSA (as they are commonly referred to) were the headliner for a change.  I had seen them three times before:  in June and September 2002 at the new 9:30 Club (Washington, DC) on the Songs for The Deaf tour, and in September 2008 on the Era Vulgaris tour at the Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore.   By now Nick Oliveri is no longer with the band.

The current lineup is Josh Homme (vocals & guitar), Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar), Dean Fertita (keyboards & guitars), Michael Shuman (bass), and Jon Theodore (drums).  In the past Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) has been on drums, and the inimitable Oliveri was the prior bassist.

They have six studio albums now, self-titled (1998), Rated R (2000), Songs For the Deaf (2002), Lullabies to Paralyze (2005), Era Vulgaris (2007) and …Like Clockwork (2013).   I got into them shortly after Rated R came out, and to date that remains my favorite album.  Somehow it breathes more, it’s less compressed, and it has my favorite songs, including “Better Living Through Chemistry.” 

QOTSA’s musical style can best be described – by me, at least – as a funky variant of Soundgarden.  They have their own style, somewhat twisted lyrics and sense of humor.  It has to be heard to be appreciated – if at all.

It’s funny that I didn’t like Oliveri when he was in the band, but I miss him now that he’s gone.   In his absence the band’s stage presence is simply Homme singing and playing guitar backed by 4 competent nobodies.  There are no gimmicks, lasers, light shows, or anything aside from the band.  Homme’s intersong banter is arrogant and nasty, but at least coherent.

QOTSA has a connection with the following three groups, which merit mention herein, as follows:

Kyuss.   Any discussion of QOTSA should include Kyuss.  This was one of the first “stoner rock” bands, active between 1987 and 1997, with a revolving lineup.  John Garcia (vocals), Homme, Oliveri, and Brant Bjork (drums) are the most important members.  They made 4 albums before breaking up, but they’ve reformed recently around Garcia, Bjork and Oliveri as Kyuss Lives.   Apparently Homme still has the rights to Kyuss, so Garcia then renamed the group Vista Chino.  I don’t find the Homme-less material as good as what they did with him.  We actually saw Kyuss in 1995, opening for White Zombie at Merriweather, but I can’t remember that set.  I made up for that by seeing Kyuss Lives in 2011. 

Masters of Reality.   Founder and main member Chris Goss has a close relationship with Homme and Kyuss.  He produced the Kyuss albums and the first two QOTSA albums, including Rated R.  While it may be a stretch to call him “the godfather of stoner rock” (as some do), he undeniably has a major role in the genre.  This band’s material is also good, though I’ve yet to collect all of it.

Them Crooked Vultures.  This was a short-lived “supergroup” of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones (yes, the Led Zeppelin bassist/keyboardist), with one self-titled album (2009) and a brief tour I couldn’t catch.  The band they sound closest to is (drumroll, please) QOTSA.  

Supergroups

These are groups comprised of members who are already well-known from other bands.  I’ll start with the most recent and work backwards.

 Them Crooked Vultures.  Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) (guitar, vocals), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and briefly in QOTSA), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) (bass/keyboards).  To be honest, I can’t tell JPJ’s bass playing from anyone else’s.  To my ears – and I’m a big QOTSA fan – this sounds 80% like QOTSA and not at all like Led Zeppelin.  To me, though, that’s a good thing, although I do like Led Zeppelin as much as I like QOTSA.

            I’ve read several interviews with Jimmy Page, and to hear him talk, I get the impression that Page and Plant were not really good friends with Jones, although they liked Bonham.  Also reading Hammer of the Gods, Jones seems like the odd one out.  There seems to be a disconnect, like Jones’ competence and skill were beyond dispute, but he was simply “that guy” who played bass and keyboards for them, punching a clock.  Yet Homme and Grohl seem to have genuine affection for him, like they realize “this guy is very underrated and gets a raw deal.”  Given that Plant nixed a Zep reunion to tour with Alison Krause – Page and Jones were willing – I’d say Plant is very full of himself.  Anyhow, good to see that Jones’ skills are not going to waste simply due to Plant’s misguided ego.

 Chickenfoot.  Sammy Hagar (solo, Montrose and Van Halen) (vocals), Joe Satriani (solo)(guitar), Michael Anthony (Van Halen)(bass), and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers)(drums).  I was surprised, this wasn’t an AOR wuss-out effort, but is actually pretty damn hard, even sounding somewhat like AC/DC.  The name is a takeoff on the logo, which is the peace symbol, a rare departure from the usual sexual innuendo names.

 The Company Band.  Neil Fallon (Clutch)(vocals), James Rota (Fireball Ministry)(vocals), Dave Bone (guitar), Brad Davis (Fu Manchu)(bass), and Jess Margera (CKY)(drums).  They have an EP, Sign Here, Here and Here, and a self-titled full-length album.  The cover of the EP looks like a corporate report, while the album cover looks like an old-fashioned stock certificate.  It mostly sounds like Clutch but a bit weirder and funkier.

 Down.  Phil Anselmo (Pantera)(vocals), Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity)(guitar), Kirk Windstein (Crowbar)(guitar), originally Todd Strange (Crowbar)(bass), now Rex Brown (Pantera)(bass), and Jimmy Bower (Eyehategod)(drums).  They have several albums, NOLA (as in, New Orleans & L.A.), Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, and Down III: Over the Under.  I think of them as a merger of Pantera and COC, and in this case Anselmo tones down his vocals to something closer to James Hetfield than Tom Araya.  It’s like nasty, gritty, rusty, swampy rock, like Lynyrd Skynyrd on bad acid.   

 Damn Yankees.  Ted Nugent (solo), Jack Blades (Night Ranger)(bass), Tommy Shaw (Styx)(vocals, rhythm guitar), and Michael Cartellone.  This was fairly AOR commercial rock, not too bad.  Some of the material on Nugent’s Craveman album had credits to Blades & Shaw, as it came from the never-released second DY album.  Nugent joked that it had been produced by a “gay bandito, and I promised to kill him and his whole family if that turd saw the light of day.” 

 Mr. Big.  Eric Martin (vocals), Paul Gilbert (guitar), Billy Sheehan (bass), and Pat Torpey (drums).  To me, Sheehan’s major contribution was to David Lee Roth’s solo album Eat ‘Em and Smile (remember “Yankee Rose”?), and Paul Gilbert was another popular shredder (Racer X).  I have no idea where Martin and Torpey came from.  This was very much like Damn Yankees, fairly light and fluffy AOR material.  I got this album at the same time as King’s X, Gretchen Goes To Nebraska, expecting to feel blah about King’s X and love Mr. Big, but it was the other way around.

 Asia.  John Wetton (King Crimson, Wishbone Ash, Family)(bass), Steve Howe (Yes)(guitar), Geoff Dowenes (Keyboard), and Carl Palmer (ELP)(drummer).  They were big when I was in high school (80s) but I never cared for them.  By this point I think of Wetton as part of King Crimson’s best lineup, which recorded Larks Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Red.  Bill Bruford, as equally part of Yes as Crimson, recently retired, and remarked that if he really wanted to make some cash, he’d call up Robert Fripp to do a tour playing Larks Tongues and Red in their entirety.

 Blind Faith.  Steve Winwood (Traffic, Spencer Davis Group)(vocals, keyboards), Eric Clapton (Yardbirds, Cream, solo)(guitar), Rich Graech (Family)(bass) and Ginger Baker (Cream, drums).  They have one album, with two major songs, “Can’t Find My Way Home” and “In the Presence of the Lord”.  I’m not a big fan of Clapton or Winwood, so this combo hardly lights my fire.  Nor does the famous album cover with the naked underage chick and the toy plane.  I prefer Roxy Music…

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (+ CSN).  Each member was already famous from previous bands when they joined forces, so this qualifies, but I never liked them very much.