Foo Fighters members Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins discussed recording Concrete and Gold across the street from Queens of the Stone Age, who were recording Villains, in a new Music Week interview.
Grohl and Hawkins said they were driven by a friendly competition while making what Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins described as ‘opposite records’.
“One of the things that was exciting as we were across the parking lot from Queens, making these records, is that it was clear that there are still rock n’ roll albums to be made,” frontman Dave Grohl told Music Week. “I’d listen to what Queens were doing and it would be quintessential Queens. It sounds great. And Josh [Homme, frontman] would come over and listen to our stuff. I remember we were playing him ‘Arrows’, and he’s like ‘God, I’m so glad you’re finally making a dark record. I think we inspired each other.”
Hawkins added: “A good competitive spirit. It’s like we want to make a better record than them, and they want to make a better record than us.”
Grohl continued: “Josh and I were texting the other day, and we just thought ‘well, let’s just go and take over the fucking world together’. Let’s do it, why not?”
Speaking to NME about the sound of Villains, QOTSA frontman Josh Homme said: “There are some slower moments but I like to dance, man, and whether it’s Eagles [Of Death Metal] or Queens or [Them Crooked] Vultures there’s no reason not to conjoin rock’n’roll and dance and hallelujah and darkness and all that in one thing. In a world of desperately going for ‘likes’ I think ‘Villains’ is more like, ‘We’ll take the dislikes, we’ll take all the outcasts’. This album is here to do bad guy stuff.”
He added: “Queens has always been like an ice-cream parlour or a video arcade, it’s safe from the bullshit of the day. I’m not interested in being topical in that way, yet at the same time it’s completely about now.”
