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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2004)
NEW CAMPUS LOCATION BY VANESSA SALVIA BRING IN THIS AD FOR Eagles of Death Metal play at John Henry’s Monday. 20% OFF ANY TATTOO OVER $100 Offer expires 11/25/04. Offer valid at campus location only. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Spiritual Tree Tattoo ✪ 525 E. 13th 465-1252 ✪ The Eagle Has Landed Rock’s new saviors condemn us to death by sexy. D espite the name, Eagles of Death Metal are neither classic rock nor death metal. They are party band extraordinaire, with a sound like a sexed up White Stripes, if Jack White had a huge mus- tache and dressed like a refugee from the Village People. EODM began as an inside joke and made its first recorded appearance on Desert Sessions Volume 4, a series of freeform recording sessions spearheaded by Queens of the Stone Age and ex-Kyuss gui- tarist Josh Homme. Homme, Jesse Hughes (a.k.a. J. Devil Huge) and Timmy Van Hamel recorded one fantastic album, Peace, Love, Death Metal, before Van Hamel departed to rejoin his pop- ular band, Millionaire. With Homme on drums and Hughes fronting on guitar and vocals, Eagles of Death Metal will appear at John Henry’s on Oct. 18 along with The Swiss Army . After two days of coordinat- ing with his publicist, Hughes, — at a tour stop in Hollywood — spoke with me by tele- phone. What follow are excerpts from our conversation. Vanessa: You were driving through the desert yesterday. J. Devil Huge: Yeah, I was. It was my birthday this weekend you know, honey? I got kind of full of the hell fire and fury of rock and roll in Las Vegas. V: I thought maybe you were on a peyote binge and that’s why you didn’t return my call. J: No. Never anything natural. I am not a hippie. I’m just joking! I’m here to make everyone happy and please every woman in the world with rock and roll. V: How is the tour going for you? J: It’s going unbelievably fucking — pardon my language — amazing. It’s been one fantastic moment to the next. Because, you know, I never played rock and roll before. This is my first record. My first gig was with the Eagles and Placebo like a year ago. And it’s been wild. Now it’s hordes of ladies chasing us down. MTV and glamour and videos and money and shameless, unbe- lievable hedonistic behavior. It’s like every- thing I hoped it would be! The Eagles were kind of taking flight on their own and hon- estly it sounds kind of corny but it was just doing shit on its own and it wanted itself to be alive. V: The band’s kind of shrouded in mys- tery. It’s hard to find facts. J: Well, it’s no mystery. It’s a rock and roll purity thing. We stick to what Little Richard would love. And then we’re just here to dance. You know, it seemed like so much in music was really lame and bitter. You couldn’t belong or listen to The Clash unless you’d been into them since ’81. You know what I mean? There was kind of this attitude in rock and roll that was really petty and jealous and lame, and everyone stopped dancing! And people stopped making music for ladies. I dare say that Limp Bizkit is not making music for ladies. It’s making music for angry 14 year-old boys. V: They’re not making music for me, that’s for sure! J: That’s what I’m saying! And here you are, honey, you’ve been trying to track down this rogue-ish mustachioed freak who isn’t even returning your calls and you’ve got bet- ter things to do, darling! That’s why Eagles of Death Metal make music to dance to. It’s like we’ve come to condemn everyone to Death by Sexy. V: That doesn’t seem like a bad way to go. J: Well no, and there’s rebirth of course. Reincarnation into the sexy otherworld. V: I’m intrigued by your views and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. J: [Laughs] I’ve got an excellent newsletter. And it’ll come out just for you, darling! I hoped you would like me. You may just like me yet! V: Why should I like you? J: Because I’m a sweetheart. Because I can both boogie and woogie. Because I have, from what I’ve been told by some of the experts in the field, one of the finest mus- taches in the history of rock and roll. I mean, when you’ve finally been rocked by the mustache, it’s a whole new world! It changes stuff up, and, darling, that’s why I want you to be at the front row. I do need to make it up to you. I did not mean to not make that call to you yesterday! V: Why do people like Eagles of Death Metal? J: Well, sometimes it’s just for the obvi- ous; it rocks. Honey, it’s hot, and it’s the real deal so to speak in terms of outrageous sex- iness. But it’s also boogie woogie. It just dances. It’s all-inclusive. It’s emotionally healthy. See, the songs [on Peace, Love, Death Metal] are just good old rock and roll songs. I stole the songs that I wrote from some of the best rock music made of all time. This is technically the greatest rock album ever made. People are dancing again. And that’s why you should love Eagles of Death Metal, darling. Because it loves you ew so much! OCTOBER 14, 2004 31
