Maybe the tape has something to do with that but certainly, from a performance point of view, tape changes things. It’s about teaching people to get their own sound. Yeah, we could go through all this gear, all this stuff, and there are a lot of secrets we’ve been keeping over the years, but I think that’s the fun part, the magic of being an individual. Billy Gibbons wouldn't sound like Queens ever because he just sounds like he does and it doesn’t matter what he uses. ‘Yo, plug into one of our amps!’ But the funny thing is, we heard him playing through this thing and it was like, ‘Wow! It sounds like fuckin’ Billy Gibbons!’ I don’t even think it was a Line 6 POD it was some off-brand amp simulator, and we were just like. “For example, when we worked with Billy Gibbons, he brought some gear to the studio. Billy Gibbons wouldn't sound like Queens ever because he just sounds like he does and it doesn’t matter what he uses My philosophy is that a lot of the way you sound as a guitar player is in your fingers.

But second of all, there’s not just one pedal that does it so… I mean, good luck! Sounding like us with one pedal? I would say it’s probably impossible.

“Well, umm, yeah, I would say, first of all, it’s flattering. So it begs the question: When we hook this up, will we sound like you? Now, this is kismet we have you here today, because in the mail was the Skeleton Key, a new pedal from Funny Little Boxes that allows you to nail the Queens Of The Stone Age guitar tone. (Image credit: Barry Brecheisen/WireImage) Though, he admits that he too would like to try the Skeleton Key. This year Funny Little Boxes launched the £99 Skeleton Key that promised a compact pedalboard solution for Queens tones.īut the smile on Troy Van Leeuwen’s face when we ask him about this whole culture of QOTSA tone-seeking is the tell there is much more to it, and of course it extends beyond the signal path. The Acorn Solid State, which was released last year, did just that full-circuit replica. All of a sudden, this mostly forgotten practice amp was the subject of bidding wars, its transistorised circuit was pored over and cloned then reappropriated in stompbox form. It was a great Eureka moment when Homme revealed that there it was a Peavey Decade used on Songs For The Deaf, and in particular for the bass guitar tone on No One Knows. Maybe it is a function of the myths that have been constructed around it such was the iron curtain around Josh Homme’s early sound, any breadcrumb of information was feasted upon. But there has to be more to it than simple aesthetics. Their rhythm guitar sound is undoubtedly an intoxicating sound, and that’s before you consider the strange textures that sit on top.

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