Today
I realized that hope for good unpretentious rock musicians is
not lost after all. There will always be a few good guys and
gals writing and rocking out good songs that capture your spirit
to party on. QOTSA are some of these good people. “Regular
Johns” if you will. Which happens to be the first song
on their first record. I only heard these guys a few weeks before
I met them and it inspired me to show up to their show unannounced
at the Press Club in Sacto, hoping for an interview. I found
their manager and he was very courteous and was stoked that
I wanted to interview the band. A rarity in the music biz. When
I got into the tour bus with Nick Oliveri and Josh Homme they
opened up very easily after breaking the ice with a few basic
questions. Casually pounding down some brews, Josh and Nick
schooled me that being in a good rock band is actually a relentless
sacrifice for self expression. Josh recounted some great times
like playing with Ween and Nick countered with, playing Spring
Break with Godsmack really sucked. So what started out as an
interview, turned into just shooting the shit with the band.
Josh was actually excited to play in Sacramento when many bands
could give a shit, especially the Press Club. He actually cared
about the Cal skate and snow scene and was hoping for a good
turn out. “This scene doesn’t know who we are, but
I like them a lot” Josh talking about a show they played
with Unwritten Law at Mammoth and, the crowd there. I give major
props and respect to these guys for their ego-less attitude
and also for the product they put out. In today’s corporate
spoon fed copy cat bands QOTSA stand out as true originals.
I can compare them to the likes of Fugazi, Nirvana, and Jane’s
Addiction. Not by their sound or style but just for being different
than the rest.
Q1 Stoner Rock
We’re not ‘Stoner Rock’ dude,We’re just
rock and roll! adamatly replies, Nick Oliveri bass player of
QOTSA. Those guys are our peers, they’re our age, we’ve
known them for years, adds guitarist and singer Josh Homme refering
to Nebula and Fu Manchu.
Nick- Yeah, we’re friends with all those guys and I don’t
mind being linked to them you know but I wouldn’t put stoner
rock as the label.
Josh- We always denouce it, because we have nothing better to
do, and it just seems like labels are just someone’s way
of saying it’s kind of like this. Like putting a picture
in your mind. But my only problem with stoner rock is that it
kind of like, antiquates everything with drugs, as if they were
the epicenter, or like the sun and all these bands are like
the planets in the solar system, revolving around drugs. That’s
just dumbing it down, and it’s a shame.
Q2 Success
Nick- We’re just going to keep playing music you know and
writing songs and doing whatever comes natural like songwriting
wise and playing wise. Whatever feels good and sounds good.
I mean as far as if it catches on to a bunch of people, I don’t
know.
Josh- Some of those goals are lofty and they’re too much
based on luck and shit like that or timing or whatever you want
to call it. So since we’re totally broke I think we’ll
just work and play out of love and neccessity. We love to do
it. We don’t want to be bartenders or work at 7 eleven.
So we’re going to work all the time. If that turns into
something, we’ll deal with that, but I don’t think
we’re striving to be like...We need to get a platinum record
by the end of this year or...it’s over. I mean we’re
lifers. I just hope people keep showing up, because we’re
going to be out there.
Q3 Greatest show ever
Josh- My favorite moment ever is when we opened for Bad Religion
at the Glass House, and not because the kids liked us, but because
they hated us. We were so viatimately like, we’re gonna
scare you, it doesn’t matter what you think. We’re
still here, and we changed the situation so much from the beginning
to the end that it just felt like a beautiful moment. To get
people that you haven’t played a note and they hate your
guts to by the end be scared shitless of you. It was just beautiful.
Nick- We went after them.
Josh- What makes it great, is that when something doesn’t
always happen, happens. Total spontenaity.
Q4 What are you listening to?
Josh- Man, we have such a broad taste and like every tour we
change out so that a new batch comes in. It goes from Johnny
Cash to the Stooges to GBH to Bjork to Tom Waits to The Cramps.
It has no habits and shows no sign of stopping. We’re at
a point now where we just don’t affiliate with anybody.
Like any scene or anything. There’s just too much good
music. It’s now like we have our collective taste buds
and whatever we think sucks we don’t listen to. It’s
like this. I don’t like onions, but I wish I did, because
if I did, then I could eat anything off the menu. Music is the
same way. I wish I liked everything, because then it would be
easy for me. I could just listen to everything. It’s only
supposed to be for fun and so if you liked everything it would
be great because you would be like fuck yeah, turn it up! Someday
I’ll be able to eat a onion like an apple and on that same
day all music will make sense to me.
Q5 Tour Stories.
Nick- We played this place called the “Outhouse” along
ass time ago in ‘91.
Josh- Security there were all skinheads and they had AK-47’s
with the pin grinded down so they were automatic and they’re
on acid! I’m taking a piss in the cornfield and I’m
whistling and pissing and I hear this pup! pup! pup! pup! pup!
and I fucking hit the deck and damn near dove in my own piss.
I turn around and it’s two skinheads firing automatic rounds
into the sky, trippin’ their balls off. I was like this
is a little bit fucking crazy.
Nick- All I remember was the road to get there, the cops could
drive on but, it was the actual county line road and there was
no road on the other side where they could actually go to where
the Outhouse is. It was out of their juristiction or whatever.
Not that lack of road could stop them, but I think they were
glad, because they would constantly be going to the Outhouse.
Josh- We got there before everybody and there’s no doors
or nothing there cuz they had to bring the PA and shit and we’re
like what the fuck is this? And the outhouse part of it was
busted and we’re like there’s no fucking outhouse
even. It’s just house. I was like 18 you were 19. It was
our first tour going with someone else. It was with the Dwarves.
Have you heard that song “Dairy Queen”?
Nick- I had to sing for the Dwarves that night because we were
caravaning together and we left the singer at a Dairy Queen
on accident. We had two vans and the drivers were like OK, 7
in this one because we were switching and we just figured the
pot smoking van is over there,and Blag is probably in it, let’s
roll.
Josh- Blag had his rock gloves on, a cut off black t-shirt,
sweats and no shoes. He’s taking a shit and we leave him
there and he has no money and he’s about two hours away
from Lawrence (KS). We asked the bass player Salt Peter should
we get him? because we realized an hour and a half in. He’s
like, Oh, he’s a big boy, he’s probably already thumbed
it by now. He knows where the place is we’ve played here
many times. If we go all the way back he’ll be gone already.
If it were one of our guys, we’d never leave a man behind.
So he waited there for six hours. The irony of the whole thing.
Nick- The song is about him picking up a girl at the Dairy Queen,
and the chorus is “she was my Dairy Queen” etc so
I sang we left Blag at Dairy Queen, it was funny.
Q6 MP3 and Napster
Josh- It fucks bands over like us that are signed, to an Nth
degree. If you’re unsigned and on MP3 and shit that’s
great, it’s awesome. We already let bootleggers tape all
the shows. Our advanced CDs are going for $130 bucks on eBay
and there are seven of them. Some people say isn’t that
cool? No, people are paying $130 for a CD. That’s not cool.
It’s something they could pay a lot cheaper for when it
comes out on June 6th. Someone’s taking $130 direct on
a CD they got for free. They’re taking a $130 from someone
who likes the band and then we don’t get anything, and
we already don’t have anything. They’re fucking over
the bands that are signed as if the record companies weren’t
doing it already. We have three songs on MP3 from the new record
and most of the time it’s people who really like our music.
Thanks bro, that’s really cool? We have two songs on Napster
and I hope they (Metallica) just drill them to the wall. If
you want to fuck over the record companies be my guest. I’ll
be the first to show you the door, but do you have to fuck us
over? I don’t mind if you burn a CD for a friend, because
if they really like it hopefully they’ll come to our show
and it will turn itself around. I mean what can you do? It’s
like someone being a dick to you and you don’t even know.
Nick- It doesn’t bother me so much, but I think it’s
bullshit that someone is profiting off of something that took
a lot of time, effort and money. Blood, sweat, and tears going
into the studio to make the best record possible and I’m
fucking going through my change jar to buy a pack of smokes
and some dude is making dough.
Q7 Ozzfest
Josh- There’s a lot of heavyness there.
Nick- Which is good for us, because we’re the odd band
out. We’ll give them something different from hearing the
same type shit. I haven’t heard a lot of the bands, and
the ones I have, it’s like I don’t hate it, but it’s
not something I would choose to listen to.Of all the bands playing
with Ozzy is cool.
Josh- Hopefully we’ll be a breath of fresh air early on.
It’s because we’re not pissed off.
Nick- More power to em dude. Good for them, they’ll probably
sell millions to these fucking pissed off kids, cuz everybody’s
pissed dude. When I was a kid I was fucking pissed! Kids are
pissed and kids buy records.
Josh- Maybe we should examine this and delve into being pissed
off.
Nick- Should we get pissed and start getting mad? Let’s
try it dude. Hey, we got to sell some records man, let’s
get pissed! Keep that frown down.
Today
I realized that hope for good unpretentious rock musicians is
not lost after all. There will always be a few good guys and
gals writing and rocking out good songs that capture your spirit
to party on. QOTSA are some of these good people. “Regular
Johns” if you will. Which happens to be the first song
on their first record. I only heard these guys a few weeks before
I met them and it inspired me to show up to their show unannounced
at the Press Club in Sacto, hoping for an interview. I found
their manager and he was very courteous and was stoked that
I wanted to interview the band. A rarity in the music biz. When
I got into the tour bus with Nick Oliveri and Josh Homme they
opened up very easily after breaking the ice with a few basic
questions. Casually pounding down some brews, Josh and Nick
schooled me that being in a good rock band is actually a relentless
sacrifice for self expression. Josh recounted some great times
like playing with Ween and Nick countered with, playing Spring
Break with Godsmack really sucked. So what started out as an
interview, turned into just shooting the shit with the band.
Josh was actually excited to play in Sacramento when many bands
could give a shit, especially the Press Club. He actually cared
about the Cal skate and snow scene and was hoping for a good
turn out. “This scene doesn’t know who we are, but
I like them a lot” Josh talking about a show they played
with Unwritten Law at Mammoth and, the crowd there. I give major
props and respect to these guys for their ego-less attitude
and also for the product they put out. In today’s corporate
spoon fed copy cat bands QOTSA stand out as true originals.
I can compare them to the likes of Fugazi, Nirvana, and Jane’s
Addiction. Not by their sound or style but just for being different
than the rest.