The cult band Josh Homme says are “so underrated”
Although Josh Homme is inextricable from the stoner rock sphere, his artistry stretches far outside the sound of Southern California’s sandy setting. As the leader of Queens of the Stone Age, he might have conjured many swaggering riffs evoking the scene he cut his teeth in. However, outside of this key feature, there’s always been a weirdness to the band’s work.
Whether it be the strange, drug-fuelled odyssey Songs for the Deaf or the more cinematic orchestral flecks found later in their oeuvre, there’s a distinctive peculiarity intrinsic to Queens of the Stone Age. It is extracted straight from Homme’s perception of the unusual world he inhabits.
Evoking the essence of Hunter S. Thompson, the Coen brothers and shades of Bret Easton Ellis, this strange and often unsettling side of Queens of the Stone Age is what saw them step out from the mass of rock acts their generation produced. Just ask Arctic Monkeys. 2009’s Humbug, which Homme produced, is undoubtedly their most distinctive record.
When sitting down with Spin in 2003 to discuss the albums that shaped his life and career, Homme provided one of the most enlightening insights into the patchwork of his artistry. Although it featured expected acts such as Iggy Pop and Black Flag, it also outlined his love for boundary-pushing, postmodern outfits.
As part of the collection, Homme named the 1995 classic Chocolate and Cheese by Pennsylvania’s foremost rock outliers, Ween. The brainchild of Dean and Gene Ween, the duo have always been impossible to pigeonhole as their eclectic work draws upon more genres than most. Ignoring the zeitgeist and musical tradition has always been Ween’s ultimate triumph, and it’s something that their fanbase, a colourful assortment in light of such experimentalism, is in reverence of. Yet outside of his cult-like following, they are a mostly unknown entity, something Homme was quick to point out.
“I think Ween are so underrated. They have a casual arrogance and a disrespect for genres,” Homme explained. “Chocolate and Cheese has lots of eclectic, schizo songwriting jumps, but Ween never say, ‘We’re just kidding.’ The realisation that they’re not joking was very frightening at first. They used to be on Elektra like Kyuss were, and we both had this philosophy of ‘Let’s take all the money they’ll foolishly give us.'”
Listen to Chocolate and Cheese below.
