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Queens of the Stone Age is a rock band from the United States. The band was formed in 1996, originally under the name Gamma Ray. Seeking to outgrow the stoner rock label that had begun to envelop previous band Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age (at the time singer/guitarist Josh Homme, and drummer Alfredo Hernandez) developed a style of riff-oriented, monotonous, heavy and repetitious sound, which Homme described as robot rock, saying that he "wanted to create a heavy sound based on a solid jam, and just pound it into your head." This label no longer holds true and has since been discarded.
History
Their self-titled debut album, Queens of the Stone Age was recorded and released in the spring of 1998, at which time former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined and touring commenced.
2000's Rated R featured a plethora of musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautman, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol and Chris Goss contributed, and even former Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer". The album was critically successful but found little commercial success, aside from notable opening slots with the Foo Fighters, Hole, and at Ozzfest 2000.
Frequent touring generated support for the band, and grew with former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl's addition in late 2001/early 2002. The release of third album Songs for the Deaf that August, brought major attention. Grohl had already been replaced by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo (ex-Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, a floater since Rated R, joined as well), but the infection spread by hit "No One Knows" spread to radio and even MTV as Deaf reached gold status in 2003.
Constant touring continued, culminating with a string of headline dates in Australia in January of 2004, after which Lanegan quit the band and Oliveri was fired for what boiled down to alleged fan disrespect and excessive partying. Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and Castillo are expected to record a new album in 2005.
See also: Kyuss, The Eagles of Death Metal, The Dwarves, Mondo Generator, The Desert Sessions
Musical Equipment
Josh favours Ampeg amplifiers, and can be seen using both an Ovation GP while playing live, as well as Maton electric guitars, which he can be seen playing in the video clip for No One Knows.
Discography
Album Charts of the band
Song Charts of the band
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