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Story by “Pistol” Pete KaufmannPhotos by Alex Solca

SEPTEMBER 2009 • MODERN DRUMMER 45

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It’s the middle of winter, and it’s eighty-five degrees. I’m inL.A., fresh off the plane from a very cold NYC, driving upthe freeway to Pink Duck Studios to meet Josh Hommeand Joey Castillo from Queens Of The Stone Age. Castilloholds the drum chair in Queens, and Homme (rhymes

with Tommy) is the band’s leader, singer, and primary gui-tarist. Josh is also a unique and creative drummer.

Homme plays down his kit abilities, but don’t let hishumility fool you. Besides being extremely involved in thedrum parts on Queens records, he’s the main drummer andco-creator, along with lead singer Jesse “Boots Electric”Hughes, of the band Eagles Of Death Metal.

Homme’s drumming has been described as quirky,unconventional, original, and even “ass shaking” by someof the biggest musicians in the industry. EODM songs like“I’m Your Torpedo,” “Prissy Prancin’,” and “Tight Pants”move to an oddly funky variety of desert rock ’n’ rolldrums, born from a distinctive songwriter’s imaginationand delivered by an old-soul basher who knows exactlywhat he wants to hear in a drum performance.

Given Homme’s hectic schedule, he’s able to tour withEagles Of Death Metal only when time permits. That’swhere things get interesting, if not a little confusing, asCastillo handles a big part of the gigging duty withEODM—when, of course, he and Homme aren’t on theroad or in the studio with Queens.

Castillo’s enthusiasm, work ethic, and talent havetaken him precisely where he wants to go, and he’s filledsome pretty big shoes. Joey took over the QOTSA drumchair when Dave Grohl went back to Foo Fighters afterrecording and touring behind Queens’ 2002 album,

Songs For The Deaf. Castillo is grateful and honored tobe playing in two of his favorite bands, but he’s notphased by it. Listen to his playing on the Queens record-ings Lullabies To Paralyze and Era Vulgaris to hear theideas, the groove, and the commitment this mightydrummer brings to everything he plays.

Castillo is happy to go from one gig to next with very littlerest, because he doesn’t think of it as work. QOTSA andEODM are much more than two successful bands; they’repart of a musical family tree whose branches are way longerthan the average group’s: Grohl, Jack Black, Josh Freese,Samantha Maloney, Claude Coleman Jr., Dean Ween, PJHarvey, Billy Gibbons, Peaches, Mark Lanegan, and RobHalford are just a few of the friends and guests they’veworked with. If this were a high school gym class, theirswould be the team you’d want to play on.

As I pull up to the studio, Brian “Big Hands” O’Connor,bassist for EODM, lets me in through the gate. “B.O.C.,”as he’s known, is also building a deck for Homme’s stu-dio. (I told you these guys are a family!) Inside, I run intoJesse Hughes and we catch up about life, music, andwhat it’s like playing with two completely different drum-mers in the same band. Hughes says he’s probably oneof the luckiest men on Earth to be doing what he doesand collaborating with such great talent.

Just as Hughes begins playing a few new songs for me,Homme and Castillo enter. We say hello, the two drummersbegin setting up their kits for the photo shoot, and I jump inand get the interview rolling. After all, it’s not every day thatyou get to enter the kingdom of the Queens and soar withthe Eagles.

JoSH And JoeY’s FaVoRiTes

JOSHDevo Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (Alan

Myers) /// AC/DC Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Phil

Rudd) /// Black Flag all (Chuck Biscuits, Robo, Bill

Stevenson) /// Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin ll (John

Bonham) /// Band Of Gypsys S/T (Buddy Miles)

JOEYBuddy Rich all /// Led Zeppelin all (John Bonham)

/// Fear The Record (Spit Stix) ///

The Damned Damned Damned Damned

(Rat Scabies) /// Chuck Biscuits all

MD: Eagles Of Death Metal’s first album,Peace Love Death Metal, is so strippeddown and raw—the drums sound as ifthey were played on buckets, pots, and pans.Josh: That album was done in two days.Taylor Hawkins gave me this kit I’musing, this little Ludwig that was in hishouse. I’ve never tuned it, and I’ve nevercased it. Before, I was playing withpieces of stuff that Jesse and I had.

With the Eagles we kind of knewwhat detractors were going to say andwhat people who were into it weregoing to say. The detractors, not know-ing that Eagles predates Queens Of TheStone Age, were going to be like, What’sthis side project? Why is Josh on drums,and who’s this guy with the moustacheriding coattails? It’s very natural for us todo, and Jesse’s moustache is not ironic.MD: When I was touring with Amandla,the band led by Claude Coleman Jr., whowas in Eagles Of Death Metal for a shorttime, he made me use his drums, and wenever packed them in cases. He didn’tpack them when he was playing drumsfor Eagles either because he said it cutinto his “rocking time.”Josh: I used to put the other drumsinside of each other like Russian dolls.[Homme and Castillo don’t use bottomheads in EODM.]

MD: The late New Orleans drummerJames Black said drums should beplayed in the gutter or on the sidewalk.It’s all about playing them, not howclean or nice they look.Josh: I also think the mystery of tuningdrums is not really that big of a mystery.They key is to have a sound in your headthat you’d like to hear. Otherwise, you’renot quite walking toward something. Ifyou have a specific sound in mind, youhave a destination you’re heading for. MD: Speaking of sounds, it appears youhave a concept in Eagles—a lot of wood-blocks, shakers, tambourines, and uniquedrumbeats. It sounds very thought-out.Josh: It is. I’ve always had a close rela-tionship with the drummers I’ve playedwith. [Former Queens bassist] NickOliveri and I got to jam with Hunt Sales[Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren]when we were looking for a drummer forthe Queens, and Hunt said somethingthat’s always stuck with me: “Decentdrummer, good band. Great drummer,classic band.”

Regarding the drum parts being inter-esting, I’ve always played guitar like abass player, so the notion of hi-hat inthe verse and ride in the chorus doesn’tmean anything to me.MD: Drummers who start on a melodicinstrument often play differently from

ProPs FrOm PeeRs

JOSH FREESEI’m a big fan of Joey and Josh’s playing, and I

feel fortunate to call them friends. QOTSA and

EODM are also two of my favorite bands mak-

ing music today. Each has unique sounds that

are defined by their distinct approaches to

rhythm. As Devo’s longtime drummer, I very

much appreciate and can relate to Joey and

Josh’s angular, direct drum parts and patterns

that never sound arbitrary. It just sounds good

to me. It’s what I want to hear when I get in

my car most days. I like their style!

CLAUDE COLEMAN JR.My favorite drummers have always been song-

writers who can put it down pretty confidently

on the kit, like Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder,

Dean Ween—and Josh Homme. Their

approach in many ways is beyond that of

drummers who only play kit, and they’re usu-

ally very specific about the parts they want on

their music, down to the fills. And as a drum-

mer, Josh is putting the roll back with the

rock—getting the music to move that ass like

it should be doing in the first damn place.

I’ve always felt a kinship with Joey. He’s

the last of a dying breed of real rock drum-

mers who propel, push, and drive, punching

you through the back of your head. It’s a rag-

ing sonic force. I don’t play any games on the

bandstand—it’s freakin’ warfare—and neither

does Joey. You can hear his drums coming off

the stage acoustically, even under 8 million

decibels of sound out of the front of the house.

SAMANTHA MALONEYJosh Homme’s approach to the drumset is dif-

ferent from your average drummer’s. He

comes to the kit with the mind of a guitarist,

so his fills sometimes don’t make any sense

as a “drummer” would play them. At times

they feel awkward to play—so wrong, yet so

right—because you can no longer rely on your

instincts. For me, playing drums for EODM was

pure fun and also bizarrely a challenge—

sometimes it was so “easy” that it was actual-

ly hard.

DEAN WEENI’ve gotten to work with Josh on four different

albums over the years, and I like the way he

uses the studio. There’s a big contrast

between recording and playing live, and Josh

will try anything in the studio to see what hap-

pens. This is very similar to how Ween does

things, so I feel right at home when I work with

him. He’s a very good engineer and could

probably work as a producer full time if he

wanted to. Songs For The Deaf is one of the

best-sounding rock albums of the past twenty

years, and a lot of those sounds came from

Josh playing around with strange mics and

amps and generally knowing his shit.

Longtime Queens and Eaglesassociates give it up for Joshand Joey.

ones who start on drums and play onlydrums. Did you start on drums or guitar?Josh: When I was about eight years old, Istarted begging for a drumset. I wouldplay with chopsticks on wicker trashcans. My old man told me he’d buy me aguitar, and in five years if I became anaccomplished guitar player then we’dtalk about getting drums. The runningjoke was, “Am I good enough yet?” Byfifth grade I could play the set and had

the coordination with my feet.MD: Drummers who play another instru-ment also don’t overplay as much.Josh: I call that a misplaced sense ofvitality. I always swore I would neverplay with a drummer who didn’t playanother instrument, up until I playedwith Joey. Joey plays a little bit of guitar,and he would rip balls on guitar if heplayed all the time. He’s got an absolutemusical sensibility, and he plays with his

head up.Joey: I’m especially like that in Queens.It’s an unspoken language when we’reup on stage. Somebody takes the lead,somebody follows, and we go for Xamount of bars. It’s something you haveto be aware of.Josh: You have to be able to talk songs.Joey: Exactly! I learned to play by listen-ing to records. So it was always impor-tant to me to understand what a song

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QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE,“Little Sister,” Lullabies To Paralyze,played by Joey CastilloThis is the signature Queens beat (what Homme calls“the white man’s groove”), with lots of offbeat 8thson the bass drum, a Jam Block used as an alternative

timekeeper, and very tight drumming during the verses. The bass drum playsthe “&” of beats 1, 2, 3, and 4. Variations of this beat can be heard on theQueens songs “Regular John,” “In My Head,” and “3’s & 7’s.” There’s very lit-tle downbeat here, which creates a momentum that pushes the beat forwardlike a train with no brakes.

EAGLES OF DEATH METAL, “I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News),” Death By Sexy, played by JoeyCastillo shows off his powerful single-pedal mastery by playing constant 8thnotes on the bass drum around beats 2 and 4 on the snare. A great exampleof Joey’s musical drumming, it’s a busy approach that nonetheless doesn’tget in the way of the music. Played fast, this beat is a real workout for thebass drum foot. Another great example of Castillo’s single bass drum skillscan be heard on “Sick, Sick, Sick” from Queens’ Era Vulgaris album.

EODM, “Flames Go Higher,” Peace Love Death Metal,played by Josh HommeThis is a funky simple groove with a lopsided feel, and it’s a perfect exampleof Homme’s “less is more” playing. Notice the tambourine on the “&” of 4,another signature sound of the Eagles. Josh barely strays from the beat andplays no fills. Ain’t it funky now!

EODM, “Kiss The Devil,” Peace Love Death Metal, played by JoshA musical display of Homme’s unconventional drumming style. The right handplays beats 1, 2, 3, and 4, alternating between the snare and floor tom, whilethe left hand stays on the hi-hat, filling in the “&” of every beat. The bass

drum plays quarter notes to anchor the pattern, while the hands do all thework. Be careful, though: If you play this beat too fast, you might fly away!

EODM, “(I Used To Couldn’t Dance) Tight Pants,” Heart On,played by JoshYou can hear Homme’s evolution as a drummer in this song. Check out hisgreat linear playing—very James Brown–influenced and groovy. The handsare busy playing alternating 16ths (RLRL) between the hi-hat and snare, andthe right hand comes back over to the snare to accent beats 2 and 4 for thebackbeat. All other notes on the snare are ghosted. The bass drum is minimal,playing beat 1, the “&” of 3, and the “e” of 4. Homme considers “Tight Pants”some of his best drumming to date, and we agree.

QOTSA, “Run, Pig, Run,” Era Vulgaris, played by JoeyCastillo says this beat, which appears during the verse, is one of the harder pat-terns on Vulgaris to play. A workout of 16th-note hand and foot combinations bro-ken up over the kit, it creates the illusion of a double pedal. Though Joey used adouble pedal for this song’s chorus on the recording, he plays a single pedal live.

EODM, “Stacks O’ Money,” Peace Love Death Metal,played by JoshHomme plays a broken-up pattern between the hi-hat and snare, never usingboth sound sources together. Check out the full quarter-note duration of theopen hi-hat, reminiscent of a guiro pattern. This is one of those deceptively easybeats; try to play it consistently for three minutes straight and you’ll see what wemean. Make sure your hi-hat foot is down tight until you have to open thehats—a subtle touch that makes a huge difference.

luLLaBieS To ANalyZe Examining the deceivingly simple parts Josh Homme and JoeyCastillo lay down with Queens Of The Stone Age and Eagles OfDeath Metal is an advanced lesson in controlled creativity.

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was about—what’s happening, and why.Josh: We need to be able to change it upnight after night, so we don’t get bored.Joey: When we do rehearsals or try towork things out for “in-stores” or some-thing, it’s often without a kit. It’s with atambourine, a pair of sticks, a snare—or achair. I recently did an in-store with theEagles where there was supposed to bea drumset, but nothing was there whenwe showed up. There was a woodenstool, a pair of sticks, and a tambourine,which I taped to the chair. We did six

songs that way. You’re forced to makesomething out of nothing.MD: When I think of the Eagles sound, Ithink of early New Orleans or vaudeville,when drummers would create kits bymixing and matching various percussioninstruments to come up with a newsonic palette.Josh: The key thing about the Eaglesthat permeates every instrument is thatrock ’n’ roll is supposed to be fun. Wehad to start out with the worst stuff pos-sible to prove we didn’t take ourselves

too seriously, and to overcome limita-tions. For a while I was using a drumrack, only because I can’t stand them. Ialso have Rototoms because thatabsolutely made no sense to me at all.That’s how the whole China cymbalthing started. I was always like, “Chinais a country.” Now it’s my favorite cym-bal of all time. It’s the most expressive.Joey: It’s a signature of the Eagles,absolutely.MD: Former EODM drummer GeneTrautmann said it was the life of theEagles sound. Josh: It’s the one thing that can’t bemissing from the Eagles. Let’s not justuse the things we dislike the most, let’slean on them. On the verses let’s look forsomething else to play other than hi-hat,another white noise to keep the timethat’s different from what’s used all thetime. These other percussion thingsdon’t take up the same amount of space.They’re your “drinking buddies” all of asudden. And then going into the chorus,the change is huge! There’s a dramaticdynamic shift that happens when you’reusing less.MD: Sometimes it’s hard to tell whatyou’re riding on—a rim, a closed hi-hat,a dead-sounding floor tom…. When Isaw Joey recently with the Eagles, I waslike, Oh, so that’s how it’s done.Josh: I like to find ways that are fun toplay and specifically patterned. The kickand snare relationship is more importantto me than fills. To me fills should soundlike an old man falling down the stairs.They need to be funny, but not in a sillyway. A fill has to make me chuckle, like,“You badass!”MD: Joey, you recorded the last twoQueens albums, Lullabies To Paralyzeand Era Vulgaris, but there were severalgreat drummers in Queens before you—Alfredo Hernández, Gene Trautmann,Nick Lucero, Dave Grohl….Josh: And none after—ha, ha, ha!MD: You play all their parts authentic-ally, like a studio drummer.Josh: The hardest thing for the drum-mers before Joey was to respect whatthe other person did and be able toswitch stylistically from song to songwithout mowing down everything—toplay respectfully and be your own per-son at the same time. One of the things I

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said to Joey after Songs For The Deafwas, “You know what we need to do?Nothing.” I asked Joey to pull back, paredown, and serve the song harder. Iknew everybody was going to try tocompare Joey to Dave [Grohl]. But Joeywas never worried. Joey: Well, I was a Queens fan sinceday one. My old band Sugartooth playedwith [Homme’s former group] Kyuss. Allthose drummers ahead of me, I’ve seenthem with the band, respected them,and appreciated what they did. When I

came into Queens, I wasn’t trying tooutplay those guys, I was just gratefulfor the chance to be playing some of myfavorite songs with my favorite band. Iwanted to do the best job I could andput a bit of me on it.Josh: We don’t do open auditions, sowhen we needed a drummer it had tobe someone we knew or who someoneclose to us knew well. We jammed withthree or four other drummers, and I wasready to hang it up. It’s hard to findsomeone to play with. When Joey

came by I kept saying, “Dude, yougotta come in,” and he kept saying,“You do this tour first, and then I’llstart learning stuff.”Joey: Because it was a lot!MD: Where you nervous?Joey: Of course.Josh: No one could play it all. No onecould do what the other guys weredoing and be themselves. No one waseven close. You know in about fifteen totwenty seconds. When Joey came in, weplayed “Avon” off the first Queens recorduntil we made a mistake, which was atthe very end. I said, “Stop right there. I’llbe right back.” And I left the room.Joey: Which I thought was the end. Josh: I went outside and called thedude we had been jamming with andsaid, “I’m sorry, it’s over. It’s not per-sonal.” We had eight hours to gobefore we left on tour. That’s howmuch I believed I made the right deci-sion with Joey. Joey: Songs For The Deaf was just com-ing out, and Grohl played his balls offon it. I had a copy of the CD for twodays, and it was a bit of a scary jump,but I was ready to take it.MD: And all the Queens songs havevery distinct parts and arrangements.You can’t fake it.Joey: There’s no jumping in and think-ing you’re going to cruise through this.And I knew the history of the band. Iknew the four guys that came and wentbefore me. [laughs]MD: And you were thinking you didn’twant to be the fifth.Joey: I told Josh that in the beginning:“You know, you have the worst rep forbeating up on drummers.” And he waslike, “Really? I do?” [all laugh]Josh: I think we should all try to be thebest we can be and serve the song. I’venever questioned that, but I’ve beenaround people who have.Joey: That’s just it. I was coming fromDanzig, who is also somewhat of adrummer and a fan of the drums. Ireplaced Chuck Biscuits, who was my idol.Josh: Biscuits was rad.MD: Joey, you got a lot of your school-ing playing in punk rock bands.Joey: Yeah, my first band was WastedYouth.

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MD: How did you adapt to a band as versa-tile as Queens? On Era Vulgaris alone, onesong can be R&B oriented, like “Make It WitChu,” which is like an Al Green/Al JacksonJr. groove….Joey: That’s exactly what I was going forwhen I played that.MD: But then you have to switch it up, likefor “Battery Acid,” which has an industrialkind of sound. And on “River In The Road,”your beat is meringue/calypso oriented.Your musical vocabulary is very good forsomeone coming from a punk background.Joey: My roots are in punk, but my playingon “Make It Wit Chu” and “River In TheRoad” is influenced by my love for lots ofother kinds of music. I was learning how toplay in Wasted Youth, but my parents lis-tened to everything, including soul music.And in this band, everybody listens to allkinds of different things. It’s not about rock,or punk, or this and that. That’s boring.MD: Era Vulgaris almost reminds me of aWeen album—each song is different fromthe others in style and sound.Josh: We have more in common with Weenthan any band out there. Because Weenplays whatever they want, whenever theyfeel like it, and they play it well. All I’veever wanted to do is be in a band that playslike a record collection, like a good mix tape.Era is supposed to be like a Leatherman:You can use it anywhere.

The reasons there have been so manydrummers in the group is that you keephaving to up the ante, and that cancelssome people out. That’s the gamble of tryingto do what you don’t see being done. Thereare people who aren’t into the Queens, andthat’s totally fine. But you can’t say we don’ttry hard, and with the Eagles it’s the samething. It ain’t a joke, brother! [all laugh]Joey: So many drummers think it’s a walkin the park to play with the Eagles, but it’snot. It’s a real challenge to be refined andmake things count and be part of thismagic that happens. Josh will be the firstto tell you. There’s nothing more amazingin the world than an Eagles audiencedancing and partying.Josh: It’s unreal.Joey: You gotta be able to work that machine.Josh: Girls don’t dance to fills. WithEagles, I love playing a straight beat. I could play it for hours without going intosomething else, because it feels good. Itgives me a weird rush. Joey understands

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that philosophy so well, and he doesit so much better than I do.Joey: Honestly, it’s from playing withJosh and knowing him as long as I have.Josh: It’s about what you don’t do,which is the hardest thing to do.Joey: Of course, the drums are a blast,and you want to go off and show peo-ple what you have.Josh: And you can be tempted to playmore, especially when it’s simple. Thereare times when I have to tell myself,Don’t! Because it isn’t necessary.Joey: Phil Rudd has made it work forAC/DC. He’s always been one of myfavorite players, because he’s so solidand in the pocket that when he doeschange it up, it’s explosive.Josh: The funny thing is, you get thesense from hearing Phil Rudd talk thatpeople have said to him for years,“Dude, why don’t you go off?” I alwaysimagine that he just looks at the personand walks away. That would be justlike his drumming style.

Ninety-nine percent of what makesup a person is the same as everyoneelse. That’s how we relate to eachother. But it’s the one percent that’s dif-ferent that matters. Finding that onepercent is the challenge.Joey: I remember Mike Bordin, back inthe Faith No More days, telling mewhen I was touring with Danzig, “If youjust keep doing what you’re doing,you’re going to be fine.” He said thatonce I accepted the fact that I was whoI was and stopped trying to be just likeeverybody out there, I’d come into myown and people would accept me andappreciate that. Josh: It’s the endurance that peopleend up respecting. I love that peopleunderstand Joey now.MD: Fans are still getting to know Joeyand hear what he’s got. Like on “SutureUp Your Future,” from Era Vulgaris, heplays some nice Bonham-influenceddoubles on the bass drum. And “IntoThe Hollow” is rockin’ hard and has anR&B groove, reminiscent of “I Want ToTake You Higher” by Sly & The FamilyStone. It makes you want to dance, likeold records did.Josh: It has to be that. We’re workingthrough these songs, trying to write

parts together. I write a part, Joeywrites a part, and it’s got to be thissymbiotic thing. It’s about pieces thatwork well together.MD: Joey, on the live Queens DVD, OverThe Years And Through The Woods, youdig hard into the hi-hat. It really seemsto anchor the groove.Josh: The shoulder swing! It’s like theway Marky and Tommy of the Ramoneswould play. Joey: With the Queens, it sometimesdoesn’t get translated correctly, butthere’s a certain stiffness that turns into a groove.Josh: I refer to it as “the white man’sgroove.”MD: Queens has a signature sound, andthat carries over to the drums. There’s aa lot of upbeat 8th notes on the bassdrum that push the groove forward,and a lot of the fills and kicks are syn-copated and over the barline. There arealso tons of signature fills that stemfrom the first Queens album. The drum-mers have changed over the years, butthe drum parts have a consistency.Josh: “Regular John” is my favoritebeat.Joey: That song in general is theQueens groove.Josh: That’s why it’s the first song onthe first album. For me, arguably, it’sour best song. That song basically says,“It goes like this.”MD: Alfredo Hernández was the drum-mer on the first album. Did he createthat beat?Josh: No. I wrote that first record, andthe focus was on making the drumsand guitar the same thing, like a bro-ken factory—making the same wrongthing, over and over.MD: Isn’t that what you dubbed robotrock?Josh: Yeah, because I didn’t want tobe in a “stoner” rock situation, and Iknew that with “the white man’sgroove,” if everybody played stiff andmechanical it would become so funkyand unstoppable. MD: Songs like “Little Sister” and “In MyHead” have that clear and precise robotrock beat, with the bass drum playingthe “&” of beats 1, 2, 3, and 4.Josh: It’s gotta be danceable. That

HOMME & CASTILLO

upswing really makes people dance.MD: That’s more common with jazz andfunk than with rock music. In rock,crashes and fills generally end on thedownbeat, most commonly on beat 1.Queens tends to hit the “&” of 1 moreoften, creating a feeling that’s likesomeone hitting you with a left hookwhen you’re expecting a right.Josh: There’s a lot of that in the Eaglesstuff too, like “Miss Alissa,” off PeaceLove Death Metal. There are cymbalshots where there’s no kick or snare.That’s one of my favorite songs to play.There’s no fill the whole song, but it’s anightmare because the hi-hat is closedso tightly that it doesn’t even wigglewhen you hit it. When you take yourfoot off, it barely opens or moves.MD: You can hear the evolution of theEagles. On Peace Love Death Metal, itsounds very stripped down and bare.On the second album, Death By Sexy,you guys still have that Chuck Berryrock ’n’ roll sound, but Josh, your drum-ming gets a bit more adventurous. Joey,you played on a few songs on thatalbum as well, right?Joey: I played on “Shasta Beast,” “Boy’sBad News,” and “Chase The Devil.”MD: Josh, I love your drum part on“Cherry Cola” on Death By Sexy. Thedrum parts are more involved than any-thing on Peace Love Death Metal.Josh: For Eagles I’ve been takingadvantage of where Jesse’s at. WithPeace Love Death Metal, Jesse wastotally green, and it was such a beauti-ful moment, so I just played green. Wekept it as raw and simple as possible.We made a three-record plan, whichwe did with Queens also. The thirdrecord, which would become Heart On,was supposed to be our version ofBack In Black. The production leveland songs are meant to be deeper andmore involved.MD: “High Voltage” and “I’m YourTorpedo” sound like cosmic funk, like aspaceship landed in the desert, pickedup the boys, and went to outer space.Josh: That’s what it is, the spaceshipFunkadelic. Jesse is a huge Parliamentfan, and so are Joey and I, so thatinfluence started creeping in. Youdon’t need to shift out of it till it’s the

right moment. MD: To me, Queens and Eagles arekind of like that deodorant, Secret:“Strong enough for a man, but madefor a woman.”Josh: You don’t know how many times I’ve said internally that we need to be like Secret. That was the whole mantra for Rated R. You just made me really happy!MD: A lot of bands that focus on tech-nical ability attract mostly musiciansand dudes. Queens has a great balance

of songs and musicianship, and atshows there’s an equal blend of menand women. Josh: I’ve always played for respect; Idon’t want anything else. But when itchanges from the respect of men to therespect of ladies…Joey: Big difference! [all laugh] “Turnin’On The Screw” on Vulgaris is a perfectexample. It’s got heavy drums, distor-tion, synths, and cool drum fills, and thegirls love dancing to it.Josh: That’s the secret!

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MD: Tell us a little about that song.Joey: It petrified me. I could not hearwhere Josh was playing the main riff.Josh: [Guitarist] Troy [Van Leeuwen]and Joey heard it on the other side ofthe beat, flipped. These guys hated thatsong because of that.Joey: It sounded like a hillbilly melody!Josh: But I didn’t know they werehearing it that way, so I’d switch itaround, and they would switch itaround on me again. I kept asking,“Why are you doing that?” Then Iplayed it while tapping my foot, and itmade sense to them.MD: Joey, how did you come up withthat drum part? The timekeeping is alltambourine, right?Joey: At a rehearsal we were trying tokeep the volume down, listening to theriff to hear what was happening, so Istarted riding the tambourine. Josh waslike, “That’s it! Stay there!”MD: So that tambourine part wasn’toverdubbed? Joey: No way, dude. I played it in thestudio the same way I do it live. Wedon’t make it easier in the studio. That’s

the challenge.Josh: We do it like that ’cause it’s sup-posed to be hard. I don’t want to take theeasy road, and Joey doesn’t either. Itshould kind of hurt to play Queens songs.Joey: Troy actually threw out his backplaying “Everybody Knows That YouAre Insane.”Josh: If something isn’t bleeding, youshould try again. [all laugh]MD: I’ve heard that with Queens all thecymbals are overdubbed.Josh: We’ve done that since Rated R.MD: What do you hit instead of a cymbal?Josh: It started out with towels on thecymbals, but now we use V-Drum pads,because then you’re hearing cymbals inyour head. We still need something tohit because it affects the groove.

The challenge separates the menfrom the boys. I started doing it becauseof a conversation I had with engineerChris Goss six years earlier: “What if wehad no cymbals and then you over-dubbed them?” You could do thingssound-wise to the drums that couldn’tnormally be done. On “Better LivingThrough Chemistry” from Rated R, we

pull the drums out and the cymbals arestill there. Then we bring ’em back inand it’s like, “Hey!”MD: Joey, do you find it tricky playingthose quirky Eagles drum parts?Joey: It’s starting to become natural. Iunderstand why Josh is doing thoseparts; I know why he’s stripped it down.“Anything ’Cept The Truth,” from the lastEagles record, is one of the most funsongs to play. I wouldn’t have played itthat way, but watching Josh do it, andthen having to replicate it, is a blast. Andit’s made me a better drummer.MD: What were some of the more chal-lenging songs to play on Era Vulgaris?Joey: “Run, Pig, Run” was tough becauseit was very physical going back andforth between the hands and feet, plusthere are quick breaks. We recorded thatlive, except for the cymbals.MD: It sounds like you’re playing 16thnotes on a double pedal in the chorus. I don’t recall you normally playing a double kick.Joey: I use a single pedal live, but Iused a double pedal for just that onepart on the album. The verses are

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broken up between the floor tom andkick drum. MD: On the live DVD, “Song For TheDead” looks like boot camp training fordrummers. It’s got Grohl’s parts—whichare tough to play to start—plus a prettyinvolved arrangement and a drum soloover a vamp. By the end you lookexhausted because the band is playingit a lot faster than on the album.Joey: Josh doesn’t like it to be oneway. He likes to push, he likes to pull,and I have to be able to move withhim. I can usually read his body lan-guage pretty well. “Song For The Dead”is very physical, and obviously you cansee that. We’ve pulled tempos backsince then, though it depends on howthe band is feeling.MD: On “Sick, Sick, Sick” from EraVulgaris, there’s a lot of nice bass drumwork, especially that four-on-the-floorpart during the breakdown. How didthat come about?Joey: Josh said he wanted to do some-thing with no fills at all. Just kick andsnare. But he wanted it to be somewhatof a conversation between his guitar

and the drums. I think we did that songin one take.MD: Two Eagles songs in particularcome to mind in terms of creative drumparts. “Kiss The Devil” from Peace Lovehas a really cool 16th-note pattern bro-ken up between both hands on the hi-hat and snare. Did you take a similarapproach to the song “Tight Pants” from Heart On?Josh: I wanted to funkify it. The roots ofthe song come from Jesse, who is heav-ily influenced by funk. “Tight Pants”was kind of my triumph for this record.It feels so good to play that beat. Samewith “Kiss The Devil,” where the lefthand is on the hi-hat and I’m just alter-nating my right hand between snareand floor tom.MD: Josh, when you first started touringas the drummer, did you have anyproblems because of lack of endurance?Josh: Yeah. We rehearsed for hours andhours because I needed to get my windup to play full shows. Joey reallyhelped me because I was holding thesticks the wrong way and getting acrazy pain that was shooting through

my wrists. I was having to tape thedrumsticks to my hands because thepain made my hands want to open.MD: Early on, did you hit any seriousclams or have any major train wrecks?Josh: Some, but you just keep going.But to be honest, I never care aboutthat, and the Eagles audiences nevercared either. They’re like, Don’t worryabout it, just go! And it doesn’t reallyhappen anymore.MD: You’ve become a better drummersince the first Eagles album.Josh: When we did Peace Love DeathMetal, I didn’t have the opportunity toplay all the time, and that’s why I wasso excited about it. Now that I havemore chances to play, I take it. Itdoesn’t matter that I’m not the world’sbest drummer, I just like it. And that’show I feel about the Eagles in general.To dissect the Eagles is far beyond awaste of time. The relevant question is,Do you like it? And at this point in mylife I’m only focused on pursuing thethings I love.

HOMME & CASTILLO