Josh Homme

Josh Homme
Homme in 2017.
Background information
Birth Name	Joshua Michael Homme III
Alias	Carlo Von Sexron, Baby Duck, J.Ho
Born	17 May 1973 - Joshua Tree, California, United States
Occupation	Musician, Producer
Genres	Stoner Rock, Desert Rock, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, drums, synthesizers, lap steel, pedal steel, banjo, organ, percussion
Years active	1985 - present
Labels	Dali, Elektra, Roadrunner, Bongload, Loosegroove, Interscope, Ipecac, Matador, Beggars Banquet, Man's Ruin Records, Rekords Rekords, Southern Lord Records
Associated acts	Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Mondo Generator, The Desert Sessions, Masters of Reality, Them Crooked Vultures, Eagles of Death Metal, Screaming Trees, Foo Fighters
Website	Official Instagram

Joshua Michael Homme, better known simply as Josh Homme, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the founder, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he formed in 1996 and in which he sings lead vocals and plays guitar, as well as occasionally playing bass, piano, and drums. Along with his ongoing tenure in QotSA he is also best known as a founding member of the pioneering desert rock band Kyuss, whom were active between 1987 and 1995.

Along with his two most notable bands Homme has been involved with several other projects such as a musical improv series with other musicians (mostly from the Palm Desert Scene) known as The Desert Sessions since 1997. He also co-founded the rock band Eagles of Death Metal in 1998, playing drums and bass guitar for their studio recordings and occasionally performing live with them. He formed a new project in 2009 called Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones, releasing their self-titled debut album later that year which would later win Homme and the band a Grammy Award.

Since his start in 1985 Homme has contributed to four studio albums by Kyuss, seven albums with Queens of The Stone Age, four studio albums with Eagles of Death Metal and twelve extended plays with The Desert Sessions alongside collaborations with the likes of Iggy Pop (Specifically 2016's Post Pop Depression), Masters of Reality, Mondo Generator, Mastodon, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys and Run The Jewels among other acts and solo contributions.

Biography

Early Life

Joshua Michael Homme was born in Joshua Tree, California, on 17 May 1973, the son of Irene and Michael Homme. His father was a private general contractor who built houses around the Coachella Valley. Homme has an older brother named Jason. He grew up in a well-known family in and around Palm Desert, California. His paternal grandfather, Clancy "Cap" Homme, moved to the area from North Dakota and was an early settler of the Valley. Cap has a private street named after him in Rancho Mirage, marking the original road to the Homme ranch, as well as a park named after him in an exclusive enclave of the Valley. Homme moved with his family on a regular basis due to his father's work, residing in many towns around the Valley.

In 2011, Homme discussed having to "create [his] own fun" as a child growing up in the desert, stating that he did not start playing music to "get girls or make money" and that he assumed he would grow up to be a contractor like his father. He also has ties in Idaho and has talked about his formative experiences there, such as seeing Carl Perkins perform at the Sandpoint Music Festival and the first time purchasing his own electric guitar (an Ovation Ultra GP) in a Sandpoint music store. Homme began playing guitar at the age of nine, after his parents denied his wishes for a drum kit. He took guitar lessons for the next few years but his teacher mostly focused on polka, so he supposedly did not learn of a barre chord or a pick until his third year of lessons, lending to his unique playing style. He joined his first band, Autocracy, in 1985 at the age of 12. Despite his musical success, he continued to work on his grandfather's farm until releasing the first Queens of the Stone Age album at the age of 25, because he "didn't want to lose [his] grip on reality".

Kyuss (1987 - 1995)

• For more details feel free to view the Riffipedia page on Kyuss.

Homme performing with Kyuss.

The band formed in 1987 jamming under the name Katzenjammer (German archaic slangword for "Hangover") before eventually deciding upon Sons of Kyuss. Brant Bjork selected the name from the undead monster found in the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game book Fiend Folio. In 1989 the band recorded their eponymous debut EP, Sons of Kyuss, which was their only release to feature Chris Cockrell on bass. After self-releasing the EP in 1990 (This EP would be reissued in 2009 and 2015) the band recruited Nick Oliveri – who had previously played second guitar in Katzenjammer – to replace Cockrell on bass, and shortened their name to Kyuss.

Kyuss' first line-up consisted of vocalist John Garcia, guitarist Joshua Homme, bassist Nick Oliveri and drummer Brant Bjork. The band gradually built a local following in Palm Desert, California and frequently performed at parties in and around the isolated towns of Southern California's desert areas. These impromptu and predominantly outdoor shows, referred to locally as "generator parties", consisted of small crowds of people, beer drinking, and the use of gasoline-powered generators to provide electricity for the equipment. Homme commented that playing in the desert "was the shaping factor for the band" noting that "there's no clubs here, so you can only play for free. If people don't like you, they'll tell you. You can't suck."

The band then signed with independent record label Dali Records, who released their debut album, Wretch, in September 1991, with the band touring alongside The Dwarves to support it. Several songs on the album were re-recorded versions of those that appeared on the Sons of Kyuss EP. Album sales were sluggish, though the band was quickly making a name for itself as a live act. Guitarist Josh Homme soon gained a reputation for his unique downtuned, psychedelic style of guitar playing, and his convention of playing electric guitars through bass guitar amplifiers to create a bass-heavy sound.

In 1992, the band, along with new producer Chris Goss, began work on their next album, Blues for the Red Sun. Goss understood the band, and was able to accurately capture their live sound in the studio. Released on 30 June that year, the album was critically hailed and is today widely regarded as a pioneering stoner rock record. The band did a full tour of the United States in support of the album and toured the US again in early 1993. A couple months later they were invited to open nine dates for Metallica touring Australia. Comparisons to stoner rock godfathers Black Sabbath became common, though Homme claimed to have little knowledge of the band at the time but Bjork asserted he and Oliveri were hugely influenced by the British group. Homme often dismissed terms like "stoner rock" and the comparisons to Sabbath, citing his punk rock roots.

The band then soon found themselves signed with major label Elektra Records after Dali Records hit financial problems and was bought by Elektra. On 28 June 1994 after nearly a year of delays, they would release their first major label album, self-titled Kyuss. Originally intended to be titled Pools Of Mercury, the album commonly came to be known among fans as Welcome to Sky Valley. Between record company and bandmember shuffling it would take a whole year for the album recorded in 1993 to be released. Once again produced by Chris Goss, it received critical acclaim and musically demonstrated a much more psychedelic and mature sound. On 11 July 1995, they released their fourth and final album ...And The Circus Leaves Town with the band touring Europe twice along with the United States in 1995 to support it. A video was made for "One Inch Man", the album's only official single. The album was not as successful commercially as Sky Valley, receiving many lukewarm reviews. Within 3 months of the release, Kyuss decided to disband on 1 October 1995, with their last known show being on 9 September 1995 at Festa dell'Unità in Reggio nell'Emilia, Italy.

After the band's breakup in 1995, there had been frequent and persistent speculation among fans regarding the possibility of a Kyuss reunion. When asked in late 2004 about whether the band would ever re-unite, Homme replied that this was unlikely to happen in the near future. However on 20 December 2005, Garcia made a guest appearance onstage with Queens of the Stone Age during their encore at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles. They performed three Kyuss songs together: "Thumb", "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop". For years Homme had been disinterested in a reunion:

“	The offers come in all the time. They're getting more and more expensive, and more and more elaborate. The money is crazy, but I've never been tempted – I don't really care about the money, I never have. That's not what KYUSS was about, so to punctuate the end of our sentence with that would be blasphemy. KYUSS fans are so fuckin' rad, they're fuckin' badass — but to me, reunions are just not necessary. It's not what it was, it's what it is, and KYUSS was a really magical thing — and if you weren't there, well, you weren't. That's just the luck of the draw. I don't feel the urge to do it for somebody who didn't have the opportunity to see us, or just didn't take the opportunity to see us. I'll let other bands alter their great legacies. KYUSS has such a great history that it would be a total error. I like that nobody saw KYUSS, and that it was largely misunderstood. That sounds like a legend forming to me. I'm too proud of it to rub my dick on it.	”
	— Josh Homme, Joel McIver, May 2007

In November 2010 following reuniting at Hellfest as part of the Garcia Plays Kyuss tour, Garcia, Oliveri and Bjork announced plans to tour under the moniker Kyuss Lives! with guitarist Bruno Fevery. In reference to the new band name, Garcia stated that "there is never going to be a Kyuss without Josh Homme" and that "hopefully in the future him and I can get together and do some writing." The band went on to tour Europe, Australasia and the United States. and North and South America. The band then announced plans to record a new studio album for a summer 2012 release in addition to a live album. However in March 2012 it was revealed that Josh Homme (along with Scott Reeder) had filed a federal lawsuit against John Garcia and Brant Bjork all. Ultimately ruled in favor of Homme that August.

On 12 July 2020 Josh Homme would be interviewed by Kyuss World, discussing the band's career along with ...And The Circus Leaves Town for it's 25th anniversary. During the interview Homme would express interest in a possible reunion amid talks of the album, the desert rock scene and the Kyuss Lives! reunion in 2011.

Queens of The Stone Age (1996 - Present)

• For more details feel free to view the Riffipedia page on Queens of the Stone Age.

When Kyuss split up in 1995, Homme moved to Seattle, Washington, briefly abandoning his desire for a music career and attending the University of Washington to study business. During this time, he fell back in with old musician friends such as Ben Shepherd and Mike Johnson, and eventually agreed to join the Screaming Trees as a rhythm guitarist on the summer Lollapalooza tour in 1996, a replacement for Johnson, and that continued into the following year. Homme and vocalist Mark Lanegan became close friends during this time but, disliking the rest of the band's continual disharmony, began considering forming his own band. He founded Gamma Ray, a group more centered on his unique style and tastes, in 1996. Following the release of a 7" single and a cease and desist from a German metal band of the same name, this band became Queens of the Stone Age.

The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, ';'Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age';', which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as the last three recorded Kyuss tracks circa 1995 prior to their breakup.

Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández (Across The River, Yawning Man, Kyuss, etc.) on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.

Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.

In 2000 Queens of the Stone Age released the next album, Rated R, during which the band used a wider range of instruments to achieve a more relaxed, spacious and psychedelic sound. Though it differed from the band's debut, Rated R became Queens of the Stone Age's first mainstream hit. The next release, 2002's Songs for the Deaf, however, would gain even more buzz from the music community and fans alike, along with being certified Gold by the RIAA, selling nearly a million copies. In Songs for the Deaf, Homme continued his filtering of stoner rock and hard rock. The album centers on Homme's memories of uncomfortable rides through the California desert, where he had performed in his days with Kyuss, and where there was little to do but listen to Spanish radio stations. During this time, Homme had a falling out with Oliveri. Following the release of Songs for the Deaf, their relationship deteriorated until Homme fired Oliveri from the band in 2004. Homme reportedly strongly considered breaking up the band at this point.

Work would begin on a fourth album, recruiting Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo and collaborators and future recruits Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider of Eleven. Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on 3 March 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, 22 Match 2005 in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013. Overall Lullabies would be considered a critical and commercial success, with frequent touring to follow.

Queens of the Stone Age's fifth album, Era Vulgaris, was released on 12 June 2007 and received generally positive reviews from critics. Following the album's touring cycle, the band took a break to focus on individual projects, during which Homme continued to produce and create more records outside the band, barring health issues in 2010. This break would unintentionally turn into a six-year gap between albums.

In 2010, following his work with rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, Homme began performing more live shows with QOTSA. Following a deluxe reissue of Rated R, a 2011 re-release of their debut album and corresponding tour followed, featuring the album played front to back in the style in which it was recorded. This was the first time many of the songs had been performed live since the album's original release.

On June 4, 2013, after a tumultuous writing and recording process, Queens of the Stone Age released their sixth album, ...Like Clockwork, receiving high praise from critics as well as topping the Billboard 200 charts. ...Like Clockwork highlights Homme's collaborative recording process and features guests such as Elton John, Dave Grohl, Alex Turner, Jake Shears, Trent Reznor, Mark Lanegan, Nick Oliveri, and Homme's wife Brody Dalle.

Their seventh album, Villains, was released on 25 August 2017 to largely positive reviews, followed by a world tour. Conversely, Villains contains no collaborations, but was produced by Mark Ronson.

In 2018, the band was featured on Revamp, a cover album containing various renditions of Elton John songs, on which they performed "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".

The Desert Sessions (1997 - Present)

• For more details feel free to view the Riffipedia page on The Desert Sessions.

Homme founded The Desert Sessions in 1997 at the Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California, describing it as a musical collective series "that cannot be defined". He stated, "At Desert Sessions, you play for the sake of music. That's why it's good for musicians. If someday that's not enough anymore, or that's not the reason behind you doing it – that's not your raison d'être – then a quick reminder like Desert Sessions can do so much for you, it's amazing. It's easy to forget that this all starts from playing in your garage and loving it."

The recordings are done "on the spot" in a matter of hours, and the line-up constantly changes, with new contributors being added for each new recording. Many one-off projects and collaborations have happened, such as the first recordings of Eagles of Death Metal, Earthlings? appearing on one volume and one-off projects such as The Green Monarchs. Several Desert Sessions songs would later be re-worked into Queens of the Stone Age songs. Artists such as PJ Harvey, Twiggy Ramirez, Dave Catching, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan, Ben Shepherd, John McBain, Josh Freese, Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, Dean Ween, and many others from the Palm Desert Scene have contributed to The Desert Sessions recordings. The first volume, Volume 1: Instrumental Driving Music For Felons, was released on 18 November 1997. Five more volumes would be released as 10" vinyl singles via Man's Ruin Records while also packaged in two-volume CD sets by the label. Notably Volumes 7 - 10 would be released by Homme's own Rekords Rekords, in conjunction with other labels such as Southern Lord Records and Ipecac.

The Desert Sessions have only performed live twice. The live incarnation, which included Joey Castillo, Troy Van Leeuwen, Brian O'Connor, and Homme, as well as a variety of musicians performing different songs, have performed on an episode of the British music television show Later... with Jools Holland as well as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2004.

After 11 years of inactivity, Homme revealed in October 2014 that he would start working on more Desert Sessions material the following year. However, things remained silent until May 2019, when Homme posted an image on Instagram with the hashtags "#Desert, #Sessions, #11, #12". In September, it was announced that Desert Sessions Volumes 11 & 12 will be released on 25 October 2019 via Rekords Rekords and Matador.

Eagles of Death Metal (1998 - Present)

In 1998, Homme formed Eagles of Death Metal with friend Jesse Hughes as a joke band in the context of The Desert Sessions, the name itself being a joke and in no way resembling death metal. Rather the band performs a mix of hard rock, garage rock and boogie rock, to which Homme described them sound of the band as a combination of "bluegrass slide guitar mixed with stripper drum beats and Canned Heat vocals." in a 2003 interview. Their music has been used for several TV shows, movies and video games such as Ask.com, Comcast, Payless ShoeSource, Nissan Motors, Budweiser, Pontiac Motors, Wendy's, as well as in the trailer for the film Thank You for Smoking and for a promotional disc for the film Grindhouse, among other publications.

Recordings from the band first appeared on Volumes 3 & 4 on CD and Volume 4: Hard Walls and Little Trips, released that year via Man's Ruin Records. Over the next few years, Hughes settled into family life while Homme focused on Queens of the Stone Age. However, after Hughes' separation from his wife in 2003 and a spurt in creativity that resulted in dozens of songs, Homme convinced Hughes to pursue a full-time music career. Hughes writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar, while Homme produces, arranges, and plays drums, bass, and various other instruments. So far, the band has released four albums: Peace, Love, Death Metal on 23 March 2004, Death by Sexy on 11 April 2006, Heart On on 24 October 2008, and most recently Zipper Down circa 2 October 2015. Due to his commitments with Queens of the Stone Age and other projects, Homme does not regularly tour with Eagles of Death Metal, but occasionally makes appearances during live performances. In an October 2008 interview, he re-affirmed his commitment to the band saying, "This isn't a side project for me. I'm in two bands. I have musical schizophrenia, and this is one of those personalities.

The name of the band itself being a joke has also been somewhat of a running joke between the members and even other bands. In a video interview taken at a Converse Music-sponsored event at the Soho Revue Bar in London, Hughes states that he and Homme were in a bar watching a man dance to the song "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions. When asked what he was doing, the man yelled, "This is death metal, dude!", to which Homme replied, "No it's not. This is like the Eagles of death metal." An alternative story concerning the origin of the band name claims that the name originated during an exchange in which a friend of Homme was attempting to convert Hughes to the death metal genre. When the friend played a song by the Polish band Vader and made a claim that the song was within the death metal genre, Homme then referred to Vader as "the Eagles of death metal". After hearing this phrase, Hughes wondered what a cross between the Eagles and a death metal band would sound like. On an ill-fated tour with Guns n' Roses that lasted a single day in the Fall of 2006, Axl Rose referred to the band as "Pigeons of Shit Metal" from the stage that night, which resulted in Eagles of Death Metal using the phrase on a T-shirt in response.

Them Crooked Vultures

In July 2009, it was revealed that Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones were recording together for a musical project named Them Crooked Vultures. Though initially conceived as solely a studio project, the trio performed their first show together on August 9, 2009 in Chicago at The Metro to a crowd of approximately 1,100 ticketholders with additional live rhythm guitarist/auxiliary man Alain Johannes. Their album, Them Crooked Vultures, was released by Interscope Records in the United States on 17 November 2009, and by Sony Music internationally. The band launched a world tour including performing on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on 6 February 2010, and at Austin City Limits on 2 October 2009 as well as many festivals through 2010. Them Crooked Vultures won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards on 13 February 2011, notably Homme's first Grammy win. Though the band has been inactive for an extended period due to the schedules of members other projects, Homme, Grohl, and Jones have all expressed interest in returning to the project.

Other Musical Endeavors

Homme has collaborated with numerous acts over the years such as Mondo Generator, Foo Fighters, PJ Harvey, Fatso Jetson, Mark Lanegan Band, Trent Reznor, Masters of Reality, Millionaire, Wellwater Conspiracy, Unkle, Primal Scream, Melissa Auf der Maur, Paz Lenchantin, Run the Jewels, Death from Above 1979, Earthlings?, Mastodon, Peaches, Lady Gaga, The Strokes, Local H, Biffy Clyro, and Arctic Monkeys.

Homme, Nick Oliveri, and Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine, Black Sabbath) contributed to the soundtrack for the 2002 film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. Homme and Alain Johannes were originally meant to develop a score for the video game Spec Ops in 2005, however the project was cancelled before it later became Spec Ops: The Line in 2012. Any work done on the game would go unused. Homme was also set to provide music, including a cover of Joe Walsh's "In the City", for the 2005 video game adaption of the film The Warriors. This also went unused.

Homme has been featured on compilation albums. He appeared on Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen for a cover of the song "Stone Cold Crazy" alongside Eleven, as well as Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three and the Turbonegro tribute Alpha Motherfuckers as part of QOTSA covering the song "Back to Dungaree High". The very first use of the QOTSA name was on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music For Stoners featuring a one-off lineup of Homme and Dave Catching with Beaver members Milo Beenhakker and Eva Nahon, recording the song "18 A.D.".

Homme and frequent collaborator Chris Goss performed as The 5:15ers at the inaugural ArthurBall, an offshoot of the ArthurFest festival, in Los Angeles on 26 January 2006. The two were later credited as "The Fififf Teeners" when they co-produced QOTSA's second album Rated R and fifth album Era Vulgaris.

In August 2009, Homme collaborated with The Prodigy's Liam Howlett for a remix of the Prodigy track "Take Me to the Hospital". It was re-titled "Take Me to the Hospital (Josh Homme and Liam H.'s Wreckage Remix)". That same year, he produced most of the Arctic Monkeys album Humbug. He later provided backing vocals on "All My Own Stunts" from their 2011 album Suck It and See, and vocals for the tracks "One For the Road" and "Knee Socks" on their 2013 album AM.

In May 2012, it was revealed on Dean Delray's comedy podcast Let There Be Talk that Homme would make a guest appearance on Mondo Generator's fourth album called Hell Comes To Your Heart. Homme had appeared prior on the 2000 album Cocaine Rodeo and 2002 album A Drug Problem That Never Existed. The album was recorded over three days at Homme's Pink Duck Studios in Burbank, California, and features Homme playing guitar on the album's final track, "The Last Train". This marked the first time Homme and Oliveri collaborated since their public falling out in 2004. "The Last Train" also features fellow former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia providing vocals, which was recorded shortly before Homme's lawsuit with Garcia regarding the Kyuss Lives! band name; it was the first time Homme had collaborated with Garcia since 1997.

In June 2012, it was revealed that Homme would be starring in the music video for the song "A Better Place" from Glen Campbell's final album Ghost on the Canvas. In the video, Homme plays a bartender who shows Campbell a photo album of his life, from his early childhood through his music career to the present day. The video marked the end of Campbell's musical career and was a retrospect on his life following his decision to retire after his diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. In July, he had a very brief cameo at the end of Jack White's music video for "Freedom at 21", playing a police officer who intercepts White at a roadblock following White's escapades throughout the video. In September, he contributed the song "Nobody to Love" to the soundtrack of the action-drama film End of Watch.

In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors Alain Johannes and Chris Goss added three tracks each to the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's documentary Sound City: Real to Reel. Homme was interviewed for the documentary and is notably included in a scene where he collaborates with Grohl and Trent Reznor, under the name Sound City Players, to come up with a song called "Mantra". Homme played bass and provided backing vocals on the track.

In July 2015, Homme began hosting a weekly hour-long show called The Alligator Hour with Joshua Homme on Apple Music's 24-hour streaming internet radio station Beats 1. The show features a highly eclectic selection of songs personally selected by Homme, interspersed with his own wry introductions of (and commentary on) the various tracks on that particular week's playlist. The show's musical selections typically have some sort of thematic, stream-of-consciousness-type relationship to each other.

In March 2016, Homme released a surprise album with Iggy Pop titled Post Pop Depression. The nine-track album was recorded at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California, as well as Homme's Pink Duck Studios. Their backing band included guitarist and keyboardist Dean Fertita and drummer Matt Helders; the two joined Pop and Homme on tour, along with Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar and Matt Sweeney on bass. The band made their debut on 21 January 2016 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, announcing the album, and proceeded on a North American and European theater tour that March, culminating in a performance at the Royal Albert Hall, filmed and released as a concert DVD. The album's recording was also filmed and compiled into the 2017 documentary American Valhalla. In October 2016, Homme produced New Skin, the debut album from Nick Valensi's new band CRX.

In 2017, Homme composed the score for Fatih Akin's German-language drama In the Fade, named after the Queens of the Stone Age song on Rated R.

In 2018, Homme sang a song written by Daniel Lanois called "Cruel, Cruel World" for the soundtrack of the Rockstar action-adventure video game Red Dead Redemption 2. The game features two versions of the song, with Homme's version playing over the end credits and Willie Nelson's version playing during the epilogue.

In 2020, Homme featured alongside Mavis Staples on the Run the Jewels song "Pulling the Pin" from their fourth album RTJ4.

Homme also notably has done solo acoustic performances under his own name. One of the earliest solo gigs would be on 17 January 2005 as part of a Hurricane Katrina benefit. He would perform four Queens songs solo, with Dave Grohl as a guest for "I Never Came". Among other solo appearances Homme would appear at Meltdown Festival in London in 2014, performing Queens songs and covers among an early rendition of "Villains of Circumstance". Homme would perform solo at the Chris Cornell tribute "I Am The Highway", performing "Rusty Cage".

Television Appearances

Homme's first television guest appearance would be on the Seth McFarlane cartoon American Dad, appearing as himself in the 2005 episode "Francine's Flashback".

He would also become a recurring guest on the travel-based show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, appearing in three episodes.

In June 2010, Homme appeared on the Comedy Central series Tosh.0 to do an unplugged duet version of the hit viral song "What What" with Samwell. He also provided the theme song to Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, formerly known as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and collaborated with Mark Lanegan to provide the theme music for Anthony Bourdain's travel show Parts Unknown.

Homme has appeared in a number of television comedies. In December 2014, Homme made an appearance on Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London. The star of the show, Matt Berry, had been working alongside Morgana Robinson (the half-sister of Homme's wife Brody Dalle) in the BBC sitcom House of Fools, in which both had prominent roles. Earlier in the year, Homme had also made appearances on IFC's Comedy Bang! Bang! and Portlandia.

Homme also notably appeared on the Joe Rogan Podcast on YouTube in 2019, talking about his career among other subjects.

Musical Style

Homme's work is usually described as alternative rock, desert rock, hard rock and stoner rock. He has been evasive about the equipment he uses in the past, choosing to either change the subject or even lie when asked about his setup in interviews, as well as objecting to official photos of his pedalboard. He explained in June 2007, "I don't [share secrets] only because my sound is important to me and I've spent a lot of years just working it over with little tricks here and there, I almost feel like if you reveal too much of that you give away something that's near and dear to you. It's like you put it up on the altar and say, 'Here, everyone take a slice.'"

Homme relaxed his secretive approach to the subject in the 2010s, though much of his known equipment has been compiled through amateur photos and screenshots of him performing live and in the studio. In choosing his equipment, he tends to look for the odd or unique, opting to stay away from the typical choices of other guitar players. In an interview about guitars in 2008, he claimed at the time to own close to 35 guitars, and said that only three of them were "really good". He has said that he purposely does not use famous guitars such as Stratocasters or Les Pauls, but that he is always in search of intriguing and unique guitars which are not always generally accepted as high-quality. He said that he tends to buy "weird Japanese guitars" or guitars that are "scarred" and have an interesting story.

Personal Life

Homme met Australian singer and musician Brody Dalle at Lollapalooza in 1996, when he was 23 and she was 17; he was there to perform with Screaming Trees, while she was there to see her then-boyfriend Tim Armstrong's band Rancid. They reconnected seven years later in 2003, during her separation from Armstrong, and began dating. Homme claimed to have received multiple death threats from Armstrong and Rancid fans. Homme and Dalle would remain togethe and the two were married on 3 December 2005. They have a daughter named Camille Harley Joan Homme (born 17 January 2006) and two sons named Orrin Ryder Homme (born 12 August 2011) and Wolf Dillon Reece Homme (born 13 February 2016). Dalle filed for legal separation in November 2019 and divorce a month later, citing Homme's alcoholism and drug abuse; he subsequently entered rehab, but he and Dalle would accuse each other of domestic violence and have mutual restraining orders filed over the following months. Homme and Dalle would put their Hollywood home on sale in October 2020 for $4,750,000USD.

Homme has over 20 tattoos. On his knuckles, he has his grandparents' nicknames ("Cam" for "Camille" on the left and "Cap" on the right) with hearts and his two sons' names ("ORH" for "Orrin Ryder Homme" and "Wolf"). He has his daughter's name, also Camille, tattooed over his heart. His left arm has a switchblade with "Stay Sharp" underneath, while his inner right arm has a straight-edge razor with "Born to Win" inscribed; underneath, his nickname, "Baby Duck", is a shared tattoo with his Eagles of Death Metal bandmate Jesse Hughes, who has his nickname "Boots Electric" in the same location. Homme also shares a tattoo that says "Freitag 4:15" with former Queens of the Stone Age bandmates Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan and their sound engineer Hutch, commemorating their "worst show ever" at the Rock Am Ring Festival in Germany on Friday, 1 June 2001, at 4:15 pm. All were tattooed on their ribs so that it would hurt the most and serve as a reminder. Homme and Dalle share a small "TCB" logo, which stands for "Taking Care of Business", as made famous by Elvis Presley.

Homme once described himself as financially conservative but socially liberal, considering himself a "fallen libertarian". He said that he dislikes the idea of using his influence to tell people how to vote, and often likens his music to an "ice cream parlour or arcade" where people can simply have fun. Despite this, he referred to then-president Donald Trump as a "retarded human being" in June 2017 and began collaborating more with notably liberal artists such as Run the Jewels in the late 2010s. He owns several guns, including a classic Winchester rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, and a Beretta 9 mm target pistol. Although he owns a few motorcycles, including a custom Falcon and a Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic, the only car he drives is a silver 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, which was the first car he ever received (at age 14). In June 2017, he revealed on Steve Jones' radio show that he had recently tried to quit his decades-long smoking habit via hypnotherapy, but claimed that it failed because he was unable to relax enough to be fully influenced by the hypnotherapist.

Homme has adopted multiple pseudonyms over the years. He used the name "Carlo Von Sexron" to credit his bass, keyboard, piano, and drums playing on albums such as The Desert Sessions Volumes 3 & 4, Queens of the Stone Age, and Peace, Love, Death Metal. Homme is known as "(King) Baby Duck" to Dalle and the members of Eagles of Death Metal. He is also referred to as "J.Ho." and "The Ginger Elvis". Nick Oliveri referred to him as "Mr. Lucky".

In 2013 Homme co-founded the Sweet Stuff Foundation, a charity which aims to give assistance to musicians, recording engineers, and their families struggling with illness and disability.

Homme "died" for a short time in 2010. After years of heavy touring and drug abuse severely weakened his immune system, he contracted an MRSA infection during surgery. In an attempt to restart his immune system, surgeons used a breathing tube which became stuck in his throat, choking him and leading to cardiac arrest. They eventually used a defibrillator to revive him. The experience left him physically and mentally weakened with a severely compromised immune system, and doctors confined him to bed without human contact for three months. He became depressed and considered quitting music, eventually finding himself unable to produce any new music at all for almost two years. He has said that this experience greatly contributed to the making of the 2013 album ...Like Clockwork and credits Transcendental Meditation with helping him recover. When ...Like Clockwork was released, Homme's refusal to go into depth about his story resulted in the misconception that the events happened during a routine knee surgery, a separate surgery in no way correlated to his incident. In June 2016, he clarified that the knee surgery story was created by somebody else and that the reality actually involved him going "in too deep" with his drug use.

In June 2023, along with announcing Queens' eighth album, Josh Homme revealed that he had battled an unknown form of cancer, which required surgery that would have him cancer free.

Legal Issues and Controversies

In 2004, Homme was arrested for assaulting Dwarves frontman Blag Dahlia and Karl Doyle at the Dragonfly club in Los Angeles. Pleading no contest, he was ordered to remain at least 100 yards (91.44 meters) away from Dahlia and the club, sentenced to three years' probation with community service, and forced to enter a rehab program for 60 days.

In June 2008 at the Norwegian Wood Festival in Oslo, Homme drew criticism for his reaction to an audience member who had thrown a shoe at him, calling him a number of vulgar terms. The incident drew accusations of homophobia from several blogs, which were then picked up by the mainstream media. Homme replied with a lengthy public letter denying all accusations of homophobia, revealing that he had spent much of his childhood defending his openly gay older brother from bullies, and blamed his tirade on food poisoning. Reaction to his apology was mixed, with music journalist Tim Jonze stating, "Attempting to prove his pro-gay stance, Homme points out in his letter that he also called the guy a pussy and threatened to have anal sex with him. OK, so it's a fuzzy kind of logic we're talking about here."

Following a September 2013 performance at Jay-Z's Made in America Festival, Homme made comments about Jay-Z during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. He explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay-Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt: "[Jay-Z] has his security frisking the bands on the way in. I just told them, 'If you open up my bag I'm not playing, so I guess it's up to you whether we are playing or not.' [...] He also gave us some champagne and wanted us to take a photo with it. And I thought, 'That's not a gift, that is a marketing tool.' So I destroyed it."

In April 2016, Homme was involved in a verbal altercation with autograph seller Jason Leckrone, who eyewitnesses said was taunting Homme for not signing autographs. Homme began to argue with Leckrone and called him an "entitled, spoiled motherfucker". In March 2017, Leckrone filed a lawsuit against Homme for assault and battery, claiming that Homme had grabbed him.

In September 2017, Royal Blood frontman Mike Kerr discussed Homme's drinking habits, telling Radio X interviewer Gordon Smart, "I can't go anywhere near [Homme] without having an unbelievable amount of tequila in my body. I did hide from him once [while touring together] because I could hear him coming and I was like, 'Oh no, I'm gonna have to do more tequila,' so I hid in the toilets of the dressing room."

In December 2017, Homme was captured on video kicking the camera of Shutterstock photographer Chelsea Lauren into her face during KROQ's Almost Christmas concert in Los Angeles. Homme also notably cut his own head with a straight razor, berated the audience and shouted "Fuck Muse" in regards to the headliner of the event. After staying through the show and photographing subsequent bands, Lauren went to Cedars-Sinai for treatment. In a statement, Homme claimed that he had been kicking over lighting equipment and was unaware that he had kicked Lauren until he was informed of it the next day. Lauren disputed this, stating that he had made eye contact with her before kicking her. Homme later issued a video response in which he admitted to kicking Lauren and apologized to her.

On 9 September 2021, news would break out that Homme's three kids had requested a restraining order against him, citing abuse of various forms. While a judge would deny the request for his two sons Orrin and Wolf, a temporary restraining order would be granted for his daughter Camille, disallowing Homme to go within 100 yards of her. Homme would finally speak out on the issue in 2023, denying the allegations and ultimately getting full custody of his kids.

Bands

• Autocracy - Guitar (1985 - 1987)
• Kyuss - Guitar (1987 - 1996)
• Screaming Trees - Guitar (1996 - 1997)
• Gamma Ray - Guitar, Vocals (1996 - 1997)
• Queens of the Stone Age - Guitar, Vocals (1997 - Present)
• The Desert Sessions - Guitar, Vocals (1997 - 2003)
• Eagles of Death Metal - Drums, Bass, Guitar, Backing Vocals (1998 - Present)
• Them Crooked Vultures - Guitar, Vocals (2009 - 2010, 2022)

Discography

With Kyuss

• Sons of Kyuss (1990, Self-Released)
• Wretch (1991, Dali)
• Blues for the Red Sun (1992, Dali)
• Welcome to Sky Valley (1994, Dali)
• ...And The Circus Leaves Town (1995, Dali)
• Muchas Gracias: The Best of Kyuss (Compilation) (2000, Elektra)

With Queens of the Stone Age (Selected)

• Kyuss/Queens of The Stone Age (Split with Kyuss) (1997, Man's Ruin Records)
• The Split CD (Split with Beaver) (1997, Man's Ruin Records)
• Queens of the Stone Age (1998, Loosegroove; Man's Ruin Records)
• Rated R (2000, Interscope)
• Songs For The Deaf (2002, Interscope)
• Lullabies To Paralyze (2005, Interscope)
• Era Vulgaris (2007, Interscope)
• ...Like Clockwork (2013, Matador)
• Villains (2017, Matador)
• In Times New Roman... (2023, Matador)

With The Desert Sessions (10" EPs)

• Volume 1: Instrumental Driving Music For Felons (1997, Man's Ruin Records)
• Volume 2: Status: Ships Commander Butchered (1998, Man's Ruin Records)
• Volume 3: Set Coordinates For The White Dwarf!!! (1998, Man's Ruin Records)
• Volume 4: Hard Walls and Little Trips (1998, Man's Ruin Records)
• Volume 5: Poetry for the Masses (SeaShedShitheadByTheSheSore) (1999, Man's Ruin Records)
• Volume 6: Black Anvil Ego (1999, Man's Ruin Records)
• Crawl Home (2003, Ipecac)

With The Desert Sessions (Compilations)

• Volumes 1 & 2 (1998, Man's Ruin Records)
• Volumes 3 & 4 (1998, Man's Ruin Records)
• Volumes 5 & 6 (1999, Man's Ruin Records)
• Volumes 7 & 8 (2001, Rekords Rekords; Southern Lord Records)
• Volumes 9 & 10 (2003, Rekords Rekords, Ipecac)
• Volumes 11 & 12 (2019, Rekords Rekords, Matador)

With Eagles of Death Metal (Selected Discography)

• Peace, Love, Death Metal (2004, AntAcidAudio)
• Death By Sexy (2006, Downtown)
• Heart On (2008, Downtown)
• Zipper Down (2015, T-Boy/UMe)

Selected Other Releases / Guest Musical Contributions

• Gamma Ray - Gamma Ray (Single) (1996, Man's Ruin Records)
• Fu Manchu - Godzilla (EP; Producer and additional percussion) (1997, Man's Ruin Records)
• Earthlings? - Human Beans (Album; Vocals on "Visionary Messenger") (2000, Man's Ruin Records)
• Mondo Generator - Cocaine Rodeo (Album; Guitar on three songs) (2000, Southern Lord Records)
• Masters of Reality - Deep in The Hole (Album, Performer) (2001, Brownhouse)
• The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (Original Soundtrack, Contributes several solo recordings) (2002, Milan Records)
• Earthlings?' - Disco Marching Kraft (EP, Bass on "Disco Marching Kraft") (2003, Crippled Dick Hot Wax)
• Mondo Generator - A Drug Problem That Never Existed (Album, Performer and Songwriter) (2003, Ipecac)
• Masters of Reality - Flak n' Flight (Live Album) (2003, Brownhouse)
• Mastodon - Blood Mountain (Album; Additional Vocals on "Colony of Birchmen" and "Pendulous Skin") (2006, Warner Bros. / Reprise)
• Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures (Album) (2009, DGC/Interscope)
• Mondo Generator - Hell Comes To Your Heart (Album, Lead Guitar on "The Last Train") (2012, Mondo Media)
• Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression (Album) (2016, Caroline; Loma Vista)
• In The Fade (Film Soundtrack, Composer) (2017)

Filmography

• American Dad - Himself (Episode: "Francine's Flashback") (2005)
• Hot Rod - Gown (2007)
• Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Himself (Three Episodes) (2007 - 2012)
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Various Characters (Two Episodes) (2008 - 2012)
• Tosh.0 - Himself (2010)
• Truckfighters - Himself (Documentary) (2011)
• Sound City - Himself (Documentary) (2013)
• The Gorburger Show - Himself (Episode: "Jack Black, Eagles of Death Metal") (2013)
• Comedy Bang! Bang! - Dale (Episode: "Clark Gregg Wears a Navy Blazer & White Collared Shirt") (2013)
• Toast of Lonfon - Himself (Episode: "Fool in Love") (2014)
• Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways - Himself (Episode: Los Angeles) (2014)
• Portlandia - Carrie's Brother (Episode: Late in Life Drug Use) (2014)
• Lo Sound Desert - Himself (Documentary) (2014)
• The Redemption of The Devil - Himself (Documentary) (2015)
• The Man From Mo'Wax - Himself (Documentary) (2016)
• Gutterdämmerung - Himself (2016)
• Desert Age: A Rock And Roll Scene History - Himself (Documentary) (2016)
• Talking Dead - Himself (One Episode) (2016)
• Unfinished Plan: The Path of Alain Johannes - Himself (Documentary) (2016)
• Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis - Himself (Documentary) (2017)
• American Valhalla - Himself (Documentary) (2017)
• Bedtime Stories - Himself (One Episode) (2017)
• Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown - Himself (One Episode) (2018)
• Historical Roasts - Elvis Presley (Episode: Muhammad Ali) (2019)
• Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series - Himself (Episode: Trailerstock) (2019)

External Links

• Queens of the Stone Age Twitter
• Queens of the Stone Age Instagram
• Eagles of Death Metal Instagram