Eagles Of Death Metal

It’s fitting that the latest Eagles Of Death Metal (who play the Bottom Lounge on Monday) album is titled Heart On—none-to-subtle innuendo aside, the band’s zealous frontman, Jesse Hughes is rock ’n’ roll pulse personified, clearly cranked to 11. On stage, he dances like a lithe, young Tina Turner. In interviews, he talks with the quips and gusto of an infomercial host. He’s the type to hold down two enviable nicknames at once (“The Devil” and “Boots Electric”), to give his mustache a handle (“the soft boomerang of love”), and also to run a song by his mom before taking it to his partner in EODM, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme. Heart On finds the pair perfecting the boogie rock that famously got them booted from Guns N’ Roses’ 2006 tour, with Axl Rose rechristening the band “Pigeons Of Shit Metal.” As Hughes and his touring lineup hit the road again, The A.V. Club speaks to the man to find out how he turned an insult into profit, and why—innuendo aside—he’s so excited.

The A.V. Club: The promo videos for Heart On are pretty hilarious. Is making an Eagles record a lot of fun?
Jesse Hughes: It’s almost beyond fun. It’s literally living the dream.
AVC: Is that the general M.O. of the QOTSA/Desert Sessions crew?
JH: Eagles are the spear-headers, but everyone has a good time. With Queens and the other projects, Joshua [Homme] leads and he’s an intense perfectionist. I lead this band and I’m simply perfect, so all I have to do is be myself. [Laughs.]
AVC: You’ve mentioned that Josh has been a bit of a mentor to you over the years. What have you gleaned from him?
JH: He’s been the best fucking friend anyone could ever ask for, truly. He’s shown me how to keep it together when everything seems like it’s going to shithouse pieces. He showed me you don’t have to look at everybody as a scumbag; You simply do what you’re supposed to do, keep your word, and let bad people do bad things. He’s introduced me to people like Dave Grohl and Jack Black, who love their families, but can still run with the devil at night. I didn’t want to feel like I had to sell my soul in order to be here.


AVC: You talk about Hollywood in the promo clips and “Wannabe In LA” is the first single. Why Los Angeles?
JH: I’ve come to fall in love with this city. I’ve gotten to know it from midnight to dawn, and now I can understand a song like The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under The Bridge,” because I can see how Los Angeles is alive. When you come down Laurel Canyon at night you can almost see Jim Morrison walking down Love Street. You can imagine Glenn Frey snorting up an entire pound of cocaine, then writing “Life In The Fast Lane.”
AVC: You’re a night owl, then?
JH: This town never sleeps, but it closes early—you’ve gotta keep your eyes open for action. I get two to four hours of rest a night. Sleep when you die, man.
AVC: You made the first record in three days, and the second one in about eight. How long were you in the studio for Heart On?
JH: A year and a half, and it was different studios. I can kind of play guitar now, whereas before I just sucked with style, so we started this album with the notion that I needed to step up my songwriting. I’m also a Led Zeppelin fanatic and I wanted to make a record on the road. We went to Butte, Montana, and Fargo, North Dakota, and Billings, Montana, and all these fucking crazy places to record, then finished in Holland.
AVC: That much jumping around wasn’t a daunting idea?
JH: It did seem daunting, but it also seemed like a greater effort would produce a greater result, and that was the operating principle. We just decided, “Here’s what we’re going to cut out for ourselves, now let’s chew this piece of shit.”
AVC: There aren’t any overt Guns N’ Roses diss songs on the record. Did you decide to stick to the high road?
JH: No, we just couldn’t get them done in time for this record. [Laughs.] You know what’s funny? On the tour we just did with The Hives, I made more money on “Pigeons Of Shit Metal” T-shirts than I did on actual “Eagles” shirts. I have to say, Appetite For Destruction was one of the last great, dangerous moments in rock ’n’ roll, but as time passed, the rock went to Velvet Revolver, and really weird hair extensions went to Axl.
AVC: Do you see your music as paying tribute to any particular past moments?
JH: All the time. I look at it like this: The first album was me butt-fucking The Rolling Stones with my lack of talent. And the second album was me butt-fucking The Rolling Stones with the Bachman-Turner Overdrive machine. And this album has the sophisticated grace to be able to butt-fuck the Rolling Stones with Devo. I really believe there’s nothing new under the sun. And you look like an idiot pretending to invent something that’s already there. I’m not here to be different; I just wanna be the same as Little Richard and Angus Young.
AVC: In a previous life you were a journalist, and married. What do you find most rewarding about the business of rock ’n’ roll?
JH: Rock ’n’ roll allowed me to become exactly what I was meant to be. I never wanted to be in a rock band, ever. I simply got divorced, got depressed, and reacted to it. And then my best friend who was famous listened to some songs and drove me to Hollywood in my mother’s car. It selected me, man. It brought me here against every move that I ever made on purpose, and that’s exactly when you know who you are.