Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. Homme has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes; since 2013, the line-up has consisted of Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion).
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the spread of the Palm Desert music scene. Its self-titled debut album (1998) was recorded with Homme singing and playing all instruments except drums, which were provided by former Kyuss member Alfredo Hernández. Bassist Nick Oliveri joined the band for its accompanying tour and soon became co-lead vocalist, as well as Dave Catching on keyboards, guitar and lap steel alongside Homme. The band's second studio album, Rated R (2000), featured Mark Lanegan as a guest vocalist and was the band's major label debut with Interscope Records. It was critically and commercially successful, and featured the breakout single "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret". The band's third studio album, Songs for the Deaf (2002), featured Dave Grohl on drums alongside contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider.
After Oliveri's and Lanegan's respective departures in 2004 and 2005, Homme once again became the band's sole lead vocalist; Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo collaborated with him on Lullabies to Paralyze (2005) and Era Vulgaris (2007). After several years of inactivity, the band signed to independent label Matador Records in 2013 and released a loose trilogy of albums over the next decade: ...Like Clockwork (2013), Villains (2017), and In Times New Roman... (2023). The trilogy brought further acclaim and commercial success, with ...Like Clockwork becoming the band's first album to top the Billboard 200 chart.
The band has been nominated for 9 Grammy Awards: four for Best Hard Rock Performance, three for Best Rock Album, and one each for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. The band also has a large pool of contributors and collaborators and is known for incorporating elements of blues, electronica, and krautrock into its riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
History
Formation and debut album (1996–1999)
After the breakup of his previous band Kyuss in 1995, Josh Homme moved to Seattle, where he briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist. He later formed a new band called Gamma Ray, which released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP (1996), featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Van Conner of Screaming Trees, and drummer Victor Indrizzo.
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on Roadrunner Records' compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners. It featured guitarist Dave Catching as well as the bassist Milo Beenhakker and drummer Eva Nahon of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver, owing to connections Homme made while living in Amsterdam for a few months following Kyuss' breakup. The band's first live appearance was at Seattle's OK Hotel on November 20, 1997, with Matt Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass, John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. They later returned to OK Hotel 3 months after the first show with a lineup that featured Van Conner of Screaming Trees, and Jason Albertini of Duster.
Homme returned to Palm Desert, California, where he released Queens of the Stone Age's self-titled debut album in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Catching, a former Kyuss guitar tech, joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.
Rated R (2000–2001)
Released in 2000, Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer." thumb|[[Josh Homme in August 2003|alt=|left]]
The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000.
Following his work on Rated R, Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005. Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained:
Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004)
thumb|right|upright|[[Nick Oliveri, bassist 1998–2004, performing with the band at the 2003 V Festival]]
Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, joined in late 2001 to record drums for the band's third album, Songs for the Deaf. It was released in August 2002 and again featured Lanegan. The final track on the album, "Mosquito Song", featured former A Perfect Circle member Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano along with Dean Ween on guitar. Another former A Perfect Circle member, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, joined the touring line-up following the album's release.