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To understand the Queens of the Stone Age one must follow the bands roots to the legendary stoner rock outfit Kyuss. All founding members of Kyuss, and subsequently the Queens of the Stone Age, were born and raised in what has been called the "Meth capital of the world", more commonly know as Palm Springs California. After an illustrious, yet largely un recognized career, and reputed financial disputes between members Josh Homme and John Garcia, Kyuss made their departure into stoner rock history in 1995. Shortly after the demise of Kyuss, in 1995, Guitarist Josh Homme was able to put his talents to use with Seattle's "Screaming Trees. This collaboration was short lived however, and the next effort on the part of Homme involved dragging some of the decades most under appreciated songwriters out to an area surrounding Joshua Tree National Park to record at the studios Rancho De La Luna. These recording extravaganzas were saturated with psychedelic drug references, organic analog recording techniques, and dubbed "The Desert Sessions". A phenomena in the underground world of stoner rock the Desert Sessions recordings were years ahead of their time and included artists from Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr. and The Screaming Trees. After gaining quite the reputation for mystery appearances and disappearances of artists in his outfits, Homme used some of the material from the Desert Sessions outings along with a few of the musicians and released QOTSA's self titled first effort in 1998. It was awarded a surprising 4 stars from the infamous rock publication Rolling Stone. Not surprisingly after the first installment, former Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez left and inspired Josh Homme to borrow the talents of various drummers before recording "Songs for the Deaf", their third album.
1998 played welcome to former Kyuss Member Nick Oliveri. 2000 brought us the addition of the second album by the QOTSA titled "Rated R". The album grabbed a helpful 3 and a half starts from Rolling Stone and along with a rigorous touring schedule, including 2000's Ozzfest and a gig at Rock in Rio, found them the affection of a growing fan base. One of these fans, legendary rock drummer Dave Grohl, expressed his admiration for the band publicly and soon found himself as the studio drummer for the bands highly acclaimed third outfit titled: "Songs for the Deaf". Released in 2002, Songs for the Deaf found itself on airwaves across America, along with heavy support of their video "No One Knows" making rotations on MTV. This coupled with another round of brute-force touring , found the QOTSA a household name. 2002 also brought us the side project of Homme and Oliveri in the form of a soundtrack for the movie: "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys".
Songs for the Deaf played host to the re-appearance of Screaming Trees lead singer Mark Lanegen, who previously had made use of his vocal talents on Rated R. This was followed by Lanegans status as a full time member of the band. Shortly after the release of Songs for the deaf, Queens gained former A Perfect Circle member Troy Van Leeuwan lending his talents on guitars and Keyboards and set off on tour in support of the album. After touring for over 6 months, Grohl left to pursue various efforts and Homme found former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo to fill his shoes for the long haul. 2005 saw the exit of long time member Nick Oliveri along with Mark Lanegan leaving to pursue a solo career. The much anticipated follow up to Songs for the Deaf, titled "Lullabies to Paralyze" is scheduled for a March 22nd 2005 release.
February 18, 2005 Ryan Ogren Student of the Liberal Arts
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