Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 06.15.2007
After a fan-isolating follow-up to their biggest success, Queens Of The Stone Age return to not giving a damn about sort of thing…
My Story
I’m not cool. I didn’t hear about Queens Of The Stone Age until “No One Knows” broke in 2002, and only picked up the album because I was a big fan of Dave Grohl. Songs For The Deaf, an unyielding, uncompromising album of stoned jam rock, really grew on me, but I never bought Lullabies To Paralyze. I meant to, but “Little Sister” just didn’t do it for me.
What I’m trying to say is I’m a casual fan, but a fan nonetheless. Can QOTSA impress me five years after having come and gone?
Their Story
In 1995, guitarist Josh Homme began to seek out new projects as his band, influential stoner rock act Kyuss, was crumbling around him. He hooked up with some similar minded musicians to form a new band called Gamma Ray. Gamma Ray only had one official release, a two track EP which came out in early 1996. At that time, the band included Homme, a post-Soundgarden/pre-Pearl Jam Matt Cameron on drums, ex-Screaming Trees bassist Van Conner and founding Monster Magnet guitarist John McBain.
Not long into their career, Gamma Ray was forced to change their name for legal reasons (another band was using it). They were rechristened Queens Of The Stone Age, a nickname given by Kyuss producer Chris Goss. Towards the end of 1997, the band started playing their first live gigs. They released a split EP with the defunct Kyuss in December, which featured tracks from their earlier EP sessions.
In 1998, Queens Of The Stone Age released their first full length, a self-titled effort under Stone Gossard’s Loose Groove Records. By the time of recording, the band had changed almost completely. Homme was still there on guitar and vocals and his former Kyuss bandmate Alfredo Hernández had joined on drums. Van Conner had went on to form VALIS, so Homme filled in on bass for most tracks under the pseudonym Carlo Von Sexron. Before Queens Of The Stone Age even hit shelves, ex-Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri had become part of the permanent line-up, as had guitarist David Catching.
After a couple years of heavy touring, QOTSA returned to Van Nuys, California to work on their second album. By that time, membership in the band had become a revolving door, both on the live circuit and in the studio. Hernández left the band in 1999 and was replaced on tour by both Gene Trautmann and Nick Lucero. Mario Lanni replaced Catching briefly on stage in 1999. Ex-Dinosaur Jr. bassist Mike Johnson returned to the studio with the band after helping out on their first album.
Rated R was released in June of 2000 on Interscope Records, the work of contributions by several familiar faces in the QOTSA world. It featured lead vocal contribution by four different singers, including Homme, Oliveri, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and the Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan. R stirred quite the buzz in the underground community and garnered very positive reviews. It also earned QOTSA several famous fans, including the Foo Fighters and Hole, who asked the band to open for them over the next few months. R was certified silver in the UK, where it fell just short of becoming a Top 50 hit. It also produced a minor hit Modern Rock single with “The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret”. R earned the band spots on the 2000 and 2001 OzzFest tours, as well as a now infamous appearance at the 2001 Rock In Rio show.
In late 2001, the band returned to the studio to work on their follow-up. This time, the official QOTSA line-up would gain some considerable star power. Ex-Nirvana and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl asked to join the band on drums, and longtime friend Mark Lanegan officially hitched on as vocalist. The resulting album, 2002’s Songs For The Deaf, proved to be the band’s commercial breakthrough. It was certified gold in early 2003 and produced the hit singles and videos “Go With The Flow” and “No One Knows”, the latter of which topped the Modern Rock Charts. The band embarked on a huge tour to support the album, augmented by second guitarist Brendan McNichol and, later, A Perfect Circle’s Troy Van Leeuwen. Grohl left the band to return to the Foo Fighters in late 2002 and was replaced by ex-Danzig drummer Joey Castillo.
The band continued to tour for the next couple of years. In 2004, turmoil rocked QOTSA for the first time when Homme fired longtime bassist Nick Oliveri for unspecified reasons. He was replaced by Dan Druff to finish up the tour.
In 2004, QOTSA returned to California to work on their fourth album. At this point, Homme was collaborating mostly with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes. The pair, along with Van Leeuwen and Castillo (Lanegan declined further membership) and Eleven keyboardist Natasha Schneider, recorded Lullabies To Paralyze over a three-month period that fall. The album was released in March of 2005. The disc debuted at #5 on the Billboard charts, a personal best for Homme and the gang. It also yielded another Modern Rock hit with “Little Sister”. Critical reception was positive, though Lullabies wasn’t deemed the savior of rock as SFTD had been.
Lullabies led to several more appearances, including a rave reviewed performance on “Saturday Night Live” and an opening slot on Nine Inch Nails’ “With Teeth” Tour. At the end of 2005, QOTSA released their first live album, Over The Years And Through The Woods.
In 2006, frontman Josh Homme announced that the band was back in the studio recording a new album, though a personnel list was being kept close to the vest. Earlier this year, the band’s website announced an official release date of June 12. A promotional CD was given out to contest-winning fans a few weeks later. The disc contained one track, “Era Vulgaris”, which featured guest vocals by NIN’s Trent Reznor. Included was a note from Homme stating that the track would not be included on the upcoming album.
As of April, both Johannes and Schneider have left the band to return to Eleven. They have been replaced by bassist Michael Shuman and Raconteurs keyboardist Dean Fertita.
The Album
On June 12, 2007, Interscope Records released Era Vulgaris, the sixth album by Queens Of The Stone Age and the follow-up to 2005’s Lullabies To Paralyze. The album is available on standard CD as well as digitally through the iTunes store. There are also international and retail exclusive versions. These versions contain bonus tracks, which include “Running Joke” (UK/JAP/AUS/iTunes), “Era Vulgaris” (UK/JAP/AUS, previously available via download), “The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died” (JAP/GER, previously available on an exclusive 7”), “White Wedding” (Best Buy) and “Goin’ Out West” (fye).
The Band: 9.0
Joshua Homme: vocals, guitar
Troy Van Leeuwen: guitar
Joey Castillo: drums
With a line-up and cast of guest musicians harder to list than cast members of “E.R.”, you’d think that each Queens Of The Stone Age album would feature a sound so separate from the other that the only common thread would be Josh Homme and the band name. Well, you’d be completely wrong. Josh Homme doesn’t rely heavily on his band or his collaborators to construct the QOTSA sound, rather he brings them into his world and uses the strengths he sees. Each QOTSA album is his thumping, screaming vision, created by the tools available to utilize. And as each album gains more notoriety for the band, his toolset expands exponentially.
On the latest QOTSA album, Homme is once again accompanied by guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo, both of whom made their studio debut on the band’s last album. That unity pays off here, as Queens sounds like a much tighter band, a quality developed by several months on the road together. Castillo’s rhythm section is perfect in this environment and Van Leeuwen understands the gritty, outsider sound that should be coaxed (or harshly prodded) from his guitar. Homme stands in the middle of this, spouting off abstract, dirty lyrics and crooning in that improbable falsetto that’s still a little hard to get used to when you see him.
Former member Alain Johannes is responsible for recording and mixing here, though his presence has been scaled back greatly from his major contributions on Lullabies To Paralyze. The result is a much lighter album, as Paralyze was sometimes weighed down in its own gothic murkiness. You could also consider the length of time since the firing of Nick Oliveri to be a contributing factor here, too. If Lullabies is a tentative step out of the front door following the band shake-up, Era Vulgaris is an outright bolt down the street.
The songs here are tight and pounding, with only a few moments of letting-up in order for QOTSA to cram something funny, ironic or important past your gaping mouth and down your throat. The cast of guest stars isn’t quite as long as was anticipated, but former QOTSA singer Mark Lanegan does return on vocals, and even Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas makes a surprise appearance. The pop-ins add some star power to the project (evident by the Casablancas-sung “Sick, Sick, Sick” being released as a single), but at no point detract from this hard-driving acid-rock-on-acid record.
The Songs: 7.5
1. Turnin’ On The Screw
2. Sick, Sick, Sick
3. I’m Designer
4. Into The Hollow
5. Misfit Love
6. Battery Acid
7. Mat It Wit Chu
8. 3’s & 7’s
9. Suture Up Your Future
10. River In The Road
11. Run, Pig, Run
Like Songs For The Deaf, Era Vulgaris is a compilation of left-of-center rock hooks and songs that vary from creepy to smart-ass to just plain balls-out metal. “Sick, Sick, Sick” really grooves, as does “Misfit Love”, which is almost certainly the tune that Billy Gibbons nearly showed up for. The CD kicks off with the mid-tempo, hook-heavy “Turnin’ On The Screw”, which sounds like an impromptu jam session with The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. And the harmonies featured there turn up again and again on this record, culminating in the acid pop soul of “Make It Wit Chu”, a song that would be hilarious if it weren’t so damn cool.
The album’s biggest problem is its lack of obvious singles, something that Homme and QOTSA have proven they have little concern for. Unlike the catchy “No One Knows”, hardly anything here screams radio. “Battery Acid” is too churning, “I’m Designer” is too weird and “River In The Road” is too creepy. Still, if you’re looking for singles, you’re probably missing the point.
The 411: Era Vulgaris is a leaner, heavier hitting record than Lullabies To Paralyze, but it’s no more accessible. While Queens Of The Stone Age prove they know how to rock with the best of them, they show little care for the pop set or big radio success. This can be endearing, and if you’re a fan, you’ll no doubt enjoy this sixth set of balls-out, pissed off stoner metal. Songs like “Sick, Sick, Sick” and “Battery Acid” are bound to become pumping concert favorites, while “Make It Wit Chu” is a rare direct look into Homme’s warped sense of humor. With the endorsement of Dave Grohl, rock was ready to give QOTSA the “saviors of rock” award back in 2002. Lullabies To Paralyze was the single finger response to that. Era Vulgaris is the return of a band that just wants to rock.
