INTERVIEWED FOR LIVEGUIDE…
One is always mindful of a band that creates an almost cartoon image of themselves, steeped in self myth-making posturing and innuendo. The Eagles Of Death Metal -primarily Jesse ‘The Devil’ Hughes and Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age) – are two childhood friends who ended up forming a band to live out their rock n roll fantasies of girls and guitars and it quickly becomes apparent that their main agenda is merely to have fun and hang with friends. “Oh yeah man, it is the greatest life in the world” says Hughes.

Growing up in Palm Springs, the seeds of their friendship were planted on the soccer field rather than the practice room but talk soon turned to dreams of playing rock music, more so for Homme says Hughes. “Ironically the conversations were (and he was in Kyuss at the time) him asking me why I wasn’t in a band and I was like “dude, I don’t want to be a rock n roller thank you very much!” Hughes went on to study journalism and then worked for the Republican party as a speech writer before coming late to the music world.

Looking back at those early days in the Californian desert Hughes is quick to point out the unique environment that formed the musical climate of the area. “The last place that Jimi Hendrix played was in Palm Desert, the very first generator party was Eric Burdon and the Animals, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone going out to Tahquitz Canyon and having a party. So musical culture really got be around here,” he explains. “High school bands were like Frank Zappa instead of the Beastie Boys so we listened to a lot of fucking music and for example the first time I ever snuck out of the house to go to a concert was to see Black Flag and Fishbone at the Community Center. We listened to a lot of music, especially SST era punk rock like Black Flag. I loved the Ramones and The Damned.”

Almost every EODM song will always contain references to girls and partying and the one exception on the recent Heart On is the lonely lament ‘How Can A Man Feel So Alone With So Many Friends’. It signals a change in subject matter though it still keeps with the theme of the album and the love/hate relationship Hughes has with LA. “When I listened to music I got an idea of what music is for, it is to express shit and not just the pretension of singing a song. So Hollywood really played heavy in what I was going through and that song was about a night out at a party in Hollywood and when Josh and Brody (Dalle) left everyone was my friend, I really felt alone.” he recalls.

A common thread that runs through all of the work of Hughes and Homme is their restless work-rate and regular collaborations. Homme has recently produced Arctic Monkeys and is currently putting together a new Desert Sessions, his recurring communal jam in the desert. Hughes too has been busy with 50 shows already in 2009 and new projects in the works. ” I’m always writing, I’m about to record a solo record and I want it to be the greatest record ever made you know.” he says, before adding that the EODM alumni will no doubt contribute to the album, “I cannot help the manner in which I was raised in this world and the model of our family is how I work so I’m gonna let the songs dictate who plays on it.”

EODM live shows are always a high octane experience, never short on rock n roll cliches, energy and exuberance. “Ever since Joey (Castillo – Queens Of The Stone Age) joined us on drums its like a military operation like, how are we gonna fuck ‘em tonight,” he enthuses,” I love my band, we are really like a crack military unit and Joshua (Homme) is the general. He may be somewhere else but we’re the fucking assassins, that’s how it feels sometimes.” Even though the band is often without Homme on tour they have proved that they can put on a killer show with ‘The Devil’ at the helm.

Though EODM celebrates the bacchanalian nature of the music industry Hughes is not one to be distracted by the falseness of the Hollywood machine. When asked which parts of the music business are the biggest pain in the ass he laughingly replies, “The butt fucking gets me in the ass every time,” before adding, “The most painful thing is the self induced ignorance that you see people operating under. It seems like a generalized thing but its the mutual facade that everyone engages in where everyone knows they’ve got chocolate on their face but they’re so pretending they didn’t eat the fucking candy bar. I hate LA when its filled with people, I love it when there’s no one there.”

Hughes heads to Australia in April with his band of musical assassins to tour their most accomplished album to date and with this country’s long obsession with all things rock it is clear that all parties will revel in the tongue-in-cheek and well intentioned rock n roll of the Eagles Of Death Metal.