The artist Josh Homme calls “an original punk”
You don’t get many in modern rock that are more important than Josh Homme. As one of the most influential musicians of his generation, a towering frontman, guitar hero and distinctive songwriter, Home possesses every aspect needed to rise to the top of his game. Whilst he might be most famous as the leader of desert rock titans Queens of the Stone Age, the desert rock outfit is only the tip of his creative spear.
Homme first found success as the guitarist in the consequential stoner rock pioneers Kyuss, who brought the pulsating sound of the Palm Desert scene – which had been bubbling away for years – to the masses. They carried the torch from older statesmen like Saint Vitus and helped lay down some of the genre’s cornerstones alongside Sleep, Melvins and Fu Manchu.
As Homme’s prowess as a guitarist was evident for all to behold during his days in Kyuss, after they split, he was enlisted by grunge associates Screaming Trees as a touring axeman between 1996 and 1998. Homme’s friendship with their frontman Mark Lanegan proved so fruitful that he even joined his future project, Queens of the Stone Age, whom he would leave Screaming Trees to form.
Elsewhere, Homme has played in the musical improvisation project The Desert Sessions with other musicians from the Palm Desert scene since 1997, formed the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl in 2009, and co-wrote, performed on and produced Iggy Pop’s 2016 album, Post Pop Depression. A tireless creative, the Californian has also converged with Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Run the Jewels and Royal Blood in various capacities.
Whilst Josh Homme has tried his hands at various genres in his time, one area he is particularly well-versed in is punk. He showed this when picking some of his favourite albums for Rolling Stone in 2003, naming offerings by the likes of The Stooges, Misfits and Black Flag. However, his most intriguing account was about rebel country star Johnny Cash’s iconic 1968 live album, At Folsom Prison. Homme was so enthusiastic about the record that he called Cash “an original punk”.
He said: “I first heard this a long time ago, but then I went back to it after a ten year gap. Just playing in a prison in general and playing songs about escape is bizarre. The man in black – before Will Smith there was Johnny Cash. It’s a record to go back to. He’s like an original punk. Not punk rock, but just punk.”
Listen to Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison below.
