Homme's involvement, while paramount to the Eagles' sound, is mostly limited to a recording and production capacity, with occasional tour tag-alongs when he's not busy with Queens. The guy working the pedals and the Death Metal wheel is mustachioed frontman Jesse Hughes, the true-blue heart and soul of the band. Like a sex-soaked rock comet straight outta the original classic rock era, Hughes carries himself like Dirk Diggler with a hard-on but is quick with the wit and impossible to outrank in sheer energy.
Hughes' lifelong friendship with Homme has spawned three albums of solid sport-fuck rock joy all about chicks, partying and rocking legendary, and the world is a better place for it. Their most recent release, Heart On, finds the Eagles hitting full stride, polishing their garage-glam scuzz metal with a renewed emphasis on danceability. The fuzzed-out, sex-charged blues leanings and intensified chunk-riffage make Heart On a solid contender for album of the year.
We caught up with Hughes on the Detroit stop of the latest Eagles Death Metal tour to discuss Heart On, time machines and the difference between magicians and wizards in the music biz.
CraveOnline: Heart On's all about your love affair with L.A. Where's the witching hour in Los Angeles?
Jesse Hughes: What's the magic hour? Sometime around 1:45 am. That's my hour, dude. It's the midnight creature hour, for sure. But what ends up happening is that the city empties out, so you're able to traverse greater distances in zero time. And what ends up happening for me, cause I'm kind of a history buff of Hollywood, l'll hit up the classic landmarks that you don't hear about on the tours. The glittery underbelly. Like hey, this is where Glenn Frey freaked out on cocaine and was chased by the cops for two hours. And for me, because I'm kind of a romantic, when you're occupying the physical space of your heroes, you kind of experience a moment of it, in some vicarious way. That's something you don't get to see or experience when you're stuck in traffic having some asshole threaten to sue you or shoot you.
CraveOnline: How do you avoid the Sunset trap? It can be a nits and grits kind of place if you don't have your armor on. To glide above the sleaze and the grease.
Jesse Hughes: L.A.'s weird man, people really travel by habit. So many roads are unused at the same time of day, and there's traveling roads that everybody flocks to. You don't have to spend nine hours in traffic to get to the post office.
CraveOnline: I didn't mean traffic so much as the warts and Hollywood monsters.
Jesse Hughes: Oh, yes. The actual traps. Well, I've actually become a hooker for a Russian gangster and my daddy protects me. Hey what are you wearing right now? Me and the boys want to know.
CraveOnline: So happy you asked. My kid's got a fever, so the goal of the day is to keep her laughing. I'm wearing an old cookie-monster-blue robe, an Elmer Fudd hat and some Kanye sunglasses.
Jesse Hughes: (laughs and repeats the ensemble to the rest of the band) Dude, are you at an American Apparel photo shoot right now?
CraveOnline: Nope, just doin my job as a dad.
Jesse Hughes: Right on, I've got a kid too. When they're sick at that age, it's so cute cause all you gotta do is keep em laughing. I'm keeping everybody laughing, walking around Detroit in my long johns.
CraveOnline: Haven't heard that name in a long while. I miss long johns, man. I miss weather. Not this hot, kinda hot and not so hot bullshit - I'm talking about actual seasons. I come from a place where there's thunderstorms and lightning and it actually gets fucking cold in the wintertime. Out here you can't tell what the hell time of year it is.
Jesse Hughes: (laughs) I loved that - "I come from a land where there's thunder and lightning. Where men wield lightning bolts and fight off the heathens."
CraveOnline: That's how Michiganders talk. Every damn one of us. Anyway, it' took you two years to record Heart On, right?
Jesse Hughes: Yeah, about two years.
CraveOnline: How do you keep the rock from getting stale?
Jesse Hughes: I bought a time machine in Holland, and it serves me very well. (laughs) Aaalright, you got me. I did not buy a time machine, I was kidding. Please, nobody look into that. Stay out of my garage. No, I just listened to the same Led Zeppelin album over and over again for inspiration.
CraveOnline: Which one?
Jesse Hughes: Houses of the Holy.
CraveOnline: The production value this time around has really been stepped up from the previous two records. Was that a conscious decision between you and Josh, or a natural progression?
Jesse Hughes: Well, it kinda happened on its own in a weird way. We recorded in a bunch of different studios all over the world, and at one point, when we'd already gotten most of the record down, we hit that sweet little Goldilocks spot where everything just felt perfect in the sound. So then we had to go back and rework everything else to fit that tone.
CraveOnline: Was it a frustrating experience, having to go back and redo everything?
Jesse Hughes: Really man, we just truly truly truly wanted to make the best album we possibly could. This album had to step it up from the last one, and once we got to that point, it was one of those Eureka! We found it! moments. The first two albums were really just Joshua putting a bubble around me so I could develop, you know? And I feel like his production was restrained because I wasn’t able to give an equal share to the process and development. But this record is the shit, man. This is what it’s all about. We couldn’t be happier.
CraveOnline: Where do the Eagles rock the hardest?
Jesse Hughes: Well, the band's all here, so let me ask them. (yells out) Hey guys! Where do the Eagles of Death Metal rock the hardest? (assorted shouting in the background)... It's called the stage, Holmes. That's where.
CraveOnline: I hear you're a fan of hip-hop.
Jesse Hughes: Dude, my obsession is Parliament. And I think we finally get to hear that in High Voltage. I had some hand in the production on this album, in that it would be like okay, this is gonna be like this and I wanna dance. I want the spirit of George Clinton, and he's not even dead. I make some pretty outrageous demands. My first real obsession was Clones of Dr. Funkenstein. That album changed my life when I was an undergraduate at Clemson. That's what I wanna be, man. I wanna be George Clinton and the clones of Dr. Funkenstein, dude. With a little Communication Breakdown thrown in there, you know what I mean?
CraveOnline: Perfect. I was about to ask who you'd want to be if you weren't you.
Jesse Hughes: Jimmy Page is standard for me when it comes to personal vision of production and quality and what it represents. Jimmy Page is the fucking pinnace for me. He's a true scientist. He's a wizard. He's able to bend the will of nature itself to his own demand, as opposed to making up tricks that require smoke and mirrors.
CraveOnline: What's the most rock n roll way to die?
Jesse Hughes: To be wrapped up and swept into heaven with a whirlwind and a lightning bolt. I think the cliche answer is 'with a big boner while having sex,' and that's very likely how I really do wanna go out in my heart of hearts, but this aint no cliche, baby. We're rolling real time.
CraveOnline: What do you say as you're being swept up in the whirlwind and lightning bolt? First thing that comes to mind.
Jesse Hughes: If it looks like an indian and smells like an indian, it aint fuckin John Wayne.
