Josh Homme

Joshua Michael Homme (born May 17, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor. He is the founder, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he formed in 1996 and in which he sings lead vocals and plays guitar, as well as occasionally playing bass, piano, and drums. He also co-founded Eagles of Death Metal in 1998, playing drums for their studio recordings and occasionally performing live with them.

Homme was formerly the co-founder and guitarist of the stoner rock band Kyuss from 1987 to 1995. He has produced a musical improv series with other musicians (mostly from the Palm Desert Scene) known as The Desert Sessions since 1997. He formed a new project in 2009 called Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones, releasing their self-titled debut album later that year. In 2016, he produced, co-wrote, and performed on the Iggy Pop album Post Pop Depression. He has also been involved with acts such as Foo Fighters and Arctic Monkeys.

Early life
Joshua Michael Homme was born in Joshua Tree, California, on May 17, 1973, the son of Irene and Michael Homme. His father was a private general contractor who built houses around the Coachella Valley. Homme has an older brother named Jason. His surname is believed to originate from the Norwegian village of Homme; he also has Canadian, English, French, German, and Swedish ancestry. He grew up in a well-known family in and around Palm Desert, California. His paternal grandfather, Clancy "Cap" Homme, moved to the area from North Dakota and was an early settler of the Valley. Cap has a private street named after him in Rancho Mirage, marking the original road to the Homme ranch, as well as a park named after him in an exclusive enclave of the Valley. Homme moved with his family on a regular basis due to his father's work, residing in many towns around the Valley.

In 2011, Homme discussed having to "create [his] own fun" as a child growing up in the desert, stating that he did not start playing music to "get girls or make money" and that he assumed he would grow up to be a contractor like his father. He also has ties in Idaho and has talked about his formative experiences there, such as seeing Carl Perkins perform at the Sandpoint Music Festival and the first time purchasing his own electric guitar (an Ovation Ultra GP) in a Sandpoint music store. Homme began playing guitar at the age of nine, after his parents denied his wishes for a drum kit. He took guitar lessons for the next few years, where his teacher predominantly focused on polka music. During this time, Homme supposedly did not learn of a barre chord or a pick until well into his third year, lending to his unique playing style. He joined his first band, Autocracy, in 1985, at the age of 12. Despite his musical success, he continued to work on his grandfather's farm until he released the first Queens of the Stone Age album at the age of 25 because he "didn't want to lose [his] grip on reality".

Kyuss (1987–1995)
In 1987, when he was 14 years old, Homme formed a punk rock-influenced heavy metal band with schoolmates John Garcia and Brant Bjork in Palm Desert called Katzenjammer; he was the band's guitarist. After changing their name a few times, first to Sons of Kyuss (they released an EP of the same name), they finally shortened it to Kyuss. The band garnered a cult following by the early 1990s, often driving for hours to isolated locations in the desert and plugging into generators to perform. These events, known as "generator parties", became urban legend among rock subculture. The band became both famous for their heavy, down tuned, groove oriented music, and infamous for their backstage fights with local LA bands when they traveled into town to play gigs. This soon brought the attention of Chris Goss, who became the band's mentor, helping the band sign to a label and eventually producing them exclusively in an effort to preserve their sound. Due to Homme being younger than 18 at the time of the band's signing, his parents signed the contract on his behalf. Kyuss released four albums (Wretch, Blues for the Red Sun, Welcome to Sky Valley, and ...And the Circus Leaves Town), of which the final three Goss-produced efforts are often cited as cornerstones to the development of the stoner rock genre in the 1990s. Kyuss partially reformed in 2010 under the name Vista Chino, but Homme opted out of the reunion.

Queens of the Stone Age (1996–present)
When Kyuss split up in 1995, Homme moved to Seattle, Washington, briefly abandoning his desire for a music career and attending the University of Washington to study business. During this time, he fell back in with old musician friends such as Ben Shepherd and Mike Johnson, and eventually agreed to join the Screaming Trees as a rhythm guitarist on the summer Lollapalooza tour in 1996, a replacement for Johnson, and that continued into the following year. Homme and vocalist Mark Lanegan became close friends during this time but, disliking the rest of the band's continual disharmony, began considering forming his own band. He founded Gamma Ray, a group more centered on his unique style and tastes, in 1996. After a cease and desist from a band of the same name, this band became Queens of the Stone Age. The first release under the new name would be the Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age compilation EP featuring tracks from both Kyuss and songs recorded from the Gamma Ray EP sessions from 1996, released in late 1997. Queens of the Stone Age released their eponymous debut album in 1998. Initially, the band consisted of various friends of Homme's from the Seattle area. Homme had asked a number of singers, including Lanegan, to perform as lead vocalist for Queens of the Stone Age, but by the time of recording the band's debut album, he had moved back to Palm Desert and the band was pared down to just Homme and ex-Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez. Homme was left to cover every other instrument and ended up singing for the first time in his career. Shortly after recording, Homme and Hernandez were joined by bassist and vocalist Nick Oliveri and guitarist, keyboardist, and lapsteel player Dave Catching, so the band was now composed entirely of ex-Kyuss members and roadies.

Following their debut album, by which time Hernandez left the group, Queens of the Stone Age released the next album, Rated R, during which the band used a wider range of instruments to achieve a more relaxed, spacious and psychedelic sound. Though it differed from the band's debut, Rated R became Queens of the Stone Age's first mainstream hit. The next release, 2002's Songs for the Deaf, however, would gain even more buzz from the music community and fans alike. In Songs for the Deaf, Homme continued his filtering of stoner rock and hard rock. The album centers on Homme's memories of uncomfortable rides through the California desert, where he had performed in his days with Kyuss, and where there was little to do but listen to Spanish radio stations.

During this time, Homme had a falling out with Oliveri. Following the release of Songs for the Deaf, their relationship deteriorated until Homme fired Oliveri from the band in 2004. Homme reportedly strongly considered breaking up the band at this point.

Homme began writing the band's next album, Lullabies to Paralyze, named after a lyric from the Songs for the Deaf hidden track "Mosquito Song". Lullabies to Paralyze, created with Songs for the Deaf touring recruits Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo and collaborators and future recruits Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider of Eleven, was a critical and commercial success, debuting at number five on the Billboard 200, QOTSA's best charting album on the Billboard 200 to date.

Queens of the Stone Age's fifth album, Era Vulgaris, was released in early June 2007 and received generally positive reviews from critics. Following the album's touring cycle, the band took a break to focus on individual projects, during which Homme continued to produce and create more records outside the band. This break would unintentionally turn into a six-year gap between albums.

In 2010, following his work with rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, Homme began performing more live shows with QOTSA. Following a deluxe reissue of Rated R, a 2011 re-release of their debut album and corresponding tour followed, featuring the album played front to back in the style in which it was recorded. This was the first time many of the songs had been performed live since the album's original release.

On June 4, 2013, after a tumultuous writing and recording process, Queens of the Stone Age released their sixth album, ...Like Clockwork, receiving high praise from critics as well as topping the Billboard 200 charts. ...Like Clockwork highlights Homme's collaborative recording process and features guests such as Elton John, Dave Grohl, Alex Turner, Jake Shears, Trent Reznor, Mark Lanegan, Nick Oliveri, and Homme's wife Brody Dalle.

Their seventh album, Villains, was released on August 25, 2017. Conversely, Villains contains no collaborations, but was produced by Mark Ronson.

In 2018, the band was featured on Revamp, a cover album containing various renditions of Elton John songs, on which they performed "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".

The Desert Sessions (1997–present)


Homme founded The Desert Sessions in 1997 at the Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California, describing it as a musical collective series "that cannot be defined". He stated, "At Desert Sessions, you play for the sake of music. That's why it's good for musicians. If someday that's not enough anymore, or that's not the reason behind you doing it – that's not your raison d'être – then a quick reminder like Desert Sessions can do so much for you, it's amazing. It's easy to forget that this all starts from playing in your garage and loving it."

The recordings are done "on the spot" in a matter of hours, and the line-up constantly changes, with new contributors being added for each new recording. Artists such as PJ Harvey, Twiggy Ramirez, Dave Catching, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan, Ben Shepherd, John McBain, Josh Freese, Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, Dean Ween, and many others from the Palm Desert Scene have contributed to The Desert Sessions recordings.

After 11 years of inactivity, Homme revealed in October 2014 that he would start working on more Desert Sessions material the following year. However, things remained silent until May 2019, when Homme posted an image on Instagram with the hashtags "#Desert, #Sessions, #11, #12". In September, it was announced that Desert Sessions Volumes 11 & 12 will be released on October 25, 2019.

Eagles of Death Metal (1998–present)
In 1998, Homme formed Eagles of Death Metal with friend Jesse Hughes as a joke band in the context of the Desert Sessions. Recordings from the band first appeared on Volumes 3 & 4, released that year. Over the next few years, Hughes settled into family life while Homme focused on Queens of the Stone Age. However, after Hughes' separation from his wife in 2003 and a spurt in creativity that resulted in dozens of songs, Homme convinced Hughes to pursue a full-time music career. Hughes writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar, while Homme produces, arranges, and plays drums, bass, and various other instruments. So far, the band has released four albums: Peace, Love, Death Metal in 2004, Death by Sexy in 2006, Heart On in 2008, and most recently Zipper Down in 2015. Due to his commitments with Queens of the Stone Age and other projects, Homme does not regularly tour with Eagles of Death Metal, but occasionally makes appearances during live performances. In an October 2008 interview, he re-affirmed his commitment to the band saying, "This isn't a side project for me. I'm in two bands. I have musical schizophrenia, and this is one of those personalities."

Them Crooked Vultures (2009–2010)
In July 2009, it was revealed that Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones were recording together for a musical project named Them Crooked Vultures. Though initially conceived as solely a studio project, the trio performed their first show together on August 9, 2009 in Chicago at The Metro to a crowd of approximately 1,100 ticketholders with additional live rhythm guitarist/auxiliary man Alain Johannes. Their album, Them Crooked Vultures, was released by Interscope Records in the United States on November 17, 2009, and by Sony Music internationally. The band launched a world tour including performing on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on February 6, 2010, and at Austin City Limits on October 2, 2009 as well as many festivals through 2010. Them Crooked Vultures won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011. Though the band has been inactive for an extended period due to the schedules of members other projects, Homme, Grohl, and Jones have all expressed interest in returning to the project.

Other projects
Homme has collaborated with acts such as Mondo Generator, Foo Fighters, PJ Harvey, Fatso Jetson, Mark Lanegan Band, Trent Reznor, Masters of Reality, Millionaire, Wellwater Conspiracy, Unkle, Primal Scream, Melissa Auf der Maur, Paz Lenchantin, Death from Above 1979, Earthlings?, Mastodon, Peaches, The Strokes, Local H, Biffy Clyro, and Arctic Monkeys.

Homme, Nick Oliveri, and Brad Wilk contributed to the soundtrack for the 2002 film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. Homme and Alain Johannes were originally meant to develop a score for the video game Spec Ops in 2005, however the project was cancelled before it later became Spec Ops: The Line in 2012. Any work done on the game would go unused. Homme was also set to provide music, including a cover of Joe Walsh's "In the City", for the 2005 video game adaption of the film The Warriors. This also went unused.

Homme has been featured on compilation albums. He appeared on Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen for a cover of the song "Stone Cold Crazy" alongside Eleven, as well as Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three and the Turbonegro tribute Alpha Motherfuckers as part of QOTSA covering the song "Back to Dungaree High". The very first use of the QOTSA name was on the compilation album ''Burn One Up! Music For Stoners'' featuring a one-off lineup of Homme and Dave Catching with Beaver members Milo Beenhakker and Eva Nahon, recording the song "18 A.D."

Homme and frequent collaborator Chris Goss performed as The 5:15ers at the inaugural ArthurBall, an offshoot of the ArthurFest festival, in Los Angeles on January 26, 2006. The two were later credited as "The Fififf Teeners" when they co-produced QOTSA's second album Rated R and fifth album Era Vulgaris.

In August 2009, Homme collaborated with The Prodigy's Liam Howlett for a remix of the Prodigy track "Take Me to the Hospital". It was re-titled "Take Me to the Hospital (Josh Homme and Liam H.'s Wreckage Remix)". That same year, he produced most of the Arctic Monkeys album Humbug. He later provided backing vocals on "All My Own Stunts" from their 2011 album Suck It and See, and vocals for the tracks "One For the Road" and "Knee Socks" on their 2013 album AM.

In June 2010, Homme appeared on the Comedy Central series Tosh.0 to do an unplugged duet version of the hit viral song "What What" with Samwell. He also provided the theme song to Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, formerly known as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and collaborated with Mark Lanegan to provide the theme music for Anthony Bourdain's travel show Parts Unknown.

In May 2012, it was revealed on Dean Delray's comedy podcast Let There Be Talk that Homme would make a guest appearance on the album by Nick Oliveri's project Mondo Generator called Hell Comes To Your Heart. The album was recorded over three days at Homme's Pink Duck Studios in Burbank, California, and features Homme playing guitar on the album's final track, "The Last Train". This marked the first time Homme and Oliveri collaborated since their public falling out in 2004. "The Last Train" also features fellow former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia providing vocals, which was recorded shortly before Homme's lawsuit with Garcia regarding the Kyuss Lives! band name; it was the first time Homme had collaborated with Garcia since 1997.

In June 2012, it was revealed that Homme would be starring in the music video for the song "A Better Place" from Glen Campbell's final album Ghost on the Canvas. In the video, Homme plays a bartender who shows Campbell a photo album of his life, from his early childhood through his music career to the present day. The video marked the end of Campbell's musical career and was a retrospect on his life following his decision to retire after his diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. In July, he had a very brief cameo at the end of Jack White's music video for "Freedom at 21", playing a police officer who intercepts White at a roadblock following White's escapades throughout the video. In September, he contributed the song "Nobody to Love" to the soundtrack of the action-drama film End of Watch.

In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors Alain Johannes and Chris Goss added three tracks each to the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's documentary Sound City: Real to Reel. Homme was interviewed for the documentary and is notably included in a scene where he collaborates with Grohl and Trent Reznor, under the name Sound City Players, to come up with a song called "Mantra". Homme played bass and provided backing vocals on the track.

Homme has appeared in a number of television comedies. In December 2014, Homme made an appearance on Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London. The star of the show, Matt Berry, had been working alongside Morgana Robinson (the half-sister of Homme's wife Brody Dalle) in the BBC sitcom House of Fools, in which both had prominent roles. Earlier in the year, Homme had also made appearances on IFC's Comedy Bang! Bang! and Portlandia.

In July 2015, Homme began hosting a weekly hour-long show called The Alligator Hour with Joshua Homme on Apple Music's 24-hour streaming internet radio station Beats 1. The show features a highly eclectic selection of songs personally selected by Homme, interspersed with his own wry introductions of (and commentary on) the various tracks on that particular week's playlist. The show's musical selections typically have some sort of thematic, stream-of-consciousness-type relationship to each other.

In March 2016, Homme released a surprise album with Iggy Pop titled Post Pop Depression. The nine-track album was recorded at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California, as well as Homme's Pink Duck Studios. Their backing band included guitarist and keyboardist Dean Fertita and drummer Matt Helders; the two joined Pop and Homme on tour, along with Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar and Matt Sweeney on bass. The band made their debut on January 21, 2016 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, announcing the album, and proceeded on a North American and European theater tour that March, culminating in a performance at the Royal Albert Hall, filmed and released as a concert DVD. The album's recording was also filmed and compiled into the 2017 documentary American Valhalla. In October 2016, Homme produced New Skin, the debut album from Nick Valensi's new band CRX.

In 2017, Homme composed the score for Fatih Akin's German-language drama In the Fade, named after the Queens of the Stone Age song on Rated R.

In 2018, Homme sang a song written by Daniel Lanois called "Cruel, Cruel World" for the soundtrack of the Rockstar action-adventure video game Red Dead Redemption 2. The game features two versions of the song, with Homme's version playing over the end credits and Willie Nelson's version playing during the epilogue.

Musical style
Homme's work is usually described as alternative rock, desert rock,   hard rock, and stoner rock.

Charity work
In 2013, Homme co-founded the Sweet Stuff Foundation, a charity which aims to give assistance to musicians, recording engineers, and their families struggling with illness and disability.

Personal life
Homme met Australian singer and musician Brody Dalle at Lollapalooza in 1996, when he was 23 and she was 17. He was there to perform with Screaming Trees, while she was there to see her then-boyfriend Tim Armstrong's band Rancid. The two reconnected seven years later in 2003, during her separation from Armstrong, and began dating. Homme said, "We had to be very secretive, because she was just starting a divorce process. I went back to do those Desert Sessions, and you can tell what I was going through [...] I was so in love, I was totally revelling in it so much." He claims he received multiple death threats from Armstrong and Rancid fans. Homme and Dalle were married on December 3, 2005. They reside in Hollywood Hills, California, and have a daughter named Camille Harley Joan Homme (born January 17, 2006) and two sons named Orrin Ryder Homme (born August 12, 2011) and Wolf Dillon Reece Homme (born February 13, 2016). Dalle filed for legal separation on November 15, 2019.

Homme has over 20 tattoos. On his knuckles, he has his grandparents' nicknames ("Cam" for "Camille" on the left and "Cap" on the right) with hearts and his two sons' names ("ORH" for "Orrin Ryder Homme" and "Wolf"). He has his daughter's name, also Camille, tattooed over his heart. His left arm has a switchblade with "Stay Sharp" underneath, while his inner right arm has a straight-edge razor with "Born to Win" inscribed; underneath, his nickname, "Baby Duck", is a shared tattoo with his Eagles of Death Metal bandmate Jesse Hughes, who has his nickname "Boots Electric" in the same location. Homme also shares a tattoo that says "Freitag 4:15" with former Queens of the Stone Age bandmates Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan and their sound engineer Hutch, commemorating their "worst show ever" at the Rock Am Ring Festival in Germany on Friday, June 1, 2001, at 4:15 pm. All were tattooed on their ribs so that it would hurt the most and serve as a reminder. Homme and Dalle share a small "TCB" logo, which stands for "Taking Care of Business", as made famous by Elvis Presley.

Homme has described himself as "very politically conservative" and "very socially liberal", considering himself a "fallen libertarian". He has said that he dislikes the idea of using his influence to tell people how to vote, and often likens his music to an "ice cream parlour or arcade" where people can simply have fun, though he referred to U.S. President Donald Trump as a "retarded human being" in June 2017. He owns several guns, including a classic Winchester rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, and a Beretta 9 mm target pistol. Although he owns a few motorcycles, including a custom Falcon and a Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic, he has only ever owned one car: a silver 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, which he has had since he was 14. In June 2017, Homme revealed on Steve Jones' radio show Jonesey's Jukebox that he had recently tried to quit his decades-long smoking habit via hypnotherapy, claiming that the hypnotherapy failed as he was unable to let his guard down enough to be fully influenced.

Homme has adopted multiple pseudonyms over the years. He used the name "Carlo Von Sexron" to credit his playing of bass, keyboard, piano, and drums on such albums as The Desert Sessions Volumes 3 & 4, Queens of the Stone Age, and Peace, Love, Death Metal. Homme is known as "(King) Baby Duck" to Dalle and the members of Eagles of Death Metal. He is also referred to as "J.Ho." and "The Ginger Elvis". In an interview, Nick Oliveri referred to Homme as "Mr. Lucky".

Homme said that he "died" for a short time in 2010, following unexpected complications during a procedure. After years of heavy touring and a punishing work schedule supplemented by drug abuse severely weakened his immune system, he contracted an MRSA infection. During a procedure to re-oxygenate his blood in an attempt to restart his immune system, the breathing tube became stuck in his throat, which choked him and led to cardiac arrest. Doctors eventually used a defibrillator to revive him. The experience left him physically and mentally weakened and his immune system still severely compromised, with doctors confining him to bed without human contact for three months. He soon plunged into a deep depression and considered giving up his music career altogether, eventually finding himself unable to produce any new music at all for almost two years. He has said that this experience greatly contributed to the making of the album ...Like Clockwork. He credits Transcendental Meditation with helping him recover. Around the time of the release of ...Like Clockwork, Homme's initial refusal to go into depth about his story resulted in misconceptions, such as that the events happened during a routine knee surgery, a separate surgery in no way correlated to his "death". In June 2016, he clarified that the misconceptions about the incident occurring during a knee surgery were created by "somebody else" and added that he went "in too deep" involving drugs.

Legal issues and controversy
In 2004, Homme was arrested for assaulting Dwarves frontman Blag Dahlia and Karl Doyle at the Dragonfly club in Los Angeles. Pleading no contest, he was ordered to remain at least 100 yards (91.44 meters) away from Dahlia and the club, was sentenced to three years' probation with community service, and was forced to enter a rehab program for 60 days.

In December 2008 at the Norwegian Wood festival in Oslo, Homme drew criticism for his reaction to an audience member who had thrown a shoe at him during the song "3's & 7's". Homme called the audience member a "chicken-shit fucking faggot" and "a 12-year-old dickless fucking turd". The incident drew accusations of homophobia from several blogs, which were then picked up by the mainstream media. Homme replied with a lengthy public letter denying all accusations of homophobia, revealing that he spent a lot of time in his childhood defending his gay older brother from bullies, and blamed his tirade on food poisoning and a high fever. Reaction to his apology was mixed, with music journalist Tim Jonze stating, "Attempting to prove his pro-gay stance, Homme points out in his letter that he also called the guy a pussy and threatened to have anal sex with him. OK, so it's a fuzzy kind of logic we're talking about here."

Following a 2013 performance by QOTSA at Jay-Z's Made in America Festival, Homme made comments about Jay-Z during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. He explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay-Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt: "[Jay-Z] has his security frisking the bands on the way in. I just told them if you open up my bag I'm not playing so I guess it's up to you whether we are playing or not. [...] He also gave us some champagne and wanted us to take a photo with it. And I thought, 'That's not a gift, that is a marketing tool.' So I destroyed it."

In April 2016, Homme was involved in a verbal altercation with autograph seller Jason Leckrone, who eyewitnesses said was taunting Homme for not signing autographs. Homme began to argue with Leckrone and called him an "entitled, spoiled motherfucker". In March 2017, Leckrone filed a lawsuit against Homme for assault and battery.

In September 2017, Royal Blood frontman Mike Kerr discussed Homme's drinking habits, telling Radio X interviewer Gordon Smart, "I can't go anywhere near [Homme] without having an unbelievable amount of tequila in my body. I did hide from him once because I could hear him coming and I was like, 'Oh no, I'm gonna have to do more tequila,' so I hid in the toilets of the dressing room."

In December 2017, Homme was captured on video kicking the camera of Shutterstock photographer Chelsea Lauren into her face during KROQ's Almost Christmas concert in Los Angeles. After staying through the show and photographing subsequent bands, Lauren went to Cedars-Sinai for treatment. In a statement, Homme claimed that he had been kicking over lighting equipment and was unaware that he had kicked Lauren until he was informed of it the next day. Lauren disputed this, stating that Homme had made eye contact with her before kicking her. Homme later issued a video response in which he admitted to kicking Lauren and apologized to her.