QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE BAND PAGE
 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
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CURRENT NAME
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Queens Of The Stone Age |
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FORMER NAMES
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Gamma Ray |
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ORIGIN
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USA |
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STATUS
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Active |
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FORMED IN
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1996 |
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LABEL
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Interscope Records |
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GENRE
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Stoner |
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STYLE
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- |
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LYRICAL THEME
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- |
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BAND ADDED
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2005-03-24, 00:00 |
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LAST UPDATE
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2008-04-04, 09:01 |
Formed from the ashes of stoner rock icons Kyuss, Queens of
the Stone Age reunited the group's singer/guitarist Josh Homme, drummer
Alfredo Hernandez, and bassist Nick Oliveri along with new
guitarist/keyboardist Dave Catching. The project's origins date back to Homme, who
in the wake of Kyuss' 1995 demise relocated to Seattle to tour with the
Screaming Trees; he soon began working with a revolving lineup of
musicians including the Trees' Van Conner, Soundgarden's Matt Cameron, and
Dinosaur Jr.'s Mike Johnson, recording a series of 7"s originally issued
under the name Gamma Ray. After rechristening the group Queens of the
Stone Age, Homme recruited Hernandez to begin work on their self-titled
debut LP, issued in late 1998 on Loosegroove; after the album was
completed, Oliveri left the Dwarves to re-join his former bandmates, with
the subsequent addition of Catching rounding out the roster. In addition
to extensive touring, Homme put together a series of albums for!
the indie label Man's Ruin; the various volumes of The Desert Sessions
feature Homme's collaborations with a loose-knit, revolving-door lineup
of like-minded musicians, some from bands like Soundgarden, Fu Manchu,
and Monster Magnet.
In mid-2000, Queens of the Stone Age issued their sophomore album, R
(as in the movie rating; some promo copies were distributed with the
original title, "II"), before appearing on that year's Ozzfest tour. By
that point, drummer Hernandez had been replaced by a tag-team combo of
Gene Troutman and Nicky Lucero. The group built a healthy buzz courtesy of
accolades from such renowned publications as Rolling Stone, and due to
good-old-fashioned touring. 2001 saw the group perform at the massive
Rock in Rio festival (after which Oliveri was arrested by the Brazilian
police for performing nude) and a spot on the year's Ozzfest. The same
year, Homme and Oliveri put together yet another volume of the Desert
Sessions series, while QOTSA assembled a third studio album.
Ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl was very vocal in the press about his
admiration of the Queens, which led to an invitation for him to join the
group for the third album's recording and, subsequently, supporting
tour. Surprisingly, Grohl accepted, putting the Foo Fighters on hold
(despite having a new album completed and ready to go). One of the year's
most eagerly anticipated hard rock albums, Songs for the Deaf was issued
in August of 2002, and was preceded by a tour that saw Oliveri and Homme
joined by Grohl on drums, ex-Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, and
A Perfect Circle guitarist/keyboardist Troy Van Leeuwen. As if their
schedules weren't busy enough between QOTSA and their other projects,
Oliveri and Homme signed on to pen the musical score to the movie The
Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (with backing by Rage Against the Machine
drummer Brad Wilk), and formed a new project, Headband, with ex-Marilyn
Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez and Amen frontman Casey Chaos.
Written by Greg Prato for Allmusic.com.
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Buy Queens Of The Stone Age albums
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