Hundreds of epic shows, memory lapses, unexplained injuries, one yearlong detour with Iggy Pop and multiple Grammy nominations later, Queens Of The Stone Age reemerge from the desert newly scarred and somehow strangely prettier with lucky seventh album, Villains, out August 25 on Matador Records.
Villains is now available for preorder on deluxe vinyl, standard vinyl, CD and digital. All formats include an instant download of first single “The Way You Used To Do”—which you can listen to below.
Produced by Mark Ronson and co-produced by Mark Rankin and mixed by Alan Moulder, Villains is the first full album offering from Queens Of The Stone Age since 2013’s …Like Clockwork gave the band its first #1 album in the US. Like the stunning artwork of returning illustrator Boneface, the sonic signatures of the lineup that took …Like Clockwork around the world and back—founder/guitarist/vocalist/lyricist Joshua Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, keys), Michael Shuman (bass), Dean Fertita (keys, guitar), Jon Theodore (drums)—are as unmistakable as ever, though coexisting with sufficient new twists to induce recurring double takes.
As Homme himself puts it, “The most important aspect of making this record was redefining our sound, asking and answering the question 'what do we sound like now?' If you can’t make a great first record, you should just stop—but if you can make a great record but you keep making records and your sound doesn’t evolve, you become a parody of that original sound."
Of his role working within such a closed and confident ecosystem as Queens Of The Stone Age, Ronson says, "Queens are and have always been my favorite rock ’n’ roll band ever since I walked into Tower on Sunset and bought Rated R in the summer of 2000, so it was incredibly surreal to be welcomed into their secret, pirate clan—or the ‘jacuzzi’ as Josh likes to call it.”
He continues, “I also knew that my super fandom alone would not keep me in the jacuzzi. There were moments during the making of the album in which I was aware I was watching my musical heroes craft something that was sure to become one of my favorite moments on any Queens album. And to have some part in that felt like being in a dream—a very heavy, dark, wonderful dream.”
Longtime Queens cohort co-producer Mark Rankin added, "After the baptism of fire that was …Like Clockwork, I was excited to get into the studio again with the challenge of pushing the sound for this record, especially with the the addition of Ronson into the creative mix. We wanted to evolve the production to be processed in a modern way yet be totally organic and still performed fully live, like lifting a veil and what you thought was electronic is actually live and things are not as they first appear… What we’ve made is forward looking yet unmistakably Queens."
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Queens Of The Stone Age have also confirmed a slew of North American dates filling in the space between and beyond their previously announced appearances at Outside Lands and Riot Fest. The new shows, which include Queens’ first ever Madison Square Garden headline, are detailed below.
North American Tour with special guests Royal Blood (September 6 - October 24 headline dates):
June 22 — Rapids Theater — Niagara Falls, NY June 24 — Amnesia Rockfest 2017 — Montebello, QC August 10 – Majestic Ventura Theater – Ventura, CA August 12 – Outside Lands – San Francisco, CA September 6 – Capitol Theatre – Port Chester, NY September 7 – Festival Pier – Philadelphia, PA September 9 – Budweiser Stage – Toronto, ON September 10 – 20 Monroe Live – Grand Rapids, MI September 12 – Express Live! Outdoor Pavilion – Columbus, OH September 13 – Stage AE (Outdoors) – Pittsburgh, PA September 15 – Agora Theater – Cleveland, OH September 16 – Riot Fest – Chicago, IL October 9 – The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT October 10 – Red Rocks – Morrison, CO October 12 – Peabody – St. Louis, MO October 13 – Crossroads KC – Kansas City, MO October 14 – Roy Wilkins Auditorium – Saint Paul, MN October 15 – Eagles Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI October 17 – Fox Theatre – Detroit, MI October 18 – Old National Centre – Murat Theatre – Indianapolis, IN October 20 – TBC – Washington, DC October 21 – Agganis Arena - Boston, MA October 22 – State Theatre – Portland, ME October 24 – Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
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