Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme Reveals the Secret Behind His Famous Rock Collaborations

As the only remaining original member of Queens of the Stone Age, Josh Homme is synonymous with the band that boasts substantial critical repute, commercial success, and peer respect. But as QOTSA proceeds deeper into their 30th year, they’re preparing for two of their highest-profile tours yet this summer, with Foo Fighters in the U.S. and System of a Down in Europe, respectively. Since QOTSA’s inception, fans of heavy rock have always regarded Homme as the leader of the group, due to his authorship of the vast majority of its songs and his role as the project’s mainstay member as its cast rotated routinely over the years.

Indeed, Homme’s imposing presence and distinct appearance as a 6’4” red-haired front man adds to his band’s singularly striking presence in the rock universe. But not only are there well-founded doubts that QOTSA may not have lasted as long as it were it not for the other musicians who have membership in the band on their resumes, Homme’s ever-growing list of collaborations with the creme de la creme of mainstream music has boosted his prominence even higher than his often unconventional take on rock music alone would have accomplished.

Josh Homme Finds Himself Right at Home in the Desert

Image via Kyuss

Born in May 1973, the guitarist Homme co-founded a band that eventually became known as Kyuss in his birthplace, the Palm Desert in California, at the tender age of 14. In tow were friends including Nick Oliveri, Brant Bjork, and John Garcia; together, they became pioneers in developing a sound called “desert rock” (also known as “stoner rock”).

Named in part after their home base, the music style combined heavy rock with a psychedelic bent, distinguished by a low-end sound and guitars channeled through bass amplifiers. They also played so-called “generator shows” at night in the desert, congregating an increasing number of friends large enough to qualify as a new community taken with Kyuss’ new twist on hard rock. Kyuss lasted eight years — impressive for a group consisting of teens — after which Homme relocated to Seattle in 1995. He decided to end his music career and study business instead. That dalliance with academics didn’t last long, though, as the following year he got pulled back into the world of rock music.

One of the top dogs in the grunge movement, the Screaming Trees, originally hired him in 1996 to tour as a rhythm guitarist for their stint with that summer’s Lollapalooza festival. Homme meshed so well with the group, in particular vocalist and eventual close friend Mark Lanegan, that the Screaming Trees kept Homme around after their stint on the road finished.

Queens of the Stone Age Is Crowned as Rock’s NBT

Image via Jas Lehal Media Assignments/PA Images/INSTARimages

Turning out to be an impressively prolific musical artist, Homme formed his most popular project to date, a band that became known as Queens of the Stone Age, also in 1996. The group isn’t considered to be a collective per se, as Homme has always had a roster of musicians intended to be permanent members of the band (Oliveri played bass for it from 1998 to 2004, for example).

That said, Homme’s eventual repute as one of the most innovative and talented guitarists in alternative rock, not to mention his famed songwriting and angelic falsetto vocals, drew him legions of admirers in the rock world. Homme quickly gained a reputation as a “musician’s musician” and attracted the likes of Lanegan, a horde of his Palm Desert amigos, and legendary Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford on the second QOTSA record, 2000’s Rated R.

But it was that album’s successor, Songs for the Deaf (2002) that saw QOTSA get the biggest boost in mainstream rock. Homme’s decision to rope in not only Lanegan but also one of the most popular musicians of the last three decades — Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl — propelled the album to new heights. It continues to be arguably the band’s best and most beloved album to date. Early rumors that QOTSA was rock’s “next big thing” eventually became a reality, as evidenced by the numbers: approximately 3.5 million records sold, nine Grammy Award nominations, and headlining slots at major rock festivals around the world.

Josh Homme’s Desert Parties With the Cool Kids

Image via @soundgarden Instagram

Concurrent with QOTSA, Homme maintained a side affair called Desert Sessions that resembles a playground where he invites friends old and new to jam, improvise, and test-flight new ideas for QOTSA. Desert Sessions can’t accurately be called a band, as it has never had a formal lineup and doesn’t perform live. However, it released 12 compilations of material, dubbed as “volumes,” from 1997 until 2019.

Typically headquartered at the now-famous Palm Springs recording studio Rancho de la Luna — operated by occasional QOTSA participant and Homme’s close pal Alain Johannes — Desert Sessions’ current status is unclear. Its guest list nonetheless speaks (pun intended) volumes about Homme’s popularity and consistently large social circle.

PJ Harvey; Primus’ Les Claypool; ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons; Oliveri; and members of a vast array of rock bands including Eagles of Death Metal, Warpaint, Scissor Sisters, Royal Blood, The Hives, Marilyn Manson‘s band, Soundgarden, and A Perfect Circle are a mere fraction of the contributors to Desert Sessions. (Such company undercuts a reputation Homme developed in the tabloids for multiple public physical encounters and subsequent anger-management therapy.)

With Friends Like These … Queens of the Stone Age Go Mainstream

It’s a tall order to tally all the musicians, ranging from lesser-known players to superstars, who count the famously wry and dry-witted Homme as a friend. His partnership with Grohl blossomed into a side project called Them Crooked Vultures, for which they brought in legendary Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Homme’s discography with Grohl grew even further when they teamed up with Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor on a song tied to a documentary Grohl made paying tribute to historic recording studio Sound City in 2013.

That same year saw the release of a new QOTSA album, Like Clockwork …, which featured members of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE; as well as Elton John. (Perhaps ironically, that album included a song called “Fairweather Friends,” in which Homme vented about unnamed past pals toward whom he had developed resentments.) QOTSA returned the favor with a cover of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” on a 2018 tribute album to John.

Separate from his QOTSA match-ups, in 2016, Homme produced and performed throughout Iggy Pop’s album Post Pop Depression; and played multiple instruments, and helped write and produce Lady Gaga‘s Joanne LP. Homme participated in McCartney III Imagined, a collection of reworked Paul McCartney songs, and the two participated together in an Instagram Live session five years ago. In February of this year, Homme linked up with Norah Jones for a cover of Frank & Nancy Sinatra‘s ‘Somethin’ Stupid” for her podcast, Norah Jones Is Playing Along.

Reverence for Homme’s musical abilities, breaking new ground in rock music as he initially did with Kyuss, and list of achievements continues to grow with each passing year and QOTSA endeavor (most recently a concert film Alive in the Catacombs and a series of concerts in unconventional venues around the world surrounding it). With an unquenchable thirst to further his musical talents and explorations, and collaborate with seemingly every musician under the sun, only time will tell who Homme partners with next.