63 Facts About Josh Homme

Joshua Michael Homme is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Josh Homme is best known as the founder and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he formed in 1996 and in which he mainly sings lead vocals and plays guitar.

Josh Homme plays drums in the rock band Eagles of Death Metal, which he in 1998.

Josh Homme then served as a touring guitarist for the rock band Screaming Trees from 1996 to 1998, leaving to start Queens of the Stone Age.

Josh Homme has overseen a musical improv project with other musicians known as The Desert Sessions since 1997.

Josh Homme formed the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures alongside Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones in 2009, releasing their eponymous debut album later that year.

Josh Homme has been involved with acts such as Royal Blood, Foo Fighters, Run the Jewels, and Arctic Monkeys.

Joshua Michael Homme was born in Palm Springs, California, on May 17,1973.

Josh Homme grew up in a family in and around Palm Desert, California.

Josh Homme's paternal grandfather, Clancy "Cap" Homme, moved to the area from North Dakota and was an early settler of the Valley.

Josh Homme moved with his family on a regular basis due to his father's work, residing in many towns around the Valley.

Josh Homme later discussed having to "create [his] own fun" as a child growing up in the desert, stating that he did not start playing music to "get girls or make money" and that he assumed he would grow up to be a contractor like his father.

Josh Homme has ties in Idaho and has talked about his formative experiences there, such as seeing Carl Perkins perform at the Sandpoint Music Festival and the first time purchasing his own electric guitar in a Sandpoint music store.

Josh Homme began playing guitar at the age of nine, after his parents denied his wishes for a drum kit.

Josh Homme took guitar lessons for the next few years but his teacher mostly focused on polka, so he supposedly did not learn of a barre chord or a pick until his third year of lessons, lending to his unique playing style.

Josh Homme joined his first band, Autocracy, in 1985 at the age of 12.

In 1987, when he was 14 years old, Josh Homme formed a punk rock-influenced heavy metal band in Palm Desert High School called Katzenjammer with schoolmates John Garcia, Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri and Chris Cockrell.

When Kyuss split up in 1995, Josh Homme moved to Seattle, Washington, briefly abandoning his desire for a music career and attending the University of Washington to study business.

Josh Homme founded Gamma Ray, a group more centered on his unique style and tastes, in 1996.

Josh Homme had asked a number of singers, including Lanegan, to perform as lead vocalist for Queens of the Stone Age, but by the time of recording the band's debut album, he had moved back to Palm Desert and the band was pared down to just Josh Homme and ex-Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez.

Josh Homme was left to cover every other instrument and ended up singing for the first time in his career.

In Songs for the Deaf, Josh Homme continued his filtering of stoner rock and hard rock.

Josh Homme began writing the band's next album, Lullabies to Paralyze, named after a lyric from the Songs for the Deaf hidden track "Mosquito Song".

In 2010, following his work with rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, Josh Homme began performing more live shows with QOTSA.

In 1998, Josh Homme formed Eagles of Death Metal with friend Jesse Hughes as a joke band in the context of the Desert Sessions.

However, after Hughes' separation from his wife in 2003 and a spurt in creativity that resulted in dozens of songs, Josh Homme convinced Hughes to pursue a full-time music career.

Hughes writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar, while Josh Homme produces, arranges, and plays drums, bass, and various other instruments.

Josh Homme was set to provide music, including a cover of Joe Walsh's "In the City", for the 2005 video game adaption of the film The Warriors.

Josh Homme went on to appear at multiple Arctic Monkeys concerts in the USA including Austin City Limits and The Wiltern.

In June 2010, Josh Homme appeared on the Comedy Central series Tosh.

Josh Homme provided the theme song to Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, formerly known as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and collaborated with Mark Lanegan to provide the theme music for Anthony Bourdain's travel show Parts Unknown.

In May 2012, it was revealed on Dean Delray's comedy podcast Let There Be Talk that Josh Homme would make a guest appearance on the album by Oliveri's project Mondo Generator called Hell Comes To Your Heart.

In June 2012, it was revealed that Josh Homme would be starring in the music video for the song "A Better Place" from Glen Campbell's final album Ghost on the Canvas.

Josh Homme was interviewed for the documentary and is notably included in a scene where he collaborates with Grohl and Trent Reznor, under the name Sound City Players, to come up with a song called "Mantra".

Josh Homme played bass and provided backing vocals on the track.

In December 2014, Josh Homme made an appearance on Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London.

In July 2015, Homme began hosting a weekly hour-long show called The Alligator Hour with Joshua Homme on Apple Music's 24-hour streaming internet radio station Beats 1.

In March 2016, Josh Homme released a surprise album with Iggy Pop titled Post Pop Depression.

In October 2016, Josh Homme produced New Skin, the debut album from Nick Valensi's new band CRX.

In 2017, Josh Homme composed the score for Fatih Akin's German-language drama In the Fade, named after the Queens of the Stone Age song.

In 2018, Josh Homme sang a song written by Daniel Lanois called "Cruel, Cruel World" for the soundtrack of the Rockstar action-adventure video game Red Dead Redemption 2.

The game features two versions of the song, with Josh Homme's version playing over the end credits and Willie Nelson's version playing during the epilogue.

In 2020, Josh Homme featured alongside Mavis Staples on the Run the Jewels song "Pulling the Pin" from their fourth album RTJ4.

Josh Homme's work is usually described as alternative rock, desert rock, hard rock, and stoner rock.

Josh Homme has been evasive about the equipment he uses in the past, choosing to either change the subject or even lie when asked about his setup in interviews, as well as objecting to official photos of his pedalboard.

Josh Homme relaxed his secretive approach to the subject in the 2010s, though much of his known equipment has been compiled through amateur photos and screenshots of him performing live and in the studio.

Josh Homme has said that he purposely does not use famous guitars such as Stratocasters or Les Pauls, but that he is always in search of intriguing and unique guitars which are not always generally accepted as high-quality.

Josh Homme said that he tends to buy "weird Japanese guitars" or guitars that are "scarred" and have an interesting story.

In 2013, Josh Homme co-founded the Sweet Stuff Foundation, a charity which aims to give assistance to musicians, recording engineers, and their families struggling with illness and disability.

Josh Homme met Australian singer and musician Brody Dalle at Lollapalooza in 1996, when he was 23 and she was 17; he was there to perform with Screaming Trees, while she was there to see her then-boyfriend Tim Armstrong's band Rancid.

Josh Homme claimed to have received multiple death threats from fans of Armstrong and Rancid.

Josh Homme once described himself as financially conservative but socially liberal, considering himself a "fallen libertarian".

Josh Homme said that he dislikes the idea of using his influence to tell people how to vote, and often likens his music to an "ice cream parlour or arcade" where people can simply have fun.

Josh Homme owns a few motorcycles, including a custom Falcon and a Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic.

Josh Homme is known as " Baby Duck" to Dalle and the members of Eagles of Death Metal.

Josh Homme became depressed and considered quitting music, eventually finding himself unable to produce any new music at all for almost two years.

Josh Homme has said that this experience greatly contributed to the making of the 2013 album.

Josh Homme has his daughter's name, Camille, tattooed over his heart.

In 2004, Josh Homme was arrested for assaulting Dwarves frontman Blag Dahlia and Karl Doyle at the Dragonfly club in Los Angeles.

In June 2008, at the Norwegian Wood Festival in Oslo, Josh Homme drew criticism for his reaction to an audience member who had thrown a shoe at him.

Josh Homme eventually responded in a public letter in which he denied all accusations of homophobia.

In December 2017, Josh Homme was captured on video kicking the camera of Shutterstock photographer Chelsea Lauren into her face during KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas concert in Los Angeles.

Josh Homme later issued a video response in which he admitted to kicking Lauren and apologized to her.