American rockers Eagles of Death Metal will return to Australia at the end of July for their first tour here since 2016's 'Zipper Down' tour.
"Man, I have been itching to get back out there and play some live rock & roll again to the best fans in the world," band co-founder and frontman Jesse 'Boots Electric' Hughes said when the tour was announced. "John Steinbeck once said, 'People don't take trips, trips take people'. . . This is an open invite to come take a trip with me and the band."
Formed in 1998 by best friends Hughes and Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age), Eagles of Death Metal's recording debut appeared on Homme's 'The Desert Sessions Volumes 3 & 4', released that same year.
The rockers have since released four studio albums, plus an album of covers, 'Eagles of Death Metal Presents Boots Electric Performing The Best Songs We Never Wrote', released in 2019.
Featuring covers of KISS' 'God Of Thunder' and George Michael's 'Careless Whisper', the album was a form of catharsis for Hughes. "Those are the songs I danced away to," Hughes told Desert Sun.
"That's what I've always done. I love music and obsess on it, and it gave me a place to escape when I felt alone in high school. My house is Ferris Bueller's bedroom times ten.
"I just retreated into music and in the corniest of ways, I believed in it and I danced my way through it. It's a place we go to when we're worried. Dancing helps and there's a rock & roll song for almost anything you experience."
Hughes confirmed EODM were in the process of recording album number five on an Instagram livestream late last year.
He also inadvertently let slip a new Queens Of The Stone Age album was in the works when a fan asked what the band had been up to. "Recording," he replied. "Queens just did one, now we're doing ours now."
Although Homme is still involved with EODM in the studio, Hughes is joined by Jennie Vee on bass, Leah Bluestein on drums, plus Eden Galindo and Joshua Jove on guitar, for the band's live shows.
Stepping into Homme's shoes wouldn't be easy, but former The Bronx drummer Jorma Vik did just that playing with EODM from 2016-2023.
"Baby Duck [Homme] is one of the most uniquely gifted musicians I've had the pleasure of knowing," Vik told London's The Great Frog.
"He's one of those dudes where you can hear a track he's played on and know right off the bat that it's him playing, regardless of what instrument he's on. To me that's the biggest compliment you can give a musician.
"His particular stylistic approach to drumming is something I really enjoyed about Eagles' music and is part of what makes it so overtly horny to the ear. I try to stay as true to that as possible.
"It's got a swagger to it that you can't help but shake your ass to, and the songs are fun as sh.t to play."
"Josh Homme isn't just a mentor, he's my Butch Cassidy. Maybe even beyond that. It's more like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, only if they were brothers," Hughes told the Desert Sun.
"With the exception that we are both attracted to women, we would be the best gay couple. I think we would be the flagship gay couple for the world.
"If aliens were discovered and we had to have some intergalactic thing, they would want to send us to represent the gay community."
Hughes is described by one Spin journalist as, "sharp-witted, funny, and, like all proper rock stars, crude sometimes".
Vik has described the frontman as "absolutely hilarious," adding he "has this kinetic energy and excitement about him that is really fun".
A true performer, Hughes "shakes his butt all over the stage, his persona a little Iggy Pop" at the band's live shows, which are about as far away from death metal as one could imagine.
"Eagles of Death Metal walk onto stage just after 9pm as 'We Are Family' by Sister Sledge plays loudly," shares Spin's reviewer. "They don't bite heads off bats, quite the opposite and something of a dichotomy with their name of death, they spread the message of love. They're more rockabilly, old-school rock & roll, alt-rock, even bluegrass.
"Hughes runs on adrenaline and sugar," the reviewer shared. "At some shows, he disappears off stage, and with his crazy long guitar cord led by music tech and special effects guy Eric Epple, he often appears suddenly in the crowd.
"He adores his fans and he likes their proximity. He's a loveable character and a complete nut."
As Hughes told Desert Sun: "I want to be the same [type of performer] as Little Richard and I want to be on a family tree with Angus Young, and I'll shoot for that. Rock & roll is a world that is extraordinary and beyond reality, it's hyper-reality."
Read any live review of an EODM show and it appears that Hughes is certainly doing just that. There are multiple reports of fans 'beaming' with the 'contagious euphoria' of a good quality rock & roll show.
Eagles Of Death Metal 2023 Tour Dates
Tue 25 Jul - Forum MelbourneThu 27 Jul - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 28 Jul - Venue TBA (Newcastle)
Sat 29 Jul - The Tivoli (Brisbane)
Mon 31 Jul - The Gov (Adelaide)
Wed 2 Aug - Astor Theatre (Perth)
