Joshua Homme

00:00:00
Speaker 1: This episode is also available as video on YouTube. You can visit Norah Jones channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. Hey, I'm Norah Jones and today I'm playing along with Joshua Hammie. I'm just playing long.

00:00:17
Speaker 2: I'm just playing in lone with you.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: Hey there, I'm Norah Jones. With me always every day in my heart is Sarah Oda. Ooh what an intro.

00:00:37
Speaker 3: I'll take it.

00:00:38
Speaker 1: Okay. Today's episode is amazing.

00:00:42
Speaker 4: We had the founder and frontman of arguably one of the greatest rock bands of the past nearly three decades, Queens of the Stone Age. We have singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer Joshua Hami.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: Yay oh, this episode was so much fun.

00:01:01
Speaker 4: Of course, He's also known for Caius, Eagles of Death Metal and them Crooked Vultures. His latest project, Alive in the Catacombs, was recorded and filmed in the Paris Catacombs in twenty twenty four, released in twenty five, reimagining Queens of the Stone Age songs in a very stripped down way, which is such an insanely cool idea. Oh, with skeletons all around, you're gonna hear more about that you're gonna hear about his touring, you're gonna hear about songwriting, and as always, paired back performances from across Joshua's catalog, including one truly classic cover.

00:01:37
Speaker 1: The funnest part is that he was up for this in a way that I found really fun. He's like, I don't even care if we do any of my songs, Let's just do and he started throwing out. The first song he threw out to do was a cover song, and I love that that spirit, But of course we do do some of my favorite songs of his. Yeah, it was a fun He was like up for anything.

00:01:56
Speaker 4: He's a perfect yeah, perfect guest because he it was like a playdate, like an actual playdate.

00:02:03
Speaker 1: We just had a We had a great time. I hope you enjoy state.

00:02:08
Speaker 5: There is some.

00:02:08
Speaker 1: Spicy language in this episode, so listener discretion is advised. It's not that bad, but just so you know it's there.

00:02:19
Speaker 5: You want to try this, let's try.

00:02:20
Speaker 3: It, okay, right, Yeah, Well.

00:03:09
Speaker 6: You won't know what fun though. I can't say that I do.

00:03:20
Speaker 7: I don't understand level lie oh how long becomes too and I just can't recall. Let's start at all oh, how to become neill. No, I ain't here to break. Just see how fun went well though?

00:03:57
Speaker 8: Make you any time anywhere?

00:04:03
Speaker 5: Not sleep.

00:04:05
Speaker 9: I want to leaky, can't you?

00:04:12
Speaker 5: Okay?

00:04:15
Speaker 10: Sometimes the same is different, but mostly it's the same. This mystery is life.

00:04:30
Speaker 6: That's just say my thing.

00:04:37
Speaker 11: If I told you that I knew about the sun and.

00:04:41
Speaker 12: The moon and beyond true, Yeah, the only thing I know for sure.

00:04:52
Speaker 6: What I want to any time anywhere. Let's say they album make.

00:05:02
Speaker 2: I won't make it with you?

00:05:07
Speaker 6: Hed it town, buddy, my supp.

00:05:11
Speaker 13: I wanna make it. I wanta make.

00:05:15
Speaker 7: A you gotta go, gotta got go.

00:05:22
Speaker 13: Make that he it time and where? Oh I wanna make it.

00:05:35
Speaker 2: I want to make it.

00:05:37
Speaker 9: You im make it, Alma, makele you.

00:06:35
Speaker 6: At a time?

00:06:36
Speaker 14: Pty, Well, I must say, babe, I make it out, make it?

00:06:43
Speaker 2: Let you?

00:06:50
Speaker 5: I want make it? What a time?

00:06:54
Speaker 2: Make it?

00:07:20
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's fun.

00:07:22
Speaker 3: It is fun. Actually that all my nerves are gone.

00:07:24
Speaker 1: Oh good, that's just a fun jam. It's just it's a good one, you know.

00:07:29
Speaker 3: It's funny. That's one of the first times that I was ever able to just outright say that I love someone, even though it doesn't say that in there. It seems so hard to say I love somebody, but it's so easy to say I was upset or sad or something else. You know. I don't know why. I think it's some punk rock boy beginning, probably you know.

00:07:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it.

00:07:50
Speaker 3: Feels good to be able to say that. Now.

00:07:52
Speaker 1: It's good that you got there. It took a while I get it, though. I mean, the sentiment of the song is definitely received, you know. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, great one, super fun. You are we wearing sunglasses or those reading glasses?

00:08:08
Speaker 3: These are readings?

00:08:09
Speaker 1: Okay, I should get my shades out. Those are cool. I just started wearing readers. I need like cool sunglasses readers.

00:08:18
Speaker 3: I realized that. For years, I was like, oh, I'm just tired. Yeah, for years, really years, you know, and then I someone I said, wow, I really can't see it. I borrowed someone's readers and said, you know, such a revelation.

00:08:32
Speaker 1: You woke up.

00:08:32
Speaker 3: I saw this little baby online they put these like little headband glasses on, and the look on this baby's face.

00:08:38
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I've seen those videos.

00:08:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh my god, so good, like seeing the world for the first time.

00:08:44
Speaker 1: I know, is that how you felt?

00:08:47
Speaker 5: Well?

00:08:47
Speaker 3: Certainly with a menu being a menu for the first that I realized I've never seen a man.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: I know it's usually too dark. They keep it too dark. Oh I'm supposed to play piano for them. I forgot.

00:09:11
Speaker 3: It must be nice to play, to play, like be able to play like that, like that, Yeah, Like do you every time I watch a piano always like, oh that must be so nice. Yeah, it is it fun to just like how do you feel about your playing?

00:09:27
Speaker 1: I feel like sometimes I really am happy with it, and sometimes I forget how to play right, you know, Yeah, but I feel good. I feel like I've gotten so much better in the last ten years. Yeah, and I'm excited by that.

00:09:42
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:09:42
Speaker 1: And it's like I forgot that I have all this to play with room, Yeah, because I used to be a little more.

00:09:49
Speaker 3: When you were what time? What time? What time is it when you started ten o'clock? What time are you when you started?

00:09:57
Speaker 1: I was seven, I was seven o' seven.

00:10:00
Speaker 3: I was seven o'clock when I started my last And then did you did you want to do it or did it feel? Yeah?

00:10:08
Speaker 1: I wanted to do it, and I beg for lessons and my mom got to upright piano and gave me lessons, and I promptly wanted to quit because I didn't want to practice right, and she said, just take for five years and then you can quit. And on the dot five years later, I quit for about a year.

00:10:22
Speaker 3: When you're seven, five years you have no concept of that. You're like, what is that like? Tonight at eleven exactly started at seven?

00:10:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you grew up playing guitar just casually polka style?

00:10:35
Speaker 5: What No?

00:10:36
Speaker 3: I just I think, and maybe I'm being mean to my teacher, but Tom Polonski, I love you wherever you are. But I felt like he wanted to keep a student maybe or something, and polka just didn't seem like my thing.

00:10:52
Speaker 1: I didn't he was really a poka teacher poka guitar.

00:10:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, are you serious?

00:10:57
Speaker 3: I don't know they had that, but they're doing it out there somewhere. There's a sub scene apparently. Oh there's a scene you know that. You know.

00:11:10
Speaker 1: It's kind of like country and western pi.

00:11:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it really is the same thing. It's all offshoots of coming out of Germany and Ireland, and you know, it's folk music done with umpah, you know on the and uh. But I just didn't. It didn't resonate too much with me. So I just started playing on my own and I stopped the lessons and that was the last lesson I took.

00:11:31
Speaker 1: Wow, you know how long did you take?

00:11:35
Speaker 3: It was about eighteen months? Okay, you know, from the age of nine to almost eleven, the year you.

00:11:41
Speaker 1: Saw George Carlin. You started playing.

00:11:42
Speaker 3: Pokey and listening to punk rock music. That's pretty And I was like, but that realization that that it was only three chords away. I didn't know bar chords for the first year. Yeah, it was just umpah umpa, you know, that's all you need. It was the Three Blind Mice.

00:11:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, the punk rock.

00:12:00
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:12:03
Speaker 1: It's funny when they translate the beginner songs for little kids to older kids who were starting right, do you know what I mean? Like, my kids started taking lessons and they were learning from this book and learning these old timey eighteen hundreds nursery rhymes.

00:12:18
Speaker 3: Oh I love that stuff though.

00:12:20
Speaker 1: I do too, but they were not terrified.

00:12:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're all terrifying. Like you know, row your boat. I find to be really eerie. Row row, roll your boat gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily. Life is but a dream, And I'm always like, is there a second verse? I'm sure there.

00:12:41
Speaker 1: Is where you go over the waterfall?

00:12:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure it does. And it's like life is but a dream life song in the right way. It's terrifying.

00:12:49
Speaker 1: It is terrifying.

00:12:50
Speaker 3: But I love that sort of I love that gently scary vibe of things.

00:12:56
Speaker 1: Yeah you know I can tell. Yeah, yeah, I was drawn to that song of yours, this this lullaby because I just wanted to sing harmonies all over it.

00:13:04
Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh yeah, well we can do that.

00:13:06
Speaker 1: Well we've let into it. You want to do a lullaby?

00:13:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's easy.

00:13:11
Speaker 1: Wait a second, is the piano good or should we?

00:13:13
Speaker 15: Yeah?

00:13:16
Speaker 5: Was it?

00:13:16
Speaker 1: The pens?

00:13:18
Speaker 3: Depends? It depends, it's your depends.

00:13:22
Speaker 1: I have a funny depend story. I'll tell you later.

00:13:26
Speaker 3: No, no, I got to hear it. It doesn't have to make the final cut, but now I need to. That's okay, I'm here.

00:13:34
Speaker 1: When I when I was cutting this, when I was pregnant for the first time, I thought maybe for some reason I would need like extra pads after the baby, and so I bought some Depends. But I accidentally ordered like five cases.

00:13:49
Speaker 3: Wow, de pens that's a lot. Yeah, well, I guess you're stocked up if I don't.

00:13:56
Speaker 1: Still have them. I donated them finally because I was like, I don't.

00:13:59
Speaker 3: Use the you could be like a doomsday prepper at all.

00:14:02
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like a pee in your pants prepper.

00:14:08
Speaker 3: We've got food for six months, water and depends because when the end comes, you might shit yourself.

00:14:15
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:14:15
Speaker 1: I mean I had already donated them by the time the pandemic came along.

00:14:19
Speaker 3: So the pandemic dependent.

00:14:22
Speaker 1: God, this is fun.

00:14:25
Speaker 3: I love that in the pandemic, you're like, somebody else is going to need these right now. It's a very uncomfortable time. Yeah, okay, shall I shall we shall us no pressure, We're all counting on you.

00:14:43
Speaker 5: No where have you been? Where can you be?

00:15:02
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, it's bound song?

00:15:06
Speaker 6: Since the moon it's gone?

00:15:08
Speaker 5: Oh what a wreck.

00:15:10
Speaker 6: You've made me?

00:15:13
Speaker 5: Are you there? Over?

00:15:15
Speaker 6: The shows?

00:15:17
Speaker 5: Are you there? Plean the sun.

00:15:23
Speaker 6: Until the return?

00:15:25
Speaker 5: Mather, the slow line, my whole person over.

00:15:36
Speaker 6: On every face it's you as.

00:15:39
Speaker 14: I can see, please praying each night and they embrace this only dream and the show states come from more months, each child and becomes a lost.

00:16:01
Speaker 5: Won't you laugh?

00:16:03
Speaker 6: That only become the snow high.

00:16:11
Speaker 16: Oh oh oh oh.

00:16:40
Speaker 15: Yeah, Oh that's so fine.

00:16:56
Speaker 3: That's sweet. It's a very sweet I love that harmony.

00:16:59
Speaker 5: Sweet.

00:16:59
Speaker 1: I forgot come in on him. I was having so much fun.

00:17:02
Speaker 3: Oh that's good.

00:17:03
Speaker 1: Oh good.

00:17:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, Actually I don't. I don't even mind little mistakes. I love them.

00:17:08
Speaker 1: This is a casual mistake friendly zone.

00:17:10
Speaker 3: Then I'm totally good because I think, yeah, but well, I don't want to go. I'm just kidding, but I think I don't know. I also grew up watching like Carol Burnett Show and Dean Martin Show and those variety shows like that, and my favorite part is when somebody broke oh yeah, you know. In fact, i've read when I was reading Dean Martin's book, I've read that he in his contract he said that he would not come to rehearsals. He would just come to the taping, so everyone else all week was rehearsing, and then he would show up and just sort of be like, yeah, babe, it's going to be all right. He would nail it, and he would nail it or not and then completely call out the mistake. And I just think there's something I guess. I guess it's cute.

00:18:06
Speaker 1: I think it's human. Yeah, there's not a lot of that anymore. In some places it's life.

00:18:15
Speaker 3: Well, I definitely think music.

00:18:17
Speaker 1: I was going to say that, but then I got shy for some reason.

00:18:20
Speaker 3: No, I think it's okay to say that because I think there's a lot of correcting.

00:18:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean now that you can, it's just so easy to make everything perfect and it doesn't sound human anymore.

00:18:32
Speaker 3: It's yeah, because perfect is what people aren't and so it's almost it's almost setting a bar where no one could ever actually go. And you know, I always end up trying to play my mistakes again. We always that's.

00:18:47
Speaker 1: Very jazz of you.

00:18:48
Speaker 3: Definitely, it's my jazziest part in Queen's There something that there's a lot of mistakes or tuning issues or things on a record, because it really does end up being the thing that you try to replicate. Yeah, it's more fun, and I think people are quick to go there's a mistake there, and you've got this, you know, because you can without really thinking about.

00:19:14
Speaker 1: It to correct it.

00:19:15
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, there's a moment in a song Honky Tonk Woman by the Stones, and there's a moment where the guitar goes and it's so out of tune, and I'm always pining, waiting like okay, back up here it comes, you know.

00:19:32
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:19:32
Speaker 1: I mean all those Dylan records had.

00:19:34
Speaker 3: Weird, weird Everyone's out from each other the timing wise. Yeah, we're listening to Rolling Stone in this morning, like a rolling Stone, me and my boy we're driving to school, and uh, it's so out from me. They're so out from each other. Yeah, but it's just cool.

00:19:50
Speaker 1: It's it's the best. You can just feel it almost, you know.

00:19:55
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:19:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think people just respond to it when it sounds human. Yeah, the emotion is there.

00:20:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't.

00:20:02
Speaker 1: You lose that when you perfect things.

00:20:04
Speaker 3: Sometimes I think everything gets really linear.

00:20:07
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:20:08
Speaker 3: Everyone goes left at the same time, everyone goes right at the same time. And I just, uh, well, and maybe I'm just making excuses because I know I'm going to blow it at some point. I don't mean today, I just mean all the time.

00:20:20
Speaker 1: I think you're you're no, I think you're spot on. Yeah, And I think you know, that's the music I love, that's the music you love. Yeah, Yeah, I think most people do.

00:20:31
Speaker 3: I like it all over the place.

00:20:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, me too.

00:20:33
Speaker 3: I like a little slop, that's what she's.

00:20:36
Speaker 1: Sorry, we were doing jokes earlier.

00:20:39
Speaker 3: No, let's still do them.

00:20:40
Speaker 1: Okay, that's what she said. So when you guys going to record as a band, do you like to do things pretty together and live?

00:20:48
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, yeah, I mean if something's brand spanking new, you know. I think when you make your early records, you can tell me if you're the same if you're playing with people your early records, you have those songs and you're ready to go. And then as the years have gone on the fun of being in the studio, I'm not trying to rush as much. Before I would be so proud of I would say, you know, recorded and mixed in nineteen days, you.

00:21:16
Speaker 1: Know, Oh okay, and I put it on.

00:21:18
Speaker 3: The records like look how fast we can move Like.

00:21:21
Speaker 1: It was a sign of well, you're awesome.

00:21:23
Speaker 3: Well and also it was like we're not we're not second guessing, because that when you second guess, you guess for two times. Yeah it's my brother guess once.

00:21:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's more like a like a badge of authenticity.

00:21:37
Speaker 3: For sure, you know, because I think I think you feel the same way. It is that that you know you want music to be real and that that's some kind of badge, like a badge like this is real. See you look, we didn't overdo it. Yeah. Well and I but I think as the years going to it's just fun to be in the studio it is.

00:22:00
Speaker 1: It's actually too fun.

00:22:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they're making actualizing the sounds you hear in your head. That's the best part, you know. I like touring, but it's not nothing close to being in the studio and making stuff like how it should be, how it's meant to be.

00:22:17
Speaker 1: Do you like to record songs when they're brand new so you capture that first sort of spirit of it or impression of it, or do you like to rehearse and think and like I mean some I guess every song is different. Some songs are better that way for me. And then if I have to think about them, they're they're very hard.

00:22:36
Speaker 3: Well, I uh, it feels best when they just come and and they have those mistakes and they have the rawness. I just needed to be raw too. I don't want it to be sonically polished either. And then there's other things that it's like going to Joe Ann's or Michael's and you're just crafting.

00:22:58
Speaker 1: I did not. I think we'd be very and Joann's into this.

00:23:01
Speaker 3: I love jos and Michael's clothes. Yeah, I don't like to talk about that. Okay, she's gone, bitch, you're done. But uh yeah, so there are some stuff I think when we're doing this stuff now, sometimes we track it as a trio so the other guys can really let the stone sing to the bottom and sure what's happening? And it's hard we have we're five. It's hard to track with five people that don't know what's going on because you're you're actually accidentally stepping on each other all the time, which is natural. We have a rule in Queens that whoever brings the song that you sort of talk about the personality of it, what's its intent, what does it look like, what does it wear? What is it? How does it Behave you explain that? Yeah, and talk through the imagery sort of, because it's fun to not only have this to humanize this song, but to say where it lives and what it does.

00:24:03
Speaker 1: You know, what's a drink for breakfast?

00:24:05
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, tequila?

00:24:10
Speaker 1: Should we do COLLAPSI.

00:24:13
Speaker 3: This that I wrote this for my daughter.

00:24:16
Speaker 1: Which yeah, I was going to ask about that title. I had to google it because I'm not very smart with Greek.

00:24:23
Speaker 3: Is that what it is?

00:24:25
Speaker 1: Is that not what it is?

00:24:26
Speaker 3: Well? Okay, So Alex Turner from The Arctic Monkeys and I have this long running habit we just send, you text each other a word, you know, and and because there's so many great, chubby, juicy, colorful words out there that's true, you know, words that that I I try never to use the word it if I can. Yeah, And anyways, he texted me. I texted him a word which I can't remember because it wasn't as good as the word he texted me, which was collopsia, which is the condition where everything looks appears more beautiful than it really is.

00:25:12
Speaker 1: That's what it is. Yeah, it's not Greek.

00:25:15
Speaker 3: It very well could be. I mean, aren't they all in the end?

00:25:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess.

00:25:19
Speaker 3: So.

00:25:19
Speaker 1: You know that's such a beautiful sentiment.

00:25:23
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And you know, I think when you have little ones there, everything is new, and so they're experiencing all the joys and all this sort of social difficulties you know where they're you know, when you walk in a room and there's someone really short in your house and they're hanging their head. But you really can't fix their problems. You just can sit with them until they till they feel better. And so I think, uh, you know, once i'd cracked the seal on playing love songs, you know, I was like, Wow, you can you can point this that, this notion of love in every direction. You've got it. You know.

00:26:01
Speaker 1: After I had kids, I had the same realization.

00:26:03
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, that opens up a whole new wing of songwriting.

00:26:07
Speaker 1: It's pretty special because it's it goes in a different direction. Yeah, and then the listener doesn't have to realize it.

00:26:15
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean traditionally, I don't bother saying those things because their purpose is already done. I know what it is, and I think sometimes you might rob somebody of what it is for them. Yeah, and I think that's a shame to pop bubbles.

00:26:29
Speaker 1: I agree. I don't like explaining songs, yeah, saying what they're about.

00:26:33
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I guess I just blew it cut.

00:26:37
Speaker 1: I don't think you actually explained it. You just you just kind of said where it.

00:26:41
Speaker 3: Can possible, said enough, it's possible, said enough. But also, there's something very much of a lullaby about this.

00:26:47
Speaker 1: Somehow it is a lullaby.

00:26:50
Speaker 17: Yeah, ah mm hmm, Camille will be very happy.

00:27:13
Speaker 3: Ready Aye.

00:27:19
Speaker 6: Love lie to myself.

00:27:31
Speaker 5: Tonight row tim tonight, color my sorrows.

00:27:52
Speaker 6: A shade a lie.

00:27:56
Speaker 3: Sounds beautiful.

00:27:59
Speaker 5: Bye b bye black bird.

00:28:08
Speaker 6: Serious soon.

00:28:14
Speaker 5: Wave bye bye.

00:28:20
Speaker 8: Oh why you're so sad? But had they done? Forget those badness bad bus They're off playing in god calm be concentrations are playing day who can and buds of badness consolem and parade.

00:29:00
Speaker 18: Yeah, is it wonderful? Collapsa oh collapsa yeah, collapsia.

00:29:53
Speaker 5: Far far.

00:29:58
Speaker 12: From shore, the land the nightmas come for even mores.

00:30:14
Speaker 11: The the.

00:30:25
Speaker 5: Hand can control. I don't even contry. Why would I wad aloud? Face got it out round?

00:30:55
Speaker 8: Forget the radias, which you saying? The ballads famous, the words who hit the tam the ravel, the stain of the lasts, nay round.

00:31:24
Speaker 5: The ball.

00:31:26
Speaker 3: To here we go. My daughter was going to love that.

00:32:21
Speaker 1: Actually yeah, yeah, oh good, Yeah, I love the version you did from the Life from the Catacombs.

00:32:29
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah.

00:32:31
Speaker 1: Can you explain what the catacombs in Paris are to anyone who doesn't know?

00:32:35
Speaker 3: The catacombs were a mine that is about two hundred and twenty kilometers worth of mine shafts underneath the city of Paris, as is the case with all these big cities or's tunnels everywhere. And in the late seventeen hundreds, the cemeteries were overflowing in Paris and it was becoming a real problem. And in the night they emptied the graves from these mass cemeteries and wheelbarrowed through the streets of Paris. That is insane to These cisterns were there to you know, formally take debris, you know, ventilate the mind shafts and you know, pass water up and down and dumped the bodies of thousands and thousands until it became millions of people. And at the bottom of these these dump sites, which sounds like a terrible phrase actually, but yeah, at the bottom of these these dump sites, the these these men and women lovingly, respectfully, artistically created a mosaic with millions of bones.

00:33:47
Speaker 1: And they did it with everyone, with all the all the bodies or just some well, they they ran out of steam at some point.

00:33:57
Speaker 3: So there are locations in the catacomb that are simply piles of bones. But that has its own sort of when you experience any part of this, you're immediately faced with thoughts and questions you never had ever, or that that maybe you swept under the rug about this life and the length of it and the depth of it. You know, and there's this beautiful mosaic of human beings and you know when you're you know this, when you're in a studio, the surfaces are all different surfaces in order to sort of like capture the sound and not let it overly reflect too much. And that organic process is happening in the catacombs, the poorest nature of bones. But you know when you palm someone's skull and there's there's the village idiot and great thinkers in the catacombs. Jean Paul Satras in there amongst right, and wow, so no one was spared. Everyone was given the same beautiful treatment.

00:35:07
Speaker 1: You know, it's beautiful.

00:35:09
Speaker 3: Crazy, Yeah, it's crazy there. They were the first person to play there legally.

00:35:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, but somebody else's played.

00:35:16
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, they've had there's been underground raves and oh wow, there was one cool story. Actually, this's always fascinated me that you know, there are you know, sort of like vaulted areas that open up and get larger that's the case in any mind, like a central meeting point where it gets bigger. Yeah, And there was a movie screen, a projector, and a dinner table for twenty that was completely set with a small, very small spinet piano in there. And the city worker that discovered it turned around and ran back to get authorities, which seems like a real tattletale thing to me personally, where it's like, oh, thanks a lotta, thanks a lot, you know, Travis or whoever it was. It was like Pierre Pierre Pressure, the great French persuasions. But he went to get authorities and came back the next morning and it was all gone, and there was a note on the floor that said do not try to find us. And I just love that's again back to this sort of romantic, scary, exclusive little club. I mean, elitism sucks when I'm not included, but this I can imagine wanting to be desperately part of this movie. Night in the bowels of What do you think was shown? Jesus? What do you think it would be? Psycho? Or maybe it's Amili or something beautiful.

00:36:55
Speaker 1: Whimsical.

00:36:56
Speaker 3: Maybe it's breakfast at Tiffany's.

00:36:57
Speaker 1: Did they project it onto the bones or.

00:37:00
Speaker 3: Was there a there was a screen, and there was a screen, it was all ready to go.

00:37:04
Speaker 13: Ready.

00:37:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's cataphiles who roam and and there's people that go in there just to make movies. Oh yeah, that are like I'm lost, But that aren't that. It isn't true. It's all a rus you know how deep?

00:37:19
Speaker 1: I mean, it must be huge. Can you get lost in it?

00:37:22
Speaker 3: Certainly? Yeaheah. And a lot of the from what I'm told, a lot of the entrances you see that are just simply a manhole or just a grate over here with a stairwell, unbeknownst to you, they lead straight into the catacombs, you know in Paris. Yeah, because if you think about two hundred and twenty kilometers of you know, Paris is a large city. Yeah, but you are talking about the entire old the old city much larger than that span of that city.

00:37:51
Speaker 1: This is wild.

00:37:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really cool.

00:37:53
Speaker 1: Actually, how did you think that you wanted to do that? Have you visited it a lot?

00:37:59
Speaker 3: I'd never I saw pictures of it when I was just a boy and was just couldn't believe you could do that with death and art could mix and you know, when you're little, you don't understand that you won't live forever, you know. So I was I thought, oh my goodness, what does that mean? And no one talks to you about that stuff, or certainly not to me. No, and so on tour about eighteen nineteen years ago. I tried to go and just see it and the line was about three hours long. Oh so you can get in, And I did this really musician spoiled thing. I was like, if we play there, can I cut the line and but that and then yeah, and it was you know, and the first answer we got was no, of course. And I just made a habit of asking whenever we were going to do a European tour. Let's ask again.

00:38:55
Speaker 1: So you've been asking for eighteen years.

00:38:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I have.

00:38:58
Speaker 1: That's incredible.

00:38:59
Speaker 3: Well it doesn't. It didn't take much to ask. I'd talked to people at times and not talk to people at times, and and heard absolutely absolutely not. You know, many times, yeah, absolutely not. I was asking the wrong person in.

00:39:15
Speaker 1: The wrong country.

00:39:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, But I just uh, I think at times, as a joke almost I said, we're coming back, go again, and uh, I've had many wild and fantastical events occur for me and my bandmates in Paris, and uh yeah, and so the time was right and uh and we got our chance, you know. And so I think the reason for the version of that song done that way is the simplest.

00:39:51
Speaker 19: You know.

00:39:51
Speaker 3: I'm always looking for a green light, you know, to know to progress forward, and obviously a red light means turned your direction. But the first green light was everything is stripped to bare bones, and that's what we should do too.

00:40:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's beautiful and everybody sounds so great.

00:40:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, everyone, everyone did a really really good job.

00:40:13
Speaker 1: You know, it's beautiful. I love listening to the whole thing.

00:40:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, thank you. It turned I'm really happy how it turned.

00:40:20
Speaker 1: Out, you know. Yeah, and I heard that you were not well during it as well.

00:40:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that made it better because I mean, what are the chances that after eighteen years, when the yes finally came, that I would be when I walked down in there and facing all these other lives that mine would be that would be hard to be in mine, you know. And I just think it made it better because, well, you don't get a chance to show who you really are all the time. It's true, you know, and when Tho's moments come up, you know, it feels nice because someone told me anxiety is worrying about the future, and depression is worrying about the past. And you're just looking. You only live one moment and can add it infinitem. You know, you're only in one. We're only here. The rest of this is all dress rehearsal for now. Yeah, and I really felt the most present that I'd ever felt playing ever. So I think of it as a like a like a complete blessing, you know. Yeah, I gotta go. Ok, No, I'm just kidding, and I'm leaving. I'm enjoying myself.

00:41:43
Speaker 1: Good, I am too.

00:41:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fun and it's fun to do this, right, It's so much fun. I watched like ten of these today.

00:41:51
Speaker 1: Oh dear, so you know, I'm a Cooper.

00:41:55
Speaker 3: I just think it looks like you're really enjoying yourself. I see why you do this. It's really it's actually what we're supposed to be doing.

00:42:04
Speaker 1: Kind of is you should guess how sometime. Yeah, you get to pick whoever you want.

00:42:08
Speaker 3: Hello, you know exactly. Well, I also love strange chemistry. I think it's very easy for people to say like, oh that did that caught me off card it doesn't make sense, but really or like.

00:42:19
Speaker 1: A pairing of two people that you wouldn't put together.

00:42:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, but like us, but really it makes total sense.

00:42:27
Speaker 1: This always makes sense to me.

00:42:28
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think the stranger it gets, the more beautiful it gets.

00:42:32
Speaker 1: I agree, you know.

00:42:33
Speaker 3: I mean it's almost like if you can get someone out of their elements.

00:42:38
Speaker 18: Yeah.

00:42:39
Speaker 3: On this tour we're doing, it's I'm terrified, like I haven't been for twenty five years.

00:42:45
Speaker 1: And because it's stripped back.

00:42:48
Speaker 3: It's so if you're going to do something uncomfortable and empty to a crowd, you have to be empty and uncomfortable with yourself, okay, and you have to let the silence hang on just realizing that silent is the loudest quiet we'll ever get.

00:43:03
Speaker 1: Is that the song idea? That's great.

00:43:05
Speaker 3: No, it's just the understanding of like, yeah, you know and and but we're also playing really deep cuts that we don't play only because they're fucking hard. It's actually hard.

00:43:19
Speaker 1: So it's hard. It's a hard show.

00:43:21
Speaker 3: And that's like the end of the show is the end of the show is deep cuts. And so I have no guitar on, and and then I put my guitar on. I'm like, oh my god, it's hard. Like do you have you certainly have songs that are just hard.

00:43:35
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:43:35
Speaker 1: I usually don't play them for that reason because.

00:43:38
Speaker 3: They're like, oh my god, damn, I have to practice. Yeah, and I have to practice practice, practice.

00:43:44
Speaker 6: Yeah.

00:43:45
Speaker 1: I mean my songs are mostly pretty simple. There's a few tricky ones.

00:43:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I have things where you're playing guitar lead that's that's syncopated to what you're singing.

00:43:56
Speaker 1: Oh, that that's hard. That's that's a coordination issue.

00:44:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is.

00:44:01
Speaker 11: It is.

00:44:01
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, I stab your slip.

00:44:04
Speaker 6: In the eye.

00:44:06
Speaker 3: And but I always think it would look so cool if you were in the front row and you saw somebody and they were playing this guitar lead that had nothing to do with the vocal and singing at the same time, and they're just doing it, and there's a lot of like like at home, just tapping my foot really slowly that you can do it. Yeah, you know, where you're just and going, oh this singing the next words on the end.

00:44:33
Speaker 1: You know, let's hear it.

00:44:34
Speaker 3: Oh no, And it's just uh yeah, I want to do a good job.

00:44:43
Speaker 1: So I think that's great. That means you're in it. You know, you're still in it.

00:44:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, there's no reason to ever stop pushing hard. I just don't understand why I do this.

00:44:54
Speaker 1: I mean, I understand that, and you understand that, but I don't feel like everybody does that.

00:44:59
Speaker 3: I know, I know, but there's room for everybody. There's there's you know. On the one hand, I used to sort of thumb my nose to people that didn't write their own music, and then I was like, wait a minute, my some of my favorite people didn't write their music. Elvis didn't write you know. It's like Connie Francis, you know, you know they're singing other people's songs, but they And so I let that go because that's just a ridiculous notion. And there's some people that play because they want to be famous, and I understand that that's not that's not what I'm trying to do. But there's room for everybody. I don't care.

00:45:33
Speaker 1: I just want to be famous enough to get into the Catacombs to do a gig.

00:45:36
Speaker 3: I just want to. I want to. I want everyone that could like our music to have a chance to hear it isn't that the best?

00:45:42
Speaker 1: You know?

00:45:42
Speaker 3: And I and I think something like the Catacombs is just a way to recharge your battery. I want to be I want to reserve the right to be surprised by life and I and those things. You know, it's fun to play festivals, but if you just did that, it wouldn't be enough. It's not enough.

00:46:01
Speaker 1: It's funny. I love playing festivals because that energy is something my normal shows doesn't does. It's more reserved.

00:46:08
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:46:09
Speaker 3: Well, and I like the idea of being thrown up there like everyone else and can you do it or not?

00:46:14
Speaker 18: You know?

00:46:14
Speaker 3: So I like that too, But any one thing is not enough, you know.

00:46:17
Speaker 1: I agree with that.

00:46:18
Speaker 3: I need.

00:46:19
Speaker 5: I need.

00:46:20
Speaker 3: I have musical schizophrenia. You're you're doing this because you have it too, you wouldn't be doing it, right.

00:46:25
Speaker 6: Yeah.

00:46:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, I need to be where I'm not allowed to go. Tell me I'm not supposed to be there, so I can go there.

00:46:31
Speaker 15: Yeah you know so.

00:46:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, but some stuff is hard.

00:46:37
Speaker 1: Yeah that's fine, But it's more fun that.

00:46:41
Speaker 3: Way, for sure. It's like, you know, yeah, you could love.

00:46:45
Speaker 1: What are you teaching your kids?

00:46:46
Speaker 5: Right?

00:46:47
Speaker 1: If it's hard, don't do it. No, that's not no, not at all.

00:46:50
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:46:50
Speaker 3: You know, my Grandpa's always like life is hard because it's worth it. And I think that that's probably good enough to go.

00:46:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Well, have you ever sang Frank Sinatra before?

00:47:05
Speaker 3: I've sung a lot of Dean Martin.

00:47:06
Speaker 5: I haven't sung this.

00:47:07
Speaker 18: Yeah.

00:47:08
Speaker 3: Oh no, I did this once.

00:47:09
Speaker 20: He did.

00:47:10
Speaker 3: I did this once before with who. I don't want to say they're totally important. I swear to god she meant nothing yet. Yeah, but I I love your voice. It's so creamy. It's like just like a glass of buttermilk.

00:47:28
Speaker 5: And then go.

00:47:31
Speaker 3: And yeah, this this version that I sent you was the version that's Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra.

00:47:38
Speaker 1: I didn't know that was Nancy and Frank. I actually didn't know it in a deep way. I knew the song very well, but I didn't ever think about it.

00:47:46
Speaker 3: Well, many people have done it, right, I've many.

00:47:48
Speaker 1: People have done it, but I didn't think about it.

00:47:49
Speaker 3: Being a father and a daughter, Yeah, it's sort of like, hey, don't.

00:47:54
Speaker 1: Getting cheeky with each other.

00:47:56
Speaker 3: Well, it's it's like lyrically clearly they just want to spend time together and sing together, you.

00:48:03
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, which is sweet.

00:48:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, which is really sweet. I mean, I you know, uh, you can only dream that you would like sing with your kids one day, or play with music with your kids one day.

00:48:15
Speaker 1: Totally.

00:48:16
Speaker 3: You played with your old.

00:48:17
Speaker 1: Man, I uh not really once in a room and it was really hilarious.

00:48:23
Speaker 3: Really yeah, why what was that? What was it?

00:48:25
Speaker 1: Because I had already broke out and I had already had two albums, maybe three. I think I was going through a breakup, and I went to spend time with them, and I brought like a little travel guitar, which was really crappy, and so I sat with him and he was teaching me like a pupil, you know. He was a really prolific teacher, right, and that music is serious. They take it very seriously. Sure, And so it was just kind of funny because I was not like trying to be serious.

00:48:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, you were just trying to I just wanted to jam with my dad. I just want to jam with my dad.

00:49:00
Speaker 1: He was super nice. It wasn't it wasn't like he was not into it. It was just it was kind of a disconnect of the intention because he was very seriously trying to teach me something.

00:49:09
Speaker 3: I mean, but that's life, hasn't it though. It's so hard to understand someone else or to be understood.

00:49:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think I wasn't ready to receive it in the way that.

00:49:17
Speaker 3: He needed to touch it. Yeah, it's not a teaching moment.

00:49:21
Speaker 1: I was more just like I just wanted to play I'm going Nora, I'm sorry, but it was a sweet it was it was a sweet thing that we tried. It was too bad it never really really happened. Yeah, yeah, but I get I played with my sister sometimes, my half sister who learned from him, and she was teaching it too. No, no, she can just jam in me. It's really special.

00:49:44
Speaker 3: I think that's the nature of jamming, is the much like the spread on toast. It's just supposed to get all over the place.

00:49:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly.

00:49:54
Speaker 3: Again in the imperfection zone, I'm really setting myself up to make any mistakes I want.

00:49:59
Speaker 1: It's kind of be great.

00:50:00
Speaker 5: I love it.

00:50:01
Speaker 1: I love that you picked this song, and I love that this is the first song he picked, because usually I have to coax people to pick a cover. Oh.

00:50:08
Speaker 3: I was like when you where, you were like we could play some yours I thought. My first reaction was oh yeah, you said no, Yeah I was.

00:50:17
Speaker 1: But you know, it's like a it's like a choose your own adventure. Yeah, it can be whatever we want.

00:50:22
Speaker 3: Okay, if I ever come back here, we'll do anything you want. Okay, nothing but cuffs.

00:50:27
Speaker 1: I'll pick two and you pick two.

00:50:28
Speaker 3: That's great, we'll go okay. Yeah, uh like unnecessary competition even though it's not. We'll put them in a box like to like four turtles, four turtles racing. All right, well, all right, I'll see you out there.

00:50:45
Speaker 1: Okay, I'll see you there.

00:50:48
Speaker 3: One. Two.

00:51:00
Speaker 11: I know, I stand a line until you think you have the time to spend the leavening with me, And if we go someplace to dance, I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me.

00:51:20
Speaker 5: Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place.

00:51:24
Speaker 20: And have a drink or two, and there I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid.

00:51:34
Speaker 1: Like I love you.

00:51:39
Speaker 3: I can see your eyes that.

00:51:42
Speaker 6: You despise the same old lies.

00:51:44
Speaker 5: You've heard the night before, And though it's just a line to you and me, it's.

00:51:53
Speaker 6: True and never felt so right before.

00:51:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, felt is good.

00:52:00
Speaker 5: Practice.

00:52:00
Speaker 19: Every day to find some clever lines to say and make the meaning come true. Then I think I'll wait until the evening gets later.

00:52:14
Speaker 5: And I'm alone with you. The time is right, your perfume fills might have.

00:52:22
Speaker 21: The size gets red, and all the nights so blue, And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like at.

00:52:58
Speaker 5: The time is right to believe fills my head and all the lights so blue?

00:53:08
Speaker 6: And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you.

00:53:40
Speaker 5: Oh that was That was so fun.

00:53:43
Speaker 3: That was so much fun. I could that one. I could just sing over and over and over me do You're the best? Thank you, Thank you so much for having me.

00:53:50
Speaker 1: This is a blast. Oh thanks for listening. That was so fun.

00:53:55
Speaker 5: That was awesome.

00:53:56
Speaker 1: He's a he's a real personality. He's hilarious. He needs to guess host in one of our episodes. I think he should. Yeah, I think we This was his audition.

00:54:04
Speaker 5: In the cast.

00:54:05
Speaker 1: I feel like there's many guests we've had that should be a guest host.

00:54:09
Speaker 3: We should do that though.

00:54:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it'll be fun and you know, give us a little break. Yes, maybe they can do all the editing and post productions. Right, Yeah, let's go on a vacation. First time we did was make It with You from Queens of the Stone Age from the album Air of Vulgaris two thousand and seven that was released. The second song we played was called This Lullaby from Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf, released in two thousand and two. The third song we played was Collapsia from Queens of the stone Age like Clockword, released in twenty thirteen. It's also on the a Live in the Catacombs live recording, which is a pretty special version. Check it out. Fourth is All We Did was Something Stupid, originally recorded by the Great Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra, written by Carson Parks from the album The World We Knew, which was a Rank Sinatra album in nineteen sixty seven that was released. Special thanks to Joshua Hami for joining us today. Next week we'll be back with Lucius Whoo. Nora Jones Is Playing Along is a production of iHeart Podcasts. Visit Nora Jones channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. I'm your host, Norah Jones. This episode was recorded at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles, California by Thomas Warren. Assistant engineer was Dan Forth, Webster, backline tech Jason Moser, Gaffer Mickey Andagucci. Mixed by Jamie Landry. Audio post production and mastering by Greg Tobler. Additional recording by Matt Marinelli. Creative consulting by First Three, artwork by Eliza Frye, Photography by Shervin Linez. Produced by Nora Jones and Sarah Oda. Executive producers Aaron wan Kaufman and Jordan Rundogg. Marketing lead. Queen and Nake have a Great One.

00:56:04
Speaker 2: I