Who is Josh Homme

Born in May 1973 in the oasis of Palm Springs, CA, Josh grew up in the suburb of Palm Desert. Never one to conform, most of the time Josh found himself in trouble, either for swearing, rebellion, or being a plain ol' smart ass. At 16 he dropped out of school, later calling it one of the 'best decisions' he'd ever made.

Music being a large part of Josh's life and he's been playing in bands since 15. Starting with Kyuss, a metal band with a massive underground following, and presently with Queens of the Stone Age, sexy rock for boys and girls with world-wide fame, and all the side projects and guest spots in-between, Josh is a bona fide rock star.

Josh has worked with the likes of Screaming Trees, Foo Fighters, Mondo Generator, PJ Harvey, Masters of Reality, Millionaire, U.N.K.L.E., Paz Lenchantin, Wellwater Conspiracy, A Perfect Circle, Earthlings?, Mastodon, Tuberonegro, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Death From Above 1979, Trent Reznor, Local H, and Peaches, to name a few.

He also runs the independent label Rekords Rekords, the imprint that releases The Desert Sessions volumes as well as albums by Eagles of Death Metal, Mondo Generator, Fatso Jetson, and Likehell.

On the personal side, Josh is married to Spinnerette front woman Brody Dalle, with whom he has a daughter, Camille. The family continues to live in the Palm Springs-area.

For those who are curious about his surname, the pronunciation is similar to 'mommy' and is of Norwegian origin.

In 1991, Kyuss came onto the desert music scene. John Garcia, Joshua Homme, Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork built a local cult following with impromptu shows (called 'generator parties') in the empty stretches of desert around Palm Springs and Palm Desert, California.

They released their debut album Wretch in 1991 and began to draw more attention with shows. Their 1992 sophomore album Blues for the Red Sun was produced by Chris Goss (forming a life-long partnership between Homme and Goss) and was critically hailed as the pinnacle of 'stoner rock', garnering the band an opening slot for Metallica while they toured Australia.

Oliveri left the band and was replaced by Scott Reeder. The band soon signed to Elektra Records and released Welcome to Sky Valley in 1994, another critically acclaimed album. Tensions inside the band mounted and Brant Bjork left post-tour, replaced by Alfredo Hernández.

Kyuss' final album, ...And the Circus Leaves Town was released in 1995. In October of the same year, Josh and company pulled the plug on Kyuss. Muchas Gracias: The Best of Kyuss was released in 2000, containing B-sides and some live tracks. But seemingly no more music made by Kyuss will see the light of day.

Formed in 1997, originally under the name of 'Gamma Ray' before a German power metal band of the same moniker threatened to sue, Queens of the Stone Age rose from the desert just like Kyuss.

Although the band rejects the term, the music made by QOTSA has been labeled 'stoner rock'. Staring out with Josh, Matt Camerom, John McBain and Van Conner, the band reportedly played their first show in Seattle, WA in 1997. A split EP with Kyuss put the first recorded tracks into fans' hands while a self-titled album followed in 1998.

The majority of the album was handled by Josh (and his alter-ego 'Carlo von Sexron') with Alfredo Hernández, Chris Goss and Hutch helping. After running into friend and former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri in Texas, Josh asked him to come on board. Nick readily accepted and with Dave Catching the first QOTSA tour commenced.

2000 brought their second album Rated R and a new lineup. A precedent was set with the use of multiple musicians, a 'revolving door' of sorts, with Josh, Nick, and Mark Lanegan providing vocals for the album and several friends and musicians lending helping hands. Rated R received glowing reviews in the press but QOTSA still remained an underground sensation.

Everything changed with the release of Songs For the Deaf. The singles No One Knows and Go With the Flow lit up the charts and the addition of Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl playing drums on the album shot the Queens into super-stardom. Heavy touring, constant partying, and internal friction began to take its toll. An era ended when Josh fired Nick from the band in 2004, for reasons neither of which choose to truly discuss.

Without his best friend and bassist, Josh took up the banner alone. Now with seemingly permanent members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo and loads of help from Alain Johannes, QOTSA recorded and released their third album Lullabies To Paralyze in 2005. A much darker-toned album, Josh sang lead on every track except one.

Lullabies debuted in the fifth slot of the Billboard Music Chart, QOTSA's highest debut to date. It also fostered a dream come true for Josh when Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top stopped by to play, recording guitar and vocals for Burn the Witch.

With a full tour schedule supporting Nine Inch Nails, an appearance as musical guest on SNL, and release of a live album/DVD set aptly Over the Years and Through the Woods, it seemed as if QOTSA was on top of the world. Instead, Josh has related that the whole experience was a low point in the band's history; trying to shake off the departure of Nick Oliveri and retaining old fans as well as gaining new fans was tough.

In 2007, QOTSA charged back onto the music scene in fine form with Era Vulgaris. Jammed with their usual roster of guest stars (including Trent Reznor, Julian Casablancas, and Mark Lanegan) the album returned to their roots and proved to be harder and darker then anything they've released to date.

As for the future, Josh and Troy have hinted that new music is being formed, and there are possible plans to release outtakes, B-Sides and other such as an EP. The band toured North America and Europe in support of the album.

For now, the band is on hiatus while Homme works on his current side project, Them Crooked Vultures. They plan to regroup in 2010 to work on a new album.

In 1997, Josh brought together his-then band The Acquitted Felons to Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, CA. Together they played for three days straight under the non-stop influence of psychedelic mushrooms. Or so the story goes...

Those three days gave birth to what became the Desert Sessions. Literally music sessions without rules, letting creativity spark where it may and partnership is key. Since then 10 'volumes' have been released.

Over thirty musicians (and some animals) have participated in the Desert Sessions, with the likes of Dave Catching, Fred Drake, Brant Bjork, Ben Shepherd, Pete Stahl, John McBain, Jesse Hughes, Craig Armstrong, Nick Oliveri, Mario and Larry Lalli, T. Fresh, Blag Dahlia, Gene Trautmann, Adam Maples, Teddy Quinn, Tony Mason, Barrett Martin, Alain Johannes, Natasha Shneider, Mark Lanegan, Brendon McNichol, Samantha Maloney, Chris Goss, Dean Ween, Josh Freese, Jeordie White, Joey Castillo, Brian O'Conner, Troy Van Leeuwen, PJ Harvey and Alfredo Hernández joining Josh to record.

Several songs recorded have been reworked/rerecorded and made the leap to QOTSA albums, notably Hangin' Tree, In My Head and I Wanna Make It Wit Chu. Also, during the 2004 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival The Desert Sessions 'band' performed for the first and, so far, only time.

A rumor per the official Rekords Rekords hinted that as of January 2008 recording has begun on volumes 11/12.

QOTSA Team Up With Celeb Chef Anthony Bourdain For Weirdest Holiday Special Ever

QOTSA played "Silver Bells" (renamed "Turkey Bells") for a holiday-themed episode of No Reservations. "We just got a call saying, 'Hey, we have a weird idea,'" frontman Josh Homme told us. "So when people come to us with that sort of a statement we are all ears."

While Homme and Bourdain aren't giving up the whole story, they revealed the episode will involve karaoke, surly adolescents and a Japanese businessman.

Though Homme is slightly worried the band has ruined "ten years of credibility" by participating in this holiday nightmare, it was worth it: "Most of the time, if you tried to suggest that we get into sweaters like that we would probably just drink you under the table and leave you for dead, but this is a special case."

The episode aired on the Travel Channel on 12/10/07.

Hinted at back in 2005 by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, this supergroup comprised of Grohl, Homme, and former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones has finally come to life. Known as Them Crooked Vultures, very little is still yet known about the supergroup.

Internet rumors swirled for months until the news that the band would debut on August 9th, 2009 at an Lollapollza aftershow party in Chicago, IL.

The group is also rumored to be releasing their first album in October or November 2009.

Kyuss
Sons of Kyuss 1990
Wretch 1991
Blues For the Red Sun 1992
Welcome to Sky Valley 1994
...And the Circus Leaves Town 1995
Shine/Short Term Memory Loss 1996
Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age 1997
Muchas Gracias: The Best of Kyuss 2000

The Desert Sessions
Volume 1: Instrumental Driving Music For Felons 1997
Volume 2: Status: Ships Commander Butchered 1997
Volume 3: Set Coordinates for the White Dwarf!!! 1998
Volume 4: Hard Walls and Little Trips 1998
Volume 5: Poetry for the Masses (Sea Shred Shit Head By the She Sore) 1999
Volume 6: Poetry For the Masses (Black Anvil Ego) 1999
Volume 7: Gypsy Marches 2001
Volume 8: Can You See Under My Thumb? 2001
Volume 9: I See You Hearin' Me 2003
Volume 10: I Heart Disco 2003

Eagles of Death Metal
Peace Love Death Metal 2004
Death By Sexy 2006
Heart On 2008

Queens of the Stone Age
Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age 1997
The Split CD 1998
Queens of the Stone Age 1998
Rated R 2000
Songs For the Deaf 2002
Stone Age Complications 2004
Lullabies to Paralyze 2005
Over the Years and Through the Woods 2005
Era Vulgaris 2007

Them Crooked Vultures
Them Crooked Vultures 2009

Other Credits
Metallurgy, Vol 1 (Various, 1995)
Godzilla EP (Fu Manchu. 1996)
If Only Everything (Gamma Ray/QotSA, 1996)
I Feel Alright (Mike Johnson, 1998)
Brotherhood of Electric: Operational Directives (Wellwater Conspiracy, 1999)
Cocaine Rodeo (Mondo Generator, 2000)
Heavy Metal 2000 (Soundtrack, 2000)
Us (Various, 2000)
Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows (Sountrack, 2000)
Soul Survivors (Soundtrack, 2001)
Alpha MotherF******: A Tribute to Turbonegro (Various, 2001)
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (Soundtrack, 2002)
Here Comes the Zoo (Local H, 2002)
Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three (Various, 2002)
xXx (Soundtrack, 2002)
WW: Tough Enough, Vol. 2 (Various, 2002)
Disco Marching Kraft (Earthlings?, 2002)
Flak 'n' Flight (Masters of Reality, 2003)
Never, Never Land (UNKLE, 2003)
Here Comes That Weird Chill (Mark Lanegan Band, 2003)
A Drug Problem That Never Exsisted (Mondo Generator, 2003)
Wrong Turn (Soundtrack, 2003)
Quixotic (Martina Topley-Bird, 2003)
Bubblegum (Mark Lanegan Band, 2004)
Auf der Maur (Auf der Maur, 2004)
The Punisher (Soundtrack, 2004)
Domino (Soundtrack, 2005)
Romance Bloody Romance: Remixes & B-Sides (DFA 1979, 2005)
In Your Honor (Foo Fighters, 2005)
Saw II (Soundtrack, 2005)
Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen (Various, 2005)
Blood Mountain (Mastodon, 2006)
Masters of Horror, vol 2 (Soundtrack, 2006)
You Only Live Once (The Strokes, 2006)
Beerfest (Soundtrack, 2006)
Back To Mine (Liam Prodigy, 2006)
Impeach My Bush (Peaches, 2006)
Licker's Last Leg (Goon Moon, 2007)
War Stories (UNKLE, 2007)
Glitter in the Gutter (Jesse Malin, 2007)
Hot Rod (Soundtrack, 2007