Queens of the Stone Age Biography

Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA) is a rock band from the Palm Desert, California area in the United States, formed in 1997.

Originally formed under the name Gamma Ray by guitarist Josh Homme to outgrow the stoner rock label that had begun to envelop previous band Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age developed a style of riff-oriented, monotonous, heavy and repetitious music, 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".

Since Queens of the Stone Age's second album Rated R, all albums have been released by Interscope Records. Their 1998 self-titled debut album was released on Loose Groove.

Homme's traditional setup has been his Ovation Ultra GP guitars (3 of them in different finishes, although the wine red one was rarely seen) played through his collection of Ampeg Vt-22 combos. The Ovation guitars were part of a limited production run, with less than 1000 made in 1984. Homme is very secretive about his equipment, his excuse is fair, in an interview he qouted that "I've worked hard on this sound I've created". But through observation we can observe his axes and the ocassional effects

During the tours up until Lullabies to Paralyze, Homme used the following:

During the Rock in Rio 2001 show, the bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested for going up to the stage naked, only with a bass guitar. In an interview he said: "Whoa people in Carnival here dance naked why I can't do the same?" [2] [3] [4]

An acoustic version of Go With The Flow [5] made by Buster was recorded in 2006.