This is not a review. This is a memory.
I was 25 and living in Birmingham. Billy called me up and said, “Ash. We’ve got a spare ticket for the Academy tonight. Queens Of The Stone Age are playing.”
I’d no idea who they were, but Billy was a good friend of mine, and this was a free night out. When you’re an aspiring, failing musician in Birmingham – this is no bad offer.
I’d never heard of the band, not sure many of us had. King Adora were support. No-one cared about them. Ever. KA played. I watched, bored, with a warming pint in my hand. The Birmingham Academy (previously, The Hummingbird) was half-full. The floor was still sticky from the previous night. It was always a shit venue.
KA finished and we milled about stage left about four rows in from the front. There was enough room to walk about in a circle. The guys I was with were in a band called Chromium Hijack. With the exception of Billy (who was Asian), they were an all black rock band in Birmingham – with some talent too. Though they ended up splitting, I joined them on guitar for an EP which I have somewhere. Went nowhere – same as many things in Birmingham.
QOTSA came on. I think they started with ‘Feel Good Hit Of The Summer’, I can’t be too sure. It’s not as if they were the greatest live band ever, but they were different to anything any of us had seen before. After a couple of tracks, Nick walked off stage and came back completely naked. He had his bass on, but you could see his flaccid, bald cock and balls each time you looked at him.
‘The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret’ started; I flipped. Straight went nuts. I remember pulling jackets to jump higher – the Hijack boys were always cool. Billy got into it, though.The rest of the show was a blur.
I bought Rated R from Tempest Records (now defunct, apparently) the next day. I loved it the moment I got through it. It’s a great, great record.
You don’t have to agree. It is.
So, the remaster is pretty incredible. Sounds like a touch of stereo limiting, widening the stereo effect and some kind of easy compression that just makes the listener want to crank the volume to get the extra from the amp. You know? Like a good rock record used to make you feel. If you don’t already own this record, then now is the perfect time to buy it. Don’t believe me? Here’s a link to the record on Spotify. If you don’t believe your own ears, then you’re past help.
Now, repeat after me:
Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol
Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol
Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol
Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol
C-c-c-c-c-Cocaine!
