Queens Of The Stone Age: Rocks On.

Queens Of The Stone Age

Songs For The Deaf is in stores on August 26.

Queens Of The Stone Age are undoubtedly one of the finest rock acts to roam the planet. So it almost goes without saying that Songs For The Deaf is arguably the finest rock release you’ll be hearing this year. Just wait ‘til that monster guitar kicks in part way through the band’s first real track Millionaire, and you’re there. Just strap in and enjoy the ride.

After taking a stab at the masses of soundalikes in the music market, Queens show themselves true originals both in concept and sound. This time around the frantic guitars of Josh Homme and the lumbering bass of ex-Dwarves freak Nick Oliveri have truly hit their stride, once again aided by a revolving core of extras.

Since his departure from Seattle legends Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan has pumped out five solo release. He also contributed lead vocals to In The Fade on Rated R. He made further appearances on the album lending backing tracks to Autopilot and I Think I Lost My Headache. This time around he’s all over the album, taking the lead on a number of tracks.

He’s also in the bath.

“Not to titillate you too much,” he jokes. “I’m filling the tub as we speak. I’m getting ready to go to my mother in law’s birthday party…”

Lanegan’s links with Queens goes back a few years longer than his appearances of Rated R. Prior to that, John Homme toured with Screaming Trees after the break up of Kyuss, and Lanegan was approached to work on the first Queens record.

“Josh played me some stuff that ended up on the first disc, and asked my to do some stuff on it, but circumstances prevented that from happening. We just ended up being in the same place at the same time for the second one, and after a year or so we did some shows, and one thing lead to another. We’d been friends doing things together in one way or another for a number of years, which has lead to my ultimate demise, and his.”

And now you’re a full time touring member?

“That’s what they tell me,” he jokes. “They only let me know a couple of days ago… The bulk of this stuff was already ready to go, and they started working through this new stuff with the when I was touring with them about a year ago. The bulk of the record was ready to go, and one thing lead to another.”

Also joining Lanegan in the Queens line up is Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, who handles all percussive duties on the record.

“I couldn’t tell you what he’s doing at the moment, but he’s always been a fan of the band. At the last minute he came in and recorded all the drums for the album and now he’s gone back to his real job. It was great for the record. There’s a new drummer now. Things change a lot. We just toured the states with him, and we did the Fuji Festival in Japan last week.”

How was the time you spent in the studio? Was there a lot of external collaborative involvement this time around?

“Yeah, there’s a lot of guests on the record. Gene Ween is on the record. It a similar thing to the last one where there were a lot of guests. I mean, I think it’s pretty cool. It can give a tune a different flavour, you know. It’s a lot of fun to play with different people, kind of a carefree spirit.”

“It’s been an invigorating experience, but it’s like any time you spend in a normal day. There were some aspects of it that were boring, just sitting around waiting and watching TV, you know. But in the moments you’re actually doing something there’s nothing better, you know. You just have to find those moments. It’s the same with touring. At times it can be terribly boring while you wait for someone to take care of some technical thing, but at the moment of creation… hang on, my wife’s trying to get funny with me because of my irresistible naked body… don’t do that… What was I saying? The moment of creation - it’s the best it gets, playing music. I just have this childlike enthusiasm for it.”

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, is what I guess I’m trying to say. Now where’s my pants?”