Eagles Of Death Metal Hang Out At A Club Near You

EAGLES OF DEATH METAL

EAGLES OF DEATH METAL play Teragram Ballroom Oct. 19 and 23, Belly Up Oct. 21, Beach Goth 4 Oct. 24 photo: Chapman Baehler

Childhood friends, Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), comprise the quintessential rock band, Eagles of Death Metal (EODM), and write songs that induce an intoxicatingly urgent desire to thrash, sway, and most of all, boogie. This month they’ll release their highly-anticipated fourth album, Zipper Down, seven years after their last release. In connection with the new record, the band will head out on a world tour, making time for four shows in SoCal including two at Teragram Ballroom Oct. 19 and Oct. 23, Belly Up Oct. 21 and Beach Goth 4 Oct 24 at The Observatory.

EODM, who win the nonexistent award for best band name ever, got their start in 2004 with the release of their first album, Peace Love Death Metal, but the musical partnership of Hughes and Homme begins way back in the days of recess and bullies. It’s their long history that makes their songs so unique, as if you are eavesdropping on the inside jokes and stories of two old friends.

With only a week left before the release of Zipper Down, the hilarious and ridiculously entertaining frontman Jesse Hughes spoke with Concert Guide Live about touring, celebrating women and really enjoying this thing called rock-n- roll.

Concert Guide Live: When you’re touring, what do you like to do in the towns your visiting when you’re not actually at the gig?
Jesse Hughes: First thing I do when I get to any city is go for a five-mile walk. That’s the truth. Because the first three years of rock-n-roll, I started to notice that the whole world was looking like the walk from the back of the bus to the stage and I really don’t want to be the dude who comes to the end of this cool thing I’ve been doing and say “I never saw the Eiffel Tower the 800 times I was in Paris.” That isn’t gonna sit well…I don’t ever want that to be me.

CGL: Do you have any pre-show rituals?
JH: I like to walk right out of life onto the stage and what that means is, I don’t know, maybe I’m weird, I like people. I like hanging out with people and it’s more fun in front of the stage than backstage, so I hang out and try to greet as many people as I can before I go on stage. And then when I go on stage I literally am not lying, I literally can look at people and I can say, “I know you guys.” So it’s more like being in front of your friends than being in front of people that may not like you.

CGL: What’s a bizarre moment from a tour?
JH: Let me think of one that won’t become evidence. I mean, I’ve had some really interesting moments. We were coming back from Canada and at the boarder crossing, as the boarder cops were going through our bus with a meticulous fine-tooth comb, the aurora borealis appeared in the sky and we sat on the street observing and beholding the great wonder of the northern lights while officers of the Canadian law had not even a concept that it was going on, they were too focused on the drugs they were never going to find. That’s rock-n-roll, baby, that really is. You can literally go through rock-n-roll and not see anything, but if you just open your eyes you’ll see some pretty fucking amazing things.

CGL: How and when did your friendship with Josh Homme turn into a musical partnership?
JH: You know the first time you ever have a deep conversation on something you really love, it’s memorable, it’s epic to you. And the first conversations I ever had about music were with Joshua. He’s a great intellect and he’s also fucking hilarious, and he likes people too.

CGL: A recurring theme on your recently released album, Zipper Down, is women, and your love and lust for them. Why do you think women and that subject matter make for such good songwriting?
JH: I would only modify that question a little bit in that I celebrate the amazingness that is womanhood in general (and you could spell women in this instance w-o-m-y-n), that being said, girl, you got a mirror over there (with you)? Look at it and jump for joy cause you’re hot, you’re a lady, and that’s awesome. It’s a joyous thing, girl. Like, think about it. God made man and he’s like, “Alright, this is cool, but I’m gonna make something awesome now.” And it was girls.

CGL: And they deserve a lot of songs?
JH: Duh, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!” And I can’t think of anything more joyful. The two most joyful things I can think of are left breast, right breast.

CGL: What do you think is the best love song written for a woman out there?
JH: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” sung by Roberta Flack, that song makes me cry every time I hear it. I mean, I’m not even kidding you, every time I hear it. The musicality of that song, it’s so beautiful and there’s no denying the poetry of it. The man is in love, there’s no denying it, and it’s not just a lust or anything else, it’s epic. That’s a beautiful love song. That or ‘We Want Some Pussy’ by 2 Live Crew.

CGL: Do you have any advice for new bands that are just getting their start?
JH: Well, it’s really easy to make it in show business and my advice is have a really incredibly talented 6’5” redheaded biking monster superstar best friend who will open all the doors and stand on the playground with you when you fight the bullies. It’s not really like being in anyone’s shadow; it’s like making it in the shade.

Truthfully though, people only know what you tell them and you don’t use words when you’re telling people anything, tell them your amazing. My grandmother had the best phrase, she’d say, “You catch more fish with a net than with a line,” and I’d say, “What the fuck does that mean?” and she’d say, “Well son, when you’re hitting on a girl, you go up to her, you talk to her, that’s a line, but an attitude is something you say to the whole room and you’ll catch every fish.” And that’s really the attitude that prevails in almost any situation.