The dream supergroup assembled by Josh Homme: “It’s just friends you know”
There’s perhaps no one better placed in music to talk about making a supergroup work than Josh Homme.
Of course, the idea of a supergroup isn’t exclusive to him. The Traveling Wilburys, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and Cream all defined the idea, way before he established himself as a musician, but none of them did it so prolifically as he.
While The Queens of the Stone Age represents his nine-to-five gig, he’s made a habit of forming supergroups as a form of extra-curricular activity. In 2009, he formed Them Crooked Vultures alongside Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, releasing an album and a tour to boot.
With that legendary three-piece not enough, Homme then decided to join forces with Iggy Pop in 2016 to finance and record his album Post Pop Depression. But rather than leave it as a simple producer and artist relationship, he recruited Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders and fellow Queens of the Stone Age musician Dean Fertita to make a bold new supergroup that helped record the album and play the subsequent tour.
Being a musician brings with it a little black book of who’s who, and Homme has consistently proved that he is not afraid to use it. But rather than go to the effort of forming a fully fledged band every time, sometimes he’ll keep it light and simply invite famous musicians into the studio to help lay down the humble parts of a Queens Of The Stone Age track.
On their 2013 album, …Like Clockwork, Homme did just that, bringing in famous friends with the promise of tequila, to get the recording of ‘If I Had A Tail’ done. Long-time friend Dave Grohl came in to provide the drums, while his desert rock prodigy Alex Turner came in to deliver the song’s backing vocals, along with Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan
Homme explained, “With Alex it was like, ‘Will you come over here just for a few hours and drink tequila and maybe we could sing something?’ and he’s like, ‘Yup.'”
That was relatively easy, whereas Lanegan’s introduction to the fold required the charm of former Queens bandmate Nick Oliveri, who was fired from the group in 2004. Homme explained, “Nick recorded his record (with his band Mondo Generator) at my studio, and he was dropping some vinyl off and was like, ‘Er, need background vocals?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah.’ So he sang on ‘If I Had A Tail’. Him and Mark Lanegan are going ‘Oooohohohooo.’ It’s just friends you know. And that’s good enough for me.”
While Homme refrains from welcoming his de facto supergroup to the stage for the live performance of the song, he does look back on it with fondness, largely considering it one of his favourite Queens live songs to play altogether.
He explained, “That’s a song that people gravitate to. I don’t know that ‘If I Had A Tail’ is cathartic, it’s just the sort of tune that when you play it you feel like you’re wearing your f—k-me pumps. Everyone in the crowd is dancing, singing, smiling, arms in the air: What more could you want?”
