“What I would shoot for”: How The Subhumans inspired Josh Homme’s career model
The magical touch of Josh Homme is almost always easy to detect. After all, most of his work seems to stem from somewhere entirely pure and authentic, like he knows better than anybody how to bridge the gap between nostalgia and innovation. Without his instinctual drive for what makes rock sound good, the landscape would no doubt have grown stale a long time ago.
Most of the rock prodigies and legends of today know it, too. Were it not for Homme, many would lack a significant touchpoint for channelling the old, unfiltered rawness of old rock with a touch of crisp production, with his effortless knack for bringing together the best of both worlds capturing the attention of names like Dave Grohl. To Grohl, Homme is the blueprint, and one everybody should take notes from.
“When they hit the stage,” Grohl once said about Queens of the Stone Age, “they’re the best rock band in the world, like nobody even gets close.” He also revealed the sting of jealousy that emerges whenever he catches them in motion, like he wishes he was able to generate such electricity. “You sit and watch Queens of the Stone Age and you’re like, ‘That’s not fair, what the fuck?’ like everybody in the band is a fucking badass and they know it.”
While the main source of this lies with the band in question, Homme’s journey to earning such a reputation began as a young, aspiring musician in his first band, Kyuss. Unlike the softer, more understanding nature of the industry today, Kyuss only survived because they had to, knowing that they would be disregarded immediately if they didn’t have what it took.
“That was the shaping factor for the band,” Homme later reflected. “There’s no clubs here, so you can only play for free. If people don’t like you, they’ll tell you. You can’t suck.” It’s safe to say he took this cutthroat, always-on attitude everywhere he went, like he knew he always had to cut to the chase and do his best work. Otherwise, it wouldn’t pay off. It’s a blessing and a curse—to know that the rug could be pulled out from under your feet at any moment—but it’s one that keeps Homme ticking more than anything else.
One particular band that instilled this ethos was The Subhumans, the anarchic, political-leaning 1980s punk band that inspired Kyuss to bite back with even more fervour. On top of this, they also taught Homme the power of daring to be different, even if it went against everything label executives advised artists to do. As he explained: “They had an album where a whole side of vinyl was just one song. Kyuss understood that, took that. Some of the Queens songs are way too long, too.”
Continuing: “There’s other records that I could choose that I like as much, but the fact that their final record was as good as their first one, I admire that sort of consistency. That’s what I would shoot for; I want my last record, before I die, to be my best one.”
Using consistency as his main ammo while understanding the nature of fighting back when it counts, Homme refined his sound in a way that blended considered pacing with anthemic bite. While some of his songs seem to edge on the darker, slower side, they always present themselves with poised intention, building tension with immaculate precision.
