Why Their New Album Isn't As Dancey As Everyone's Saying

Queens Of The Stone Age

When we caught up with Queens Of The Stone Age's Michael Shuman and Jon Theodore backstage at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion ahead of their sold-out show, they're just sitting down for dinner. It's been a busy afternoon, full of sound checks and media obligations, but they're cheerful nonetheless. "Holy shit, is that for you? That is like a piece of art!" exclaims Theodore, as Shuman's dinner is set in front of them.

The group has had a rotating cast of around 20 over the past 21 years, but they're now well-settled with Josh Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen and Dean Fertita rounding out the band. Shuman and Theodore are jovial and chatty with each other as they eat. 

"I feel pretty good. The swelling has gone down, you know, I don't have any more black eyes," jokes Theodore of his four years with the group. "Yeah, no, I feel pretty settled. I feel really grateful and supported. And I feel now that we've made a record together, it feels like home.

"But, yeah, I don't know, we were just on such a high from the last tour cycle, we were such a tight unit and we really got, sort of, galvanised in that situation between breaking in me as a new drummer and working on that new record, which was a big departure. I feel like it galvanised us in this way that, besides [producer, Mark] Ronson, we had enough, you know, sort of psychic and musical material between us to explore to get it going, it really just didn't call for anybody else. Because we were fresh, footloose and fancy-free, so we just sort of went with it."

"It's interesting, I guess, if you think about it, being in a band where it's had so many members," adds bassist Shuman. "It is like a rotating thing. You could think that would be like a weird thing personally. And fans are going to like these people and that person, and this lineup and that lineup or whatever — I totally get it. But I really believe that this is the best the band's ever been. There's a reason that we're all here, there's a reason that… yeah, why it feels so good."

The album they refer to is their forthcoming Villains set, produced by Ronson, the man behind Amy Winehouse's Back To Black and Lady Gaga's Joanne. Several early reports have called Villains dark and dancey, although both Theodore and Shuman refute the claim.

"I don't even think it's that dancey. I mean, I don't think it's that dancy of a record," explains Shuman. "I think The Way You Used To Do is obviously the dance song, but like bouncy… I wouldn't say it's a dance record. They're just taking that and using it and I think, yeah, you can connect that to Ronson. But the funny thing is, people will never expect what Ronson did and what we did, what everyone's contributions were."

"And like, one thing that's a common thing, I think - I started thinking about this recently - was that clap on The Way You Used To Do. Because it is kind of like, I guess, could be a pop thing, I don't know," adds Theodore. "But that was in the demo we listened to three years ago. That's been there since the beginning, it had nothing to do with Mark. And I think that's maybe one that someone will go, 'Oh, that's Mark Ronson right there'."

"At least personally, I've never really, like, worked with a producer per se. I mean like, people coming and helping and doing certain things, but a producer, like a name producer, I've never really done it and Queens never really has either," continues Shuman.

"Josh is kind of like our leader, he has a vision and we figure it out together. But having someone else to kind of like, number one take a little load off of Josh, I think. And so we can kind of focus. With this one, we wanted it to sound like a band. We'd just come off playing for fucking two years and we felt like a tight band and we wanted it to come across. So, we all wanted to focus and having Mark come in and take some of that load off so we could be in our rehearsal room playing and him watching and listening, I think that was a big difference."