The house in the Californian desert that helped Josh Homme discover rock music
Artists are shaped by two major things: their influences and their surroundings – just look at The Beatles.
When you listen to the band’s discography, you notice a distinct shift in everything that they put out, and this is caused by both where they were in their personal lives, where they were in the world, and who they were hanging out with – many people, including members of the band themselves, called Rubber Soul “the pot album” because they were influenced by Dylan, spending time in New York, and smoking a lot of weed at the time.
“The Beatles had gone beyond comprehension. We were smoking marijuana for breakfast,” said Lennon, according to David Scheff, when discussing the Fab Four’s new affinity for Sweet Mary Jane. “We were well into marijuana, and nobody could communicate with us, because we were just glazed eyes, giggling all the time.”
Every creative person is influenced by where they find themselves in their lives. Nancy and Ann Wilson spoke about how much Seattle influenced their music because of the fact it was on the outskirts of the industry. There was no strict scene within the city, and as a result, bands on their way up created music that was a little bit of everything. Heart would likely have sounded very different if they had grown up somewhere else.
“I think that Seattle is full of outliers and misfits, especially in those days,” said Ann Wilson. “It’s a seaport, it’s a place that rains maybe nine or ten months out of the year. It’s grey and dreary. That does have an effect, especially on sensitive people. So, I think if you’re an outlier and you’re a singer…you’re from Seattle!”
There is no denying it, all of the best artists are able to draw from their surroundings when they make music, and the result is something which is a true reflection of the world around them and something totally honest. Josh Homme, the frontman of Queens of the Stone Age, is no different, as he has always used the real world as a big inspiration for his music. He admitted that his affinity for rock and punk was first realised when he started attending parties at a house in the desert where all the strangest people within a ten-mile radius would hang out.
At the beginning of his album Villains, Homme pays homage to his home, citing where he was born and the date. “I was born in the desert, May 17th, 1973,” he declared.
However, it was a house on the outskirts where his love for rock first materialised. It was a man called Mario Lalli who would host parties at the house, which Homme now recognises as quite odd, but at the time, he was just happy to be in a collective of outsiders. “I was into punk rock music, and he’d have these parties at his house,” he said.
Concluding, “Look back on it now, there’d be 13-year-old people, me, and 40-year-old people. Which is kinda gross, ultimately, perhaps, but in that time frame, it was totally fine. Because it’s a gang of individuals and outsiders.”
