Well folks, here it is: My interview with Mastodon (drummer Brann Dailor), 22 years in the waiting since I first saw them perform at the Knitting Factory on February 20, 2024, many months before the release of their second album, Leviathan. Not only is this feature probably my biggest story of the year, it’s kind of the ultimate Bad Penny read, as Dailor shares anecdotes involving many of my all-time favorite musicians: Dave Grohl, Randy Blythe and Lamb of God, System of a Down and more.
(L-R: Alfredo Hernández, James Childs and June Kato)
It’s only taken about two decades to clinch an interview with the one, the only, the mighty Alfredo Hernández, former drummer for Queens of the Stone and Kyuss, and one of the originators of the “desert-rock” that continues to catch on across not just the U.S. but, rather peculiarly, Europe.
Not to be overlooked on Hernández’ resume are stints with (Kyuss founding member) Brant Bjork and the Bros and Yawning Man, and his current status in the band Avon. which QOTSA devotees will recall as one of the song names on the band’s first album. (Lesser-known fact: Hernández co-wrote seven of the 11 album tracks with Josh Homme; and joined forces with the band’s leader as well as Monster Magnet guitar and Homme homie John McBrain to craft “Regular John,” still considered one of the prolific band’s best numbers.)
As for these days, Avon just delivered a new album, Black on Sunshine, in mid-April via Go Down Records. Unsurprisingly, promotional materials for the record suggest three RIYLs: Wouldntyaknowit: Kyuss, QOTSA and Monster Magnet. Filling out the lineup are Emmy-winning guitarist, Airbus band member and Geoff Barrow (Portishead) collaborator James Childs. Palm Springs mainstayCharles Pasarell handles bass. Childs’ guitar and vocalist pal in Airbus playing guitar and sang on “Black on Sunshine” and “Strangest Love” too.
The amount of information Hernández shared in his well-considered answers is nothing less than very noteworthy (we’re not prone to hyperbole, even if it’s all the rage these days). Here are a few main points before you dig in:
• The most salient point made in the premise of the story as you’ve read it so far is wrong. • Hernández and Josh Homme are still on good terms, and while they don’t talk about their current projects, you might see them play together again at some point. • Same goes for Nick Oliveri, who brought Hernández into his Mondo Generator project twice, and apparently they had a blast. • Kyuss and perhaps even QOTSA were modeled at least in part after Hernández’s bands.
A little over three years ago, unparalleled album art illustrator Frank Kozik – best known for being embraced by the stoner-rock community – or, as The New York Times gently worded it, “graphic artist best known for his posters for alternative rock bands.” While The Bad Penny was not in a position at the time to celebrate his and grieve his passing, now feels as good time as any to do so.
To be clear, Kozik’s widow, Sharon Kozik, is in control of his social media accounts. While she hasn’t posted copiously, she did publish the following in January:
“Frank would often tell me stories about what it was like growing up in Spain under Franco’s fascist dictatorship. He moved to America when he was 15 to escape it. Much of his artwork deals with the themes of rebelling against fascism, mocking it. He fully embraced our right of freedom of expression and open political discourse. Regardless of your political beliefs we must keep America free from government tyranny and police snatching people off the street, from their homes, schools.”
As the only remaining original member of Queens of the Stone Age, Josh Homme is synonymous with the band that boasts substantial critical repute, commercial success, and peer respect. But as QOTSA proceeds deeper into their 30th year, they’re preparing for two of their highest-profile tours yet this summer, with Foo Fighters in the U.S. and System of a Down in Europe, respectively. Since QOTSA’s inception, fans of heavy rock have always regarded Homme as the leader of the group, due to his authorship of the vast majority of its songs and his role as the project’s mainstay member as its cast rotated routinely over the years.
Indeed, Homme’s imposing presence and distinct appearance as a 6’4” red-haired front man adds to his band’s singularly striking presence in the rock universe. But not only are there well-founded doubts that QOTSA may not have lasted as long as it were it not for the other musicians who have membership in the band on their resumes, Homme’s ever-growing list of collaborations with the creme de la creme of mainstream music has boosted his prominence even higher than his often unconventional take on rock music alone would have accomplished.
In my first feature for Collider, I dig deep into Josh Homme’s miles-long list of collaborations with other prominent musicians from a range of genres as part of Queens of the Stone Age and other projects. The 1,200-word article analyzes his work with PJ Harvey, Mark Lanegan, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Iggy Pop, Norah Jones, Rob Halford, Billy Gibbons and Dave Grohl – just to name a few.
“Don’t tell me how to make a record. I was in Nirvana. I was in the greatest rock and roll band of the ’90s. We changed the course of rock music. … Give me a carton of Marlboros. Fuck you, man, I was in Nirvana, you asshole. I’m on RCA, dammit. Don’t you know who I am? I’m a millionaire.” –Dave Grohl of Nirvana (and Foo Fighters, and Queens of the Stone Age, and Them Crooked Vultures, and Mondo Generator, and Sound City Players, and Backbeat Band, and Scream).
You know a label is cool when it doesn’t even bother keeping track of how many records it sells. And while such slackerish business practices would seem to spell doom for any label, Ipecac Recordings is puking in the face of its naysayers as the company founded by Mike Patton and Greg Werckman blows out 10 candles this year.
“We don’t really count record sales that well,” Werckman sheepishly admitted to IndiePit in a recent chat. “For Mike and I … we’ve only been around 10 years, but man, we’ve done these records. And the records we’re proudest of are definitely not always the ones that sell the most. It’s just cool to work with so many talented people.”
Lest ye doubt the merit of Werckman’s word, try on for size the Melvins, Isis, Peeping Tom and Queens of the Stone Age – just a small nibble of the big cookie that is the Ipecac Recordings oeuvre.
“We have a foundation of artists who have been around for a while and have a built-in fanbase,” Werckman says of the aforementioned acts. “It would’ve been pretty hard for us to fail completely. … We have a base of Mike Patton’s projects since Faith No More – that’s a pretty strong fanbase. And then, right off the bat, we had the Melvins, who have a good, strong fanbase. The one band we’ve been able to grow and establish a fanbase with is Isis. And then Josh Homme, a good friend of ours from Queens of the Stone Age” who is a constant co-conspirator.
“Frisky” is a mild way to describe, Nick Oliveri, one of the most prominent rock bassists of the past 30 years. “Feral” or “untamed” would be much more accurate. The eminently talented Oliveri, who was the bottom-heavy-playing backbone of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, and now Dwarves and his own Mondo Generator project, would likely react to even the wildest stories of John Bonham, Ozzy Osbourne and Mötley Crüe with a shrug – and his trademark laugh and smile.
Indeed, there is a tender side to the 53-year-old, Palm Desert-based musician who sometimes goes by the aliases Rex Everything, Pierre Pressure, the Great French Manipulator, Rock & Roll Komodo Dragon and Nikolai Svetlana. Don’t take our word for it: Hear about his deep affinity for felines and check out these photos he sent us for proof.
The Bad Penny recently caught up with Oliveri via video to talk not about the times he played gigs in his birthday suit, his still-intact friendships with QOTSA’s Josh Homme and Kyuss vocalist John Garcia, or how he won over Dwarves’ Blag Dahlia by smashing a vase, but rather about his love for cats.
It appears that Kyuss, the early stoner-rock band co-founded by guitarist/vocalist Josh Homme (also of Queens of the Stone Age), may be finally ready to reassemble his earlier project. Somewhere in the Palm Desert region, surely. Sitting in a circle, of course. That way, the group can maximally aerate the moon by channeling unholy reservoirs of toxins into the tractor bea- …
… Huh? What’s that now? Well, huh to you too, big man. Huh to you too.
Read much more from my FLOOD feature on the eternal desert rock hounds. Meanwhile, in related news, The Bad Penny recently caught up with Oliveri, to chat about: You guessed it, all things Oliveri. That includes reminiscing on his days with Kyuss. Stay tuned for that big mug of slow joe coming from somewhere in … eh, let’s play it safe and keep it at “future” for now.
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