If you’ve listened to Queens of the Stone Age’s latest album, Villains, and weren’t a fan, singer/guitarist Josh Homme understands. In fact, he’s not bothered by it at all. Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Bruno Mars) produced the new album, and the fact that it’s miles removed from Kyuss is not a coincidence. Homme recently spoke to radio station The Current about his decision to change things up and work with a pop producer on the album. When asked if he was surprised by any backlash for his choice, Home said he wasn’t:
No, I was expecting it. It would be safe to understand that I might have known that that was going to happen. I do believe that there’s no stasis or static in life. You’re growing or dying. And, I feel if I’m challenging myself and if we’re challenging each other, we’re going in the right direction. The by-product of that is that anyone that’s into us should expect the poke in the chest because we’re doing it to ourselves first. Part of me thinks that every time we put something out, we may lose 20 percent of the people. That 20 percent of the people might go: “It’s changed! Where’s my band that I had?” You can pre-suppose that. I told this to Ronson, “If 15 percent of the people don’t hate you, you suck.” He said: “I’m just trying to get it to 40.”
Given the response that the album’s gotten, he’s failing miserably. The Kyuss fans that wrote off Queens of the Stone Age probably did so long ago, and the fact that the band keeps evolving is what keeps them exciting.
You can listen to the show interview on The Current’s website.
