Eagles Of Death Metal
Side projects give a musician a chance to stretch beyond the limited confines of his day job (the group that is selling tons of CDs/downloads and touring the world). But Joshua Homme has turned side projects into a career.
When Homme's band Kyuss bit the dust in '95, he formed Gamma Ray, and that eventually led to Queens Of The Stone Age. While QOTSA was rolling, Homme recorded the "Desert Sessions" with an ever-changing musical cast. Then he was back with QOTSA before starting Headband, with Twiggy Ramirez, formerly of Marilyn Manson, and singer Casey Chaos. But before Headband got too far down the road Homme connected with vocalist Jesse "The Devil" Hughes, a former collaborator on the "Desert Sessions," to form Eagles Of Death Metal.
Actually, Homme and Hughes go back a bit further than the "Desert Sessions." The two met in '79 at age seven in lovely Palm Desert. Once out of school, Homme went the Rock route while Hughes became a journalist. Of course, years later Hughes made the trip to the dark side - or maybe it's journalism that's the dark side. Possibly, Hughes (who still looks like a journalist - not the devil) just went from one dark side to another.
Eagles Of Death Metal's boogie debut "Peace Love Death Metal" arrived in '04. A QOTSA CD ("Lullabies To Paralyze") was issued the following year so Homme could keep off unemployment. Then in '06, Eagles Of Death Metal unveiled "Death By Sexy."
T-Rex, Sweet, Slade, Mott The Hopple and the New York Dolls are evoked by the Eagles Of Death Metal, who sound neither like the Eagles or Death Metal. This is fun, riff-Rock with barely a thought in its head. "Peace Love Death Metal" and "Death By Sexy" are simply excuses to re-live of Rock's more indulgent moments, a time when "sex, drugs and Rock n' Roll" became a lifestyle rather than a slogan. And as such, they work perfectly.
"Peace Love Death Metal" has "Stuck In The Metal," a clever reworking of the Steeler's Wheel tune. There's also the jokey butt-Rock of "I Only Want You." "Death By Sexy" scores with "I Want You So Hard" (a "pure" '70s sexual come on), "I Gotta Feeling (Just Nineteen)" (about hitting on a 19 year old - more sex), "I Like To Move" and "The Ballad Of Queen Bee And Baby Duck" (now there's a song title!).