Queens of the Stone Age

When Queens of the Stone Age last visited us they were touring the stomping Era Vulgaris album and treated fans to a series of phenomenal shows with a set list which spanned their entire back catalogue. When Josh Homme and his crew of stoner rock titans return they’ll be treating us to the full glory of their recently reissued self titled debut. (And hopefully we’ll also get to hear a handful of new tracks from their forthcoming record, set for release later this year. )

With the band’s Soundwave Festival tour fast approaching, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen spoke to FL about performing medical operations backstage and Homme’s rise to superstar status, as well as sharing details about that upcoming album – “I think each record that Queens makes is a step in a direction that’s unknown to us.”

First of all where are you and what time is it?
I’m in Los Angeles and it’s coming up on dinner time. Just passed afternoon snack time, and almost dinner time.

I’ll try and keep it quick, then.
You’re totally in my eating schedule. I’ll get cranky.

You can eat while we talk. With the Melbourne and Sydney shows you’ll be playing the debut in full, have you changed up the songs at all? Obviously they’re ten years old…
You never know, we like to keep things fresh. But I think with the first album, as simple is it is, our intention is to just start there. We’re still a five piece band so Dean and myself are going to be playing a lot of percussion and keyboards, and very little guitar. That album’s like a three-piece. It’ll be great though to add those things that weren’t there in the beginning.

Is it weird for you guys who weren’t there to record the album in the first place?
For myself in particular, when I was playing with A Perfect Circle, I was listening to the first record constantly. I was always a fan of the record, and I like to keep it simple. I like the way it is, I’m sure we’re goin’ to pick moments to jam but for me, the more simple it is, the more genius it is.