By Geoffrey Rowlands
Like Clockwork has become by far the most successful album released by American rockers Queens of The Stone Age. It reached No. 2 on the UK chart and topped the Billboard 200. It might also never have been made.
“I had actually died,” stated singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, frontman and band founder Josh Homme. “I had what should have been a routine operation on my knee. Things didn’t go according to plan and I quite literally died on the operating table. They had to defibrillate me, basically electrocute me back to life.
“I felt something was wrong as soon as I woke up. But I still couldn’t really understand what the surgeon was talking about when he said they’d almost lost me until I saw the marks from the defibrillator on my chest.”
Complications arising from the operation saw Josh bedridden for four months. He fell into a deep depression which left him feeling unable to make music for the first time in his life.
“Since I was a kid, I’d always heard new music in my head. This had gone. I could only hear songs by other artists. It felt like my songwriting ability had been stolen. I feared I’d never be able to write another song.”
Josh retreated into family life with his wife, Spinnerette and former Distillers singer Brody Dalle, and their two young children. He rarely spoke with anyone else, let alone saw his Queens of The Stone Age bandmates.
“The other guys eventually got through to me and I tried to start working again. But I’d lost my confidence, the time wasn’t right. Things finally changed last August when I wrote The Vampyre Of Time and Memory. I still didn’t feel confident. But Brody said the only important thing was that the song is real. That’s the attitude I took with every song on the new album.”
Josh is the only original member remaining in the band. Initially known as Gamma Ray before being forced to adopt a different moniker by a German power metal band who were already using the name, Queens Of The Stone Age have undergone numerous personnel changes during the last 18 years. Three drummers were used for the songs on ... Like Clockwork.
“I’ve never been afraid to make changes if I felt things weren’t right. But firing someone doesn’t mean it’s the end of my relationship with them. I’ve always given my reasons. They might not like them at the time but we can usually remain friends or become friends again at some point in the future.”
Bass player/ vocalist Nick Oliveri is the perfect example of this. Josh fired his one-time best friend in 2004. Their friendship was reignited in due course and Nick is among numerous guest artists to perform on ... Like Clockwork. One of the others is Sir Elton John.
“I couldn’t believe it when Elton called me. I thought it was one of my friends playing a joke. He’d been listening to some of our old albums and wanted to get involved with the new one. He started as a session pianist and still loves playing on other people’s songs often without being credited. He came into the studio and jammed with us. It was fantastic.”
Josh and his bandmates, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, keyboardist Dean Fertita, bassist Michael Shuman and new drummer Jon Theodore, are currently touring in support of ... Like Clockwork. But universal critical acclaim has effectively sold the album for them.
“This amazing response is extremely gratifying. I’ve never written particularly personal songs in the past but these new tracks are definitely from the heart. I guess concentrating on personal subject matter is how I was able to start writing songs again. It’s nice to know my efforts have been appreciated.”
IN BRIEF
Karmin
Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan, collectively known as Karmin, are back with a new single, Acapella.
The duo found fame last year with the chart success of Brokenhearted and Hello. The former was a world-wide mainstream smash while both tracks topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
Taken from their forthcoming as-yet-untitled debut album, Acapella was created almost exclusively with the human voice.
“We wanted to make an unorthodox song,” Amy remarked. “There have been other songs where the ‘music’ was produced vocally but it’s always been obvious. Our idea was to create a song on which it seems like instruments made the music but the sounds were actually made by voice.
“We couldn’t do everything in this way but 85% of the sounds you hear were made by our vocal chords. We’ve just added some effects to make the sounds bigger or more industrial.”
No promotional video has been made as yet but Amy and Nick appear as silhouettes in a lyric video for Acapella. This can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3M-_HJqgAs.
Nina Nesbitt
Scottish singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt turns 19 on July 11. Her third single, Way In The World, will be released 10 days later.
This is the title-track from Nina’s fifth EP. It is the follow-up to her breakthrough hit, Stay Out, which reached number 21 in Britain last April.
Official videos for Stay Out and Way In The World are among the 10 posted at www.ninanesbittmusic.com/videos/2. Other videos available on the website include nine posted in a section labelled as Nessie TV. These offer a behind-the-scenes look at Nina’s life.
If you enjoy her music, a live version of Not Me, one of the four tracks on her Way In The World EP, is available for free download from the home page on Nina’s website.
Cassandra Michaels
Cassandra Michaels has just released her new single, Fighting For Our Love. “It’s the most personal song I have ever recorded,” said the 18-year-old Los Angeles-based singer and actress. “I think that’s what sparked the magic. We only really make the effort to fight for things we deeply care about. I learned love is something for which it is always worth fighting.”
The Fighting For Our Love video is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEr1AU24RTc.
Her other YouTube postings see Cassandra performing acoustic covers of songs by Emeli Sande, Zedd and Justin Timberlake. Her version of Justin’s track, Mirrors, can be downloaded for free. Check out the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KDDaQHL-sI and click a link below the date to access the download. Two of her own songs, Say It Right Now and Shine, are available to hear at www.reverbnation.com/cassandramichaels.
Hunter Hayes
The people at Martin Guitars have teamed with multiple Grammy nominated country music singer, musician and songwriter Hunter Hayes for a competition on Facebook.
First prize is a new Martin OM-42 guitar, the same model played by Hunter, and six months of Martin SP Lifespan strings. Entryis easy, just click the ‘Like’ button on www.facebook.com/martinguitar or www.facebook.com/hunterhayes. Full competition details can be found in a link from either webpage. The contest ends on September 3.
All 12 songs on Hunter’s self-titled debut album are posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5nCzfye7WI.