After sets by Mini Mansions (featuring Michael Shuman of Queens Of The Stone Age) and Alain Johannes (the fourth Crooked Vulture), A new band called Hello=Fire was debuted.

Hello=Fire features Dean Fertita of The Dead Weather / Queens Of The Stone Age, and Brendan Benson of The Raconteurs. Joey Castillo of QOTSA played drums, and Troy Van Leeuwen of QOTSA / Sweethead joined the band after being invited earlier in the day to play keys & guitar.

It was a family affair, with Josh Homme and Brody Dalle in attendance at the filled-to-capacity club.

I caught shit for calling Sweethead an LA band when reviewing their debut EP, but I stand by the claim. At least in the sense I intended to express. If you go to shows in Los Angeles regularly, you might understand why the label is unwelcome. Most of the bands around here suck pretty hard. It’s especially tough to forgive when they’re so obviously convinced they’re nothing less than the next Mötley Crüe. Hell, you’ll even hear some of them tell you exactly that, with a straight face. I’m not exaggerating. That actually happens.

Well that’s not what I’m talking about. When I refer to the “LA sound” with respect (as I do in Sweethead’s case), I’m talking about a certain vintage of Rock that just tends to complement this environment well. Like all of LA’s residents, it’s not from here originally; It was brought over from London in the 60s and 70s by The Kinks, T. Rex, and The Pretenders and such. It’s got attitude, but it’s not very punk. Sometimes it yells, but it never screams. It’s understated, but it’s not a shoegazing heroin trip. It’s got a little less to be angry about with such beautiful weather, but it still has a few things to say.

The most common fatal flaw with this sort of straight-up, traditional Rock N’ Roll is cliché. There’s only so many stones you can flip over when you’re playing barre chords over a 4/4 beat. Fortunately for Sweethead, the musicians involved know where they all are.

Troy Van Leeuwen played with Failure, was a founding member of A Perfect Circle, and has been playing guitar next to Josh Homme in Queens Of The Stone Age since 2002. Bassist Eddie Nappi played in Handsome, alongside Peter Menegede of Helmet, Tom Capone of Quicksand, and Jeremy Chatelain of Jets To Brazil. These guys didn’t graduate from Musicians Institute last year; They’re no-joke talented musicians playing straight up Rock N’ Roll because they like it and can do it well, not because they’re unable to do anything more advanced.

Serrina Sims is of course the wildcard here, at the forefront of every song as lead vocalist, and seemingly coming from out of nowhere. Fortunately she holds her own with the boys just fine. A little better than just fine, at times.

I’ve described the bulk of the self-titled debut in a roundabout way; The Sting, Turned Our Backs, Sinkhole International, and the tracks that appeared on the Great Disruptors EP get most of the credit when I speak of the overall sound. However, there are a few surprises we weren’t expecting.

After a six-part journey called Amazing Vanishing Conquest comes Running Out, with shades of the sort of alt-goth rock Troy played with in APC, with a super catchy breakdown riff that perfectly breaks up a stretch that might otherwise lull you off to sleep. Also helping to keep things fresh is Meet In The Road, which ditches the wall of electric guitars for a stripped-down playful acoustic ballad.

After all is said and done, Sweethead is a pretty good album from a band cynically considered a less noteworthy QOTSA side project. It’s not an altogether unfair assessment, but there is plenty of quality, not to mentioned experienced musicianship and song craftsmanship, to hold our interest on its own.

Fortunately, we had a fair amount of mostly coherent conversation that night as well, and we’re pleased to present this more proper interview, featuring three fourths of Sweethead and Johnny, with me behind the camera.

In case you haven’t been following, Sweethead is the new band featuring Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens Of The Stone Age, Eddie Nappi of Handsome / Enemy, Norm Block of Plexi, and fronted by a vixen named Serrina Sims, who we first spotted onstage at the Natasha Shneider Memorial concert last year. They have an EP out called The Great Disruptors, and a full length is on the way.

Pardon the unsolicited meta, but it just so happens that Troy Van Leeuwen was Johnny’s very first artist interview. Troy was playing guitar with A Perfect Circle in 2001, and on one of my first trips out to California, I had my new aspiring journalist friend Johnny talk to Troy for the (now sadly defunct) fansite aperfectcircle.net. Serrina was present for that interview as well. So this was a full circle sort of moment for us personally. Pun by no means intended.

We discussed the whole “Los Angeles band” thing- a misconception, if you ask Troy, as well as the story behind the video for The Great Disruptors, which hit the internet last week. Check it out here:

As we get to talking about influences, we discuss some legendary, somewhat substantiated rumors surrounding Chuck Berry. Since wrapping the interview, I’ve personally done some independent research into Johnny & Troy’s allegations, and… honestly, it left me speechless. That man is a guitar God, but he was into some freaky freak shit. I’ve gotta read his autobiography.

Sweethead will be touring Europe in October with Eagles Of Death Metal, as well as elsewhere- with another cool band- soon enough. See their MySpace page for tour dates, as well as two tracks from their EP (available for $4 on iTunes), their cover of Life In Laralay from the Love & Rockets tribute, and a track from the forthcoming full-length, due in September last we checked.

Shepard Fairey (who did the tribute’s cover art) was on the turntables (and Macbook), spinning a mix of classic rock and 80s pop & early goth rock as the sun slowly set over the open courtyard. The crowd was a particularly eclectic mix of locals of all ages- from toddlers to seniors- all in high spirits. The bar was open, but the scene was well managed. An almost impossibly perfect situation.

Astra Heights, The Invisible Humans, and Vex performed. We haven’t been following any of these bands, but we immediately recognized two members of Vex; Paul Ill from Juliette Lewis’ band The Licks, and Kelli Scott, of Failure and Campfire Girls. Vex premiered the video for their cover of It Could Be Sunshine, and employed a rotating cast of special guest vocalists filling in for the absent Natalia Jovovich, including Troy Van Leeuwen of Sweethead & Queens Of The Stone Age for a cover of Nick Cave’s City Of Refuge.

Opening band Astra Heights delivered one of the most surprisingly good performances I’ve personally witnessed in this town for quite some time. Unfortunately, none of the studio recordings or live videos I can find online do Wednesday night’s performance justice, but the Texan five-piece was super tight, with two guitarists and a bass player backing up the lead vocals with well-trained harmonies. We’ll be keeping an eye on them.

We ran into many old friends there, some that we haven’t seen in years. Afterwards, we had a sort of Antiquiet beer summit, setting our video camera in the middle of some spirited (pun intended) rambling and goofing off with Sweethead and Astra Heights.

While we were talking to Sweethead, Shepard Fairey was interviewing Daniel Ash of Love & Rockets in front of The Rock N’ Roll Super Show’s cameras. Check out their coverage here.

We also did a “proper” interview with Troy, Serrina and Eddie of Sweethead, which we’ll have online for you very soon. Stay tuned.

And oh by the way, New Tales To Tell is actually a pretty solid compilation. It may be even cooler than Purplish Rain. You can buy it on iTunes now, or pre-order the hard copy from Amazon or Best Buy, due out on August 18th.

New Tales To Tell: Tribute To Love & Rockets
August 18th, 2009
Justice Records

01. Black Francis, All In My Mind
02. Puscifer, Holiday On The Moon
03. War Tapes, Love ME
04. Blaqk Audio, No New Tale To Tell
05. Dubfire, I Feel Speed
06. The Dandy Warhols, Inside The Outside
07. Sweethead, Life In Laralay
08. Film School, An American Dream
09. A Place To Bury Strangers, The Light
10. Monster Magnet Vs. Adrian Young, Mirror People
11. The Stone Foxes, Fever
12. Frankenstein 3000, No Big Deal
13. Vex, It Could Be Sunshine
14. Better Than Ezra, So Alive
15. James Hall, Haunted When The Minutes Drag
16. Chantal Claret Vs. Adrian Young, Lazy
17. Ian Moore & Lossy Coils, Sweet F.A.
18. Snowden, No Words No More
19. Charlie & The Valentine Killers, Sweet Lover Hangover
20. Halloween Jack, Yin And Yang & The Flowerpot Man
21. The Manichean, Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven
22. Johnny Dowd & Billy Cote, Bound For Hell
23. Halls Of The Machine, Saudade
24. The Flaming Lips, Kundalini Express (Bonus Track)
25. The Invisible Humans, Mirror People (Bonus Track)
26. Astra Heights, No New Tale To Tell (Bonus Track)

More photos from the event can be found on Antiquiet’s Facebook Page.

Say what you want about washed up soldiers of the old guard straggling through the Rainbow here and there, but the city’s richest natural resources are still found in West Hollywood, where plenty of classier acts with experience and mettle continue to guard their claim to the midnight hour slot.

And that’s where you might catch Sweethead, stepping out of a Cadillac, well dressed with a Jack & Coke in hand. The band is fronted by the bona-fide vixen Serrina Sims, and driven by Queens Of The Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen.

I hate to be a regionalist and come at this like it’s a Los Angeles thing you wouldn’t understand, but sometimes you just can’t avoid it; Sweethead is an LA band, through and through. Their sound is so unmistakably Los Angeles, I can’t help but talk about it as if it’s the band’s rhythm section. No disrespect intended, of course, to the very able hands of Norm Block and Eddie Nappi. While both are most widely known for their work with the Mark Lanegan band, we loved the Handsome album that Nappi was a part of, and we’ve been keeping tabs on him for years now, through his work with Troy’s other band Enemy.

And of course we’ve been following Sweethead for awhile as well, first mentioning them on Antiquiet when Serrina made an appearance at the Natasha Shneider Benefit show last year. Later we suffered through Buddyhead’s Holiday “Ho-Ho-Hodeo” for one of Sweethead’s first public performances, a highlight of the otherwise excruciating event, as brief as it was.

Last week, Sweethead finally released a debut EP, entitled The Great Disruptors. A full length album is slated for September 21st.

The EP opens with the title track, a slithering bass-driven cut. It’s single-worthy, even radio friendly. There are a lot of tricks and treats to be found in the mix; subtle little squeals and tweaks, but it’s not quite overproduced. It’s an extremely catchy song, one that’s been stuck in my head for a few days now.

While the title track and Arcane Arcade both inspire some excitement for the forthcoming full-length, Hardspun isn’t as compelling as either. Traumatized And Dumb is a decadent, indulgent glam-rock track… Which might not be a bad thing if that’s what you’re into, or if you’re on drugs.

The EP’s final track is a cover of The Kinks’ classic Tired Of Waiting For You. While it’s not bad, I have to admit that I actually kinda like the Green Day version more.

Another promising track (assumably from the full-length) entitled We Turned Our Backs can be heard on Sweethead’s MySpace, along with the first two tracks from The Great Disruptors, as well as their cover of Love & Rockets’ Life In Laralay, from the New Tales To Tell Love & Rockets tribute compilation.

The Great Disruptors
July 13, 2009
Strange Addiction

1. The Great Disruptors
2. Hardspun
3. Arcane Arcade
4. Traumatized And Dumb
5. Tired Of Waiting For You

UPDATE 7/30/09: So we’re talking to Sweethead last night, and Troy starts going off about all the reviewers talking about them like they’re all Los Angeles and the Sunset Strip, and how that’s cheesy and that ain’t them, and yeah they’re down with rock n’ roll decadence, but not in a lame way. Like in a dark way. Or something.

So yeah… Way to go, Skwerl.

When people who talk a lot say things I don’t understand, such as “see you at the Buddyhead thing,” I tend to just kinda filter it out, reasoning that if it’s really that important or interesting, I’ll hear it again and again until I’m finally motivated to Google it or whatever. Social Darwinism. And this was the case with the Buddyhead thing. After hearing about it over and over again, one day when I got a text from a really nice dude I see at almost every single show I go to- no matter where in the country it is- telling me that tickets to the Buddyhead thing were on sale online for ten bucks, I finally gave in. I asked what the fuck this Buddyhead thing was. I was led eventually to a flyer promoting “The Umpteenth Buddyhead Holiday Ho Ho Hodeo” featuring Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, The Entrance Band, Dean Fertita of the Raconteurs, Xu Xu Fang, Aaron North and Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails, Jeordie ‘Twiggy’ White of Marilyn Manson, Sweethead, Tony Bevilacqua of Spinnerette, Nick Jago of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and a bunch of other really interesting sounding artists. I was sold. With doors to the very chill Hotel Café opening at seven, it seemed like a fine way to spend an evening.

We got there before seven, and the doors didn’t open until eight or so. Everyone in Hollywood smokes, and we must have gotten two packs’ worth of secondhand standing around with the hipsters, trying not to hear the stupid Hollywood shit they were talking about- which friend of which friend is in which band now and what scene royalty they were most recently mingling with.

When we finally got in, we were treated to poetry readings by a dude named Ryan Ritchie. They were mostly holiday related from what I recall, autobiographical. It was cute stuff, ranging from disgruntled to mean-spirited. It set a good tone.

Next up was a dude named Brandon Intelligator and his band, the Sheriffs. I couldn’t tell if Brandon was Mexican or Jewish… But he was channeling Elvis. Lots of reverb. Lots and lots of reverb. But it wasn’t bad at all. If you head to his MySpace, the songs posted there sound pretty much exactly like what we heard last night.

Then it was Tsk Tsk, followed by Sid Brown, and a dude named Todd Congelliere. Tsk Tsk confused the shit out of me. It was fronted by some hippie chick with dreadlocks sitting down with a guitar, backed by a couple sceney looking girls, one on violin, the other… just trying to sing like Mazzy Star. Only with less energy, if you can imagine that. Dreadlock girl announced that their music came from “many inspirations,” but that tonight, its inspiration would be “dreams.” They proceeded to do a two song set- two cover songs. I don’t get why you’d say something like that before playing other people’s songs, but whatever. It was the worst (and possibly longest) version of Wild Horses I’ve ever heard, followed by a what was either a really bad cover of a good song, or a faithful cover of a really bad song.

Sid Brown was even worse- possibly the worst I’ve ever seen. Three huge red flags were thrown onto the field- #1) Their setup time was longer than the entirety of their set as they fiddled with lights they had brought in a duffel bag, #2) Their rhythm section was an iPod, and #3) They had a dancer onstage- a trashy, ugly, LA stripper that looked like a tranny. All she did was dance, badly. They played two songs- both were less than two chords- just two notes each, back and forth. It was the most annoying shit ever. A girl behind me overheard me bitching to a photographer about how bad they were, and informed me that “usually, they’re way better.” I told the girl that I would be fair and look them up- and I did- and yes, the songs on the band’s MySpace sound much much better than anything they played last night. Still, while they usually bring two ugly dancers onstage, the lack of talent is so obvious, it’d take more than two sleazy whores with no tits to distract me from it.

Todd Congelliere, on the other hand, was much better than Tsk Tsk and Sid Brown combined.

The next band was one of very few distinct highlights. They were called- they are called- Dios Malos. I had never heard of them before, but they’ve got it. Real talent, and a great attitude. The second song they did was entitled (I believe) Steel & Glass, and it was not only the most entrancing performance of the otherwise hellish show last night, but of the most recent handful of shows I’ve made it to. I wish it was on their MySpace page. Regardless, we’ll be hunting them down for an in-depth piece here on Antiquiet sometime soon.

Some great excerpts from their bio:

We understand that being from LA has its stigmas to certain folks… Well, fuck you. I, personally, am an LA aficionado, and I resent the fact that true Angelinos have to put up with fucked up labels and misconceptions because of people who move here from other shitholes to act, start shitty bands, and/or get in “the business.” LA is more than just rats’ nests like Hollywood, Silverlake, and the Westside. It has a tremendous amount of culture and history that is simultaneously ignored, exploited, and trashed by these fuckheads. Luckily, we’re from a different part of LA.

We like things that are genuine, soulful, and dirty. It isn’t always beneficial for a band to defy categorization, which is why we are generally disregarded in LA, and at war with douchebag promoters that really don’t know shit anyways. Despite all that there are kind folks out there that support us and come up to us at shows, or on our website, and really make us feel good about our efforts. We’ve definitely had many good years being in this band and we’re gonna be doing it for many more.

I buy it. Also, this, directed to their 7,776 MySpace “friends:”

Either most of our “friends” are fake or most of you are retarded, for better or worse we’re stuck with each other, let’s make the most of it and build a rainbow made out of all the ugly colors while french children run up and down the sandy beach cursing at god for making everything backwards.

After Dios Malos, an odd girl named Claire got up onstage and sang some very mediocre singer/songwriter type songs. I spaced out and said hi to some friends. The house videographer was absolutely in love with her for some reason, but I didn’t get it.

Then Zander Schloss of the Circle Jerks got up onstage, with some possibly homeless former or functioning junkie with a microphone that I almost mistook for Mark Lanegan. He’s probably someone I should have recognized, but here I am all Googled out from the heap of unheard-of local acts. I’ll let the fans sort it out in the comments section. Zander has gained a lot of weight, and appears to the untrained eye to be a blues legend from the swamp rather than the LA punk legend that he is. But their set was another one of the highlights- the singer’s voice matched Lanegan’s as much as his appearance- and they closed with a soulful cover of Josh Haden’s Spiritual.

After a short story by Ryan Ritchie, Nick Jago, formerly of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, took the stage with a backing band. BRMC is one of my absolute favorite bands of all time, but I swear to God, Nick Jago was one of the most annoying “artists” ever to take a stage in front of me. He was so in love with himself- yet he was so bad. Granted, it was his first solo show ever, but his singing voice is pathetic- I’ve seen high school bands with more compelling frontmen. Jago acted like he was Paul fucking McCartney up there- stopping mid-song to whine about people talking in the back, blaming the crowd for its lack of interest rather than his own horrible music- which he repeatedly fucked up, giving up entirely on one particular song a quarter-way through. He made some speech about the event being one with “integrity,” with “really great musicians,” and in the same breath explained that he only owned 30% of the royalties on the next song, after giving the rest to “someone who didn’t deserve it,” but it was “his way of saying thanks” blah blah blah fucking blah. Speaking of integrity, let me bitch about the shitty royalty rate I have on this song that I’ve never played before. I didn’t know how Jago had come to part ways with BRMC, but after last night, I was set on the theory that he was kicked out for being a douchebag. Evidently, I’m right. The band avoided using the word ‘fired,’ but the story involves a consistently drugged and/or drunken, grandstanding Jago, and the phrase “internal conflict.”

Thankfully, Alain Johannes of Eleven took the stage next, a man with real talent. He only played two songs, both of which were just him and a twelve string acoustic guitar, but they were impassioned, and helped to rejuvenate the evening.

After Alain was Jason Simon of Dead Meadow, accompanied by Marcus of Lower Heaven on an instrument I believe was a harmonium. Simon’s guitar work was really, really great. However, like many of the night’s performances, his vocals were weak, quiet, and lost in a mess of reverb. Overall, the set seemed to drone on past its welcome.

The other big highlight was to follow- Sweethead’s second performance ever, featuring Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens Of The Stone Age (formerly of A Perfect Circle), with the lovely Serrina Sims on vocals. At this point it was like 1 AM, and I don’t know how Serrina had survived the night in her fucking eight inch heels. Her voice- though under-amplified of course- was surprisingly soulful, and Troy’s guitar work was an interesting deviation away from the QOTSA stoner rock as well as APC’s dark alt-metal. We’ll be featuring them here on Antiquiet sometime soon.

The final act of the night was the worst thing I’ve suffered through since… well, Sid Brown’s set. You’d think Aaron North of The Icarus Line / Nine Inch Nails would be capable of bringing a house or two down, especially when helped by Tony Bevilacqua of Spinnerette. I don’t know if he was on fucking heroin or what, but his voice was… Not even a voice. It was a puny mumble, with absolutely no intonation, helped very little by droney guitars. The songs were supposedly covers, but I didn’t recognize them.

Buddyhead is some kind of big deal in some circles around here, and Aaron North is one of the two masterminds behind it- the other being photographer Travis Keller, who was named one of the most creative people in entertainment, by NME, and one of the “top 100 most powerful people in rock” by Kerrang. So I’m probably like, committing some sort of scene blasphemy here, talking shit. Overall, Buddyhead seems like a pretty sharp site… They’ve got Meathead writing for them, and he’s always funny. But last night came off like a vanity show- where most of the acts cared more about being onstage than the masses would care to hear them. Buddyhead seems to be known for not pulling punches, so I’m let down by the sore lack of discrimination.

But in the end, I suppose it wasn’t any better or worse than the usual family or office holiday gathering- a long, long, excruciating day (or night) with a bunch of people you try and pretend not to hate over the course of several hours that you will never, ever get back. Looking back after some time, you can kinda pick out the highlights and good parts and smile and feel all holiday spirit-y, but going through it, a gun to put in your mouth would be a welcome hors d’oeuvre.

Sadly, Twiggy Ramirez, Entrance, Dean Fertita, Xu Xu Fang, Alessandro Cortini, and Josh Homme all bailed.

For many more photos of all the Buddyhead acts, head over to Antiquiet’s Facebook page.

But here in Los Angeles, there’s always another chance. It’s completely unfair, and I love it. Really, the only downside to going to shows in Los Angeles is they tend to be in Los Angeles, and thus attended largely by people completely out of their goddamned minds. But I swear I’m not going to do one of those reviews that talks about how the name dropping hipster next to me had a stupid haircut for 3 paragraphs while I forget the setlist, the names of the guests, and everything you actually give a shit about.

Here at Antiquiet, we’ve always been able to count on Josh Homme’s misbehavior for the occasional free meal. He helped put us on the map by calling Jimmy Iovine out by name and telling us Interscope sucks his dick in an interview we did with him back when we were just a blog that had to lie about who we were to get stories we didn’t deserve. Hilarity ensued. Then we jumped on a video of him calling some 15 year old a faggot, and got a bunch of shit for supporting what we considered good old fashioned rock star insensitivity. Once again, hilarity ensued.

But we’ve always believed in Josh Homme. And we’ve always known there was more to him than vulgar pullquotes. He’s a fucking incredible, inspiring guy, a force of character. And last night, the bastard touched our hearts.

Queens Of The Stone Age lost a very close personal friend on July 2nd. Natasha Shneider, from the band Eleven, died of cancer. She had joined QOTSA along with partner Alain Johannes for most (if not all) of the Lullabies To Paralyze tours, and showed up on many a Queens song, and many a Desert Sessions song. She was a beautiful woman, and a talented musician, who likely appears on more than one album you consider among your favorites of all time if you’re a regular here.

So Homme and Queens Of The Stone Age organized a concert to celebrate her life, inviting all of her friends; All proceeds to go to the Natasha Shneider Memorial Fund. Tickets were $100 each, and the event sold out.

The show began with a short Tenacious D set. I’m not a huge fan of joke bands, but luckily they didn’t outstay their welcome and those fat fucks are kinda fun to watch I guess. They did that jam about warm butts and kielbasa sausage, Wonder Boy, maybe a song or two I’m forgetting, and Tribute.

Then one of Natasha’s songs accompanied a slideshow of photos of her from all periods of her life, with many candid shots of her horsing around with familiar faces from the Queens extended family.

Queens began with Go With The Flow, a version I’ve never heard before that started slow and sped up maybe three quarters in. That was followed by a more upbeat Turnin’ On The Screw, and then they kicked it up another notch with Misfit Love. Slightly droney The Blood Is Love came next, though I would have preferred another rocker to help me continue to regain the energy I lost standing around for 3 hours waiting for some action.

Luckily, 3s & 7s came next, allowing us all to jump around a bit before we got our first round of special guests: PJ Harvey came out with Alain Johannes. They did The Desperate Kingdom Of Love, PJ’s song from 2004’s Uh Huh Her. Then Alain exited, Chris Goss entered, and with him PJ did There Will Never Be A Better Time, from the Desert Sessions.

After that, PJ and Goss were joined by the rest of the band, and possibly Johannes (my notes suck), for Powdered Wig Machine and Crawl Home, both standout Desert Sessions tracks. This was one of the high points of the evening so far for me, the Wig Machine performance in particular. That’s a great song, but if you ever want to see it performed live, you’re probably going to have to move to Los Angeles or something.

After the Desert Sessions songs, PJ left, and the band launched into some Queens songs. I’m Designer was the first, and then there was one I didn’t recognize. I jotted down “run with me?” Maybe some superfan out there can ID it in the comments section. That was followed by the always rockin’ Little Sister, which unfortunately didn’t feature a surprise appearance by Will Ferrell on cowbell. Hangin’ Tree followed, with song co-writer Alain Johannes standing in for Mark Lanegan.

At this point, Matt Cameron, former Soundgarden / current Pearl Jam drummer, got on a second drum kit across from that of Queens’ Joey Castillo. Cameron had appeared on a few albums with Shneider; most notably Chris Cornell’s Euphoria Morning and Eleven’s Thunk. I can’t imagine his relationship with Natasha ends there though; my useless trivia database reminds me that the third member of Eleven besides her and Johannes was none other than Cameron’s predecessor in Pearl Jam, Jack Irons.

With Cameron, the band did Making A Cross, the Desert Sessions track. Then Tenacious D returned to the stage, and Homme started a clap-along that led into what I believe was a cover of Cream’s I Feel Free. Where’s that superfan? Confirmation on that? [Confirmed, fan video here, thanks RR forum.] Anyway, then the D left, and the band did a retardedly obscure Desert Sessions track I never thought I’d hear live: Rickshaw.

Then Josh’s babymama Brody Dalle came out. I love Brody and The Distillers much more than I’m supposed to, but fuck you, and Coral Fang is a great album. With that said, I was disappointed to get a little less than the show-stealing I know she’s capable of. I guess it just wasn’t that kind of event. With Brody they did Don’t Drink Poison (Desert Sessions), and a song they called Driving Song (new to me).

Brody left, the band did Run, Pig, Run, and then PJ Harvey returned to back Josh up on what was another high point: a swaggering, sexy Make It Witchu.

When the opening riff of Burn The Witch came next, I fully expected Billy Gibbons to appear; He’s always done that song when crashing QOTSA shows… But despite being on the bill of guests, he never made it onstage. I was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected guest on the far right mic next to Tenacious D though; Serrina Sims, vocalist of Queens guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen’s newest band Sweethead (incidentally his better half). I’ve been fucking with Troy and Serrina as long as I can remember, and I’m now determined to catch up with them, it’s been too long. Keep an eye out for an interview here, they’re good people that you should get familiar with.

I’ve always had a deep appreciation for folks who can say a lot with few words. It’s so refreshing in a world full of so many people that talk so much and say nothing. By this virtue, I applauded Homme’s speech that preceded the final song of the first set. He said, “Life is short.” He paused to let that sink in, and then delivered the most efficient sentence of the night: “Do everything.”

The band blasted through a crushing Sick, Sick Sick, thanked the audience profusely, and took the shortest encore break I’ve ever witnessed, returning to the stage in a matter of seconds with Alain Johannes leading what I’m guessing (wildly) was an Eleven song, featuring the memorable line “each day I’m resurrected…”

Then we were treated to a truly epic version of The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died, the hidden /  stolen / lost song from Era Vulgaris featuring what may have been the best Homme put-down until that Norwegian Wood fiasco: “You’re ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag.”

The final two songs reflected both ends of the night’s spectrum.

First was the Eagles Of Death Metal song Speaking In Tongues, with Jesse Hughes on the mic unexpectedly and Homme behind the kit. Hughes stormed the stage, armed with formidable aviators / facial hair, and delivered the most party four minutes of the show (yes, I just used the word party as an adjective… I may be hanging out with Jeremy from Mongo Nation too much).

Josh Homme then walked up to the mic to dedicate the final song to Natasha. I immediately recognized it, and it hit me right in the heartstrings: Long Slow Goodbye. They did the song with Alain, and as soon as it was done, Josh walked over, hugged him, and I watched as whatever words were exchanged brought tears to his eyes. Everyone else came out for a big group hug & picture with the audience, and it was easily the most emotionally touching moment I’ve witnessed in a long time. It was clear to everyone just how loved and appreciated Natasha was by her friends. I can’t imagine being afraid of anything with people like that on your side, and I can’t imagine a better way to honor someone so talented.

I myself have lost two really good personal friends to cancer: John Newman, and Christopher Bonazzo. I still miss them. I encourage you to give cancer the finger by supporting those fighting it. The American Cancer Society is a good place to start, and you can donate to the Natasha Shneider Memorial Fund here.

Homepage group shot taken by Matthew Field; More of his photos from the event can be found here. All photos on this page were taken with a shitty camera by Britney Bernstein from the crowd, because I never got a response from the Queens publicist to our request for a measly press pass. Not too shabby though, right?