The desert sessions 11 & 12
I’m a big fan of Josh Homme’s work.
Famously, he started a punk band named Kyuss as a teen in the early nineties in Palm Desert California, pioneering a sound style of long, rythmic, heavy guitar riffs that would spark the creation of the wider stoner rock genre.
He’s most famous though from his involvement in his band Queens of the Stone Age, where he was able to take his experimental sound style from Kyuss and refine it into a series of excellently produced albums.
He’s also done some great production work for other bands too, including his heavy involvement with the Eagles of Death Metal and his production of one-off albums for bands like the Arctic Monkeys and CRX. He has a great way of adapting his signature sound to whomever he works with.
Definitely a case of respect the art, not the artist though. (He did apologise at least)
but ultimately, if you’re looking for rock n’ roll you’re likely not looking for a saint, and by all means Homme’s the guy to do the rocking and the rolling.
He’s still kept coming back to the Palm Desert in California later in his career, often bringing assorted artists with him to experiment with new sounds. Many of these experiments have been released in a series named the desert sessions and were foundations for songs for QOTSA albums.
He’s recently created yet another set of “experimental” desert sessions 11 and 12, they may be worth a listen.
