Queens of the Stone Age

After the breakup of his previous band, Josh Homme formed Gamma Ray in 1996, and later changed the name to Queens of The Stone Age; said to be named so because “rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls.” The band released their self-titled album in 1998, which was mostly recorded by Homme himself, with the appearance Alfredo Hernandez on drums and Chris Goss on backing vocals. Shortly after it’s release, Homme’s former Kyuss band mate, bassist Nick Oliveri joined the band, shortly followed by guitarist Dave Catching, as well as drummer Joey Castillo.

With the help of various other artists, “Rated R” was released in 2000, garnering a lot more attention than their debut album. Frequent touring helped the band gain more support, but they were still able to get time in the studio and released “Songs For The Deaf.” The record was extremely well received and saw to the addition of guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen (previously a part of A Perfect Circle). The band was on a constant tour, and due to issues, Oliveri ended up leaving the band in 2004.

Due to a leak, their 2005 album “Lullabies to Paralyze” debuted on the Billboard charts at the Number 5 slot, making it their most successful album to date. Later that same year, the band released a live album from their performances in London, England. With a slate of guest appearances, the band’s album “Era Vulgaris” was completed and released in 2007, followed by a tour where bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist Dean Fertita took over touring duties.

During the span of 2009-2010, the band took a hiatus for members to work on their solo projects. While other members joined other bands, Homme suffered an unfortunate near death experience during a knee surgery, forcing him into bed rest for three months. This caused a plunge into depression where Homme almost considered quitting music altogether; however, once he recovered, Queens of the Stone Age re-released their self-titled album and included a tour and a few large festivals, one of which was the last show with drummer Joey Castillo.

With the loss of Castillo and a new album in the works in 2012, Homme announced that Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl was filling in on the recording sessions for the drum parts, and by summer of 2013 “…Like Clockwork” was released, first in the UK, followed by a US release with the debut reaching Number 1. Homme announced that at the end of their “…Like Clockwork” tour, the band will return to the studio at the end of 2014 to start recording their next album.

Their style of music has been hard to pin point. Claypool said they were in the funk metal genre, but many people have described their music as alternative/ experimental rock and alternative metal.

The duo - Les Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, originally found it hard to get a drummer when they started out, eventually finding a friend of Claypool's to fill the spot. They went on to rise to stardom in their local music scene with their funk metal fusion.

After members coming and going from the band, the group decided to have a short break in 1989, but shortly after the trio got together and recorded their first album called "Suck On This". This lead to the subsequent release of their album "Frizzle Fry" and a tour with Jane's Addiction.

The group released "Pork Soda", which made number 7 in the Billboard Top 10 in 1993. The album had gone darker than their usual style of music, which included elements of suicide and murder. Following this, the band went on to headline at the Lollapalooza rock festival. Whilst playing their song "My Name Is Mud" the audience actually threw mud at them, which ended with a lot of anger from Claypool.

In 1999 the group released "Antipop", which included many big names such as Meallica, Rage Against the Machine and many more. From that album the group released a music video for the album's single called "Lacquer Head", which was banned from MTV because of references to drugs.

Primus went on to tour up and throughout 2011, including the Bonnaroo festival, shortly after followed by a Europe tour, before embarking on a "major fall tour" to support their new album. And the next year the band went on tour with their first ever 3D-enhanced live musical performance. Each show featured Quad Surround Sound and 3D visuals to make it a different experience for their fans.