We know there’s a new Queens of the Stone Age album coming and we couldn’t be more excited. We also know that the band are set to hit the studio some time later this year and according to guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, they’re going for a simpler-sounding record this time.
“We’re excited to get back together to follow-up …Like Clockwork, which was a really, really big record for us, personally,” he said. “It was a big record for us ’cause it was the hardest record to make. And we’re trying to not do that again. We just want to keep things simpler and try that, I guess.”
Now Van Leeuwen has pointed towards what kind of sonic palette we might be able to expect from the next Queens of the Stone Age album. Speaking to Premier Guitar, Van Leeuwen said working with side-projects such as his and frontman Josh Homme’s time with Iggy Pop, will impact the new LP.
“I think the goal is simply to learn something and to share with your friends,” Van Leeuwen said of his involvement with his various side-projects. “I love playing with different people, because you always get something different.”
“Josh, Dean, and I just went on the road with Iggy Pop, and we learned so much by playing with him and doing something that’s a little different from what we normally do,” he said when asked about what he brings from a side-project into QOTSA.
“I don’t like playing by myself. I always enjoy working with someone, working with someone new, learning something new, and then showing your friends what you learned.” As we previously noted, Post Pop Depression was a stark, brooding, grimly comic affair.
Meanwhile, Homme has said QOTSA’s next album will feature the same lineup as …Like Clockwork, which included Van Leeuwen on guitar and synths, Dean Fertita on keyboards and guitar, and Michael Shuman on bass guitar, with several drummers contributing to the LP, including Jon Theodore, who toured the album.
