Queens Of The Stone Age Rail At Interscope, Go Way Underground
As we previously reported, Josh Homme and Co. doubled up their holiday sweaters, literally traveling underground to play a show in a German salt mine. Very Zola, except it's not in France. Well, the event actually happened. We weren't there, but this German television station was...
As was this teaser...
"Rock 'N' Roll's not about safety," says Homme. It's a cool concept, but before you swagger to death, sir, remember some people actually work in those fuckers. Anyhow, Josh has his own work related problems, as is evidenced by this interview over at Antiquiet, where he rages against the Interscope. So very ...AYWKUBTTOD.
Via Antiquiet:
ANTIQUET: When more big bands get free of their contracts and start to do it their own way, how do you think the labels are going to react to losing their grip on what’s been their cash cow for so long?Love how the interviewer totally fans (in all meanings of the word) the fire. Check out the rest of the interview for Josh's thoughts on In Rainbows (he digs) and working with Interscope expat Trent Reznor on "Era Vulgaris," etc. Man, the Interscope 10-year reunion is gonna be one helluva bitch fest!JOSH HOMME: Fuck the labels man, they suck. The last thing they’re stripping down is their own expense accounts and shit. I mean, Jimmy Iovine of Interscope records takes a private jet or rides first class to tell a band they don’t get tour support. You know what I mean? Fuck that shit, I’m tired of it. And I’m not gonna be quiet because the American label, not Canada, not Europe, but our American label’s fucking us like crazy, so fuck them. Why should I not say anything, what am I afraid of? I’m not afraid of them. One of the things most notable about us is how we work. You could not like the music, you can do anything you want, but we work and there’s no changing that fact. And all I want to do is what we agreed upon. And I’m not even bitter, people say labels are evil, no. They’re just lame. I can’t download my music from the Interscope website, because they gave that power away to iTunes.
ANTIQUET: Sounds pretty backwards.
JOSH HOMME: Sounds like a bunch of fucking idiots to me. Sounds like you don’t know your business at all. If we were selling shoes, it wouldn’t be like ‘you evil shoe selling fucks.’ It would be like, ‘how come you’re trying to sell shoes to cows?’ You know? I THINK OF INTERSCOPE AND ALL THESE LABELS AS THE BIGGEST FUCKING IDIOTS ON THE PLANET. And print that in capitals, because they can’t do anything to me. That’s the difference. The reason is because finally, for once, the fact that this is just their job and this is my life does a flip flop on them because they can’t stop me from being me and from playing, but they can lose their jobs and have to fucking work at Shakey’s pizza like they should’ve all along. I’m really sad for the days of the glorified groupie with the fucking hundred thousand dollar expense accounts. They’d drop bunches of bands before they would ever cut their expense accounts. And the fact of the matter is that everyone should play music because it’s such a beautiful gift. It’s my religion. But maybe not everyone should play it in front of me. It’s okay to play music in your rocking chair or whatever.
ANTIQUET: Well who filters out the bullshit? Someone with better taste?
JOSH HOMME: There’s so many bands today. What we do in Queens is we make it tough to get in the door, so once you’re in, you’re safe and you can do your thing. That concept is old as dirt. But what labels have done is let anyone in the door, try to throw it all up against the wall, and stick to what sticks. But they don’t know who they’re selling their shit to, you know? So instead of making it tougher to get in the door and having some quality control… ’cause they don’t know what quality is, they’re looking to somebody else, saying ‘is this good?’ ‘Yes, it is.’ So I say fuckin’ start the first fire with their kindling.
ANTIQUET: It will be interesting to see what bands do beyond that. Trent Reznor and Saul Williams just did the same thing with Saul’s new album, and now that Trent’s free from Interscope, he’s bound to take it to the next level.
JOSH HOMME: That’s such a great example. Trent basically did what I’m doing. He was like ‘Interscope sucks my dick.’ ‘Cause they do. I know, cause I’m looking down at them right now. Even what they did was lame. They’re like, ‘Instead of doing a good job, we’ll let you go. And we get a little piece of what you’re doing ’cause we know you’ll work on it more passionately than we will, so we’d rather have a little piece of your passion than a big piece of our apathy.’ The fact of the matter is, they’re right. For the first time ever they’re admitting what they are: not a very good work force.
ANTIQUET: The passion’s all at the bottom of the food chain.
JOSH HOMME: All the kids, like the girl that hooked us up with this interview probably does more work than Jimmy Iovine because she’s in the nuts and bolts of what goes on in Interscope. The underpaid, overworked section of Interscope. The interns and assistants and people that are starting out. I’m ranting because I know what I’m talking about. I’m also beyond pissed, as in not pissed, because I kinda figure they just don’t know better by now. It’s like when a dog shits in the house, you can hit ‘em with a paper but they really don’t know what the fuck happened. How can retarded kids know to not throw a Frisbee at the forehead of another retarded kid?
ANTIQUET: How can they not be aware?
JOSH HOMME: I’m past the point where figuring it out has any meaning because I already know stuff that they apparently don’t know. And I only know it because I almost tripped on it walking in the front door. I don’t mind saying this shit because I’m a free spirit, man. If you think you can hold me down, best of luck to you. They don’t have the skill to hold me down.
Meanwhile, here are some photos from the underground:
Admittedly, that looks a very memorable ROCK show. More photos here.
Posted at 6:38 PM in Video
Tags: Nine Inch Nails | Queens Of The Stone Age
i love you, josh, and queens are my absolute favorite band on earth, but i don't think i understood a single fucking thing you said in that interview.
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Mofo's pissed
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2nd picture. It looks like a Nuremberg rally from 1938. LOL. German salt miners look like a bunch of Nazis when they're just standing around listening to music.
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those crowd shots are great.
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how fucking unecessary.
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LOL @ the dipshit that misspelled unnecessary. Go punch yourself in the face you big doucebag.
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Larry Dickman, you are one funy motherfucker.
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all those helmets watching a band is pretty wild.
and comparing the music industry to retards throwing frisbee's at each others foreheads is pretty fucking awesome.
josh rules
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Oh Clete, how classic.
Salt mine in Germany = All Nazis and looks like Nürnberg at 1938.
And you are all god-fearing Bush-loving War-Accepting Fundementals?
Go think about it, bitch!
Thomas
(and yes, from Germany)
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Thomas, you flap your lips like an old lady's muff.
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Nicotine, valium, salt mines...
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Josh Homme for Pres!!!!
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Props to the Germans for giving us a word like "schadenfreude" -- it's nice to know what to call it when entitled plebians are having their say, every day, every hotdamn minute under the sun. And Interscope -- their college radio dept., boy, I went to CMJ once and you could tell which label they were with, all from afar: jaundiced, shiny people with a case of the "sniffles" for some reason.
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QOTSA are killer! If you like them you should check out this new band from the UK. Mexicolas: www.myspace.com/mexicolas
Enjoy!
Little Sara
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