Jesse "The Devil/Boots Electric" Hughes is standing on stage at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. And like the motormouth he is, Hughes is gushing. “I am the luckiest *sshole having the time of his life right now” he tells the audience. The packed crowd roar back at him and reach out for the craggy, long-haired, 36-year-old tattooed and moustachioed singer. Lucky? He couldn't be any luckier.
On first listen, EODM are nothing particularly special. They’re a rock band (not death metal), the kind of southern-fried, crunchy, Rolling Stones-loving blues/rock band who sound, at best, like your favourite bar band in the world (when you’re drunk) and at worst, like a bar band (when you’re sober).
Josh Homme, QOTSA and Playing Live
Even if one considers that the reigning king of rock, Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, is the other “half” of the band and plays drums on the albums, the demands of the QOTSA beast means Homme is rarely able to tour with the group. In an interview with Suite101, Hughes is quick to point out that EoDM isn’t his own alone, but really, the band kind of is. Homme’s presence may have helped lure people to the shows, but it’s Hughes who’s kept them.
Death by Sexy or Peace, Love and Death Metal?
Live, the band is absolutely incendiary. Borrowing QOTSA’s powerhouse of a drummer Joey Castillo to fill the enormous leather biking boots of Homme means that the range of tracks from all three of EoDM’s albums (like “Miss Alissa” and “Already Died” from Peace, Love, Death Metal, “I Want You Soo Hard (Boy’s Bad News)” from Death by Sexy and “Cheap Thrills” and “Secret Plans” from their latest album Heart On) have serious backbone. Like, pack-of-angry-elephants type of backbone. Dave “Darlin’ Dave” Catching and Brian “Big Hands” O’Connor make up the rest of the herd, and the band plow through the tracks studiously.
“I Like to Move in the Night”, “Don’t Speak (I Came to Make a BANG!)” and “Anything ‘Cept the Truth” are equally smoking, but it’s the more melodic stuff (“Now I’m a Fool” – the slow-dance Hughes-channeling-Jagger moment – and super-catchy single “Wannabe in LA”) that benefit from a little restraint. Not that much restraint, mind you – one still wants to hold aloft a bottle of Jack Daniels in salutation.
The Devil is in the Details
Then there's "The Devil" himself. Hughes can work a room (and its women) as if it’s his sole mission. He poses, preens, combs out his hair and moustache, slaps hands, whips off his shirt, sticks his tongue out, and beams a thousand-watt smile at what seems like every single girl in the audience. Then he nods at their boyfriends, gives ‘em a hearty salute...and the crowd go wild.
EoDM may not be the most skilled, handsome or polished. And clichéd? Absolutely. But will you find a better, and more entertaining live rock show? Not this year. Hughes and his band of merry men have found a way to become special. They haven’t reinvented the wheel. They’re simple, uncomplicated and fun. And really, isn’t that what rock n’ roll is all about?
Read Suite101's exclusive interview with Jesse Hughes from Eagles of Death Metal
Eagles of Death Metal live at the Vancouver Commodore Ballroom on November 2, 2008 was presented by Timbre Productions Concerts.
Mikala Taylor - Mikala Taylor is the creator/writer of BACKSTAGERIDER.COM, an editor/interactive producer, and was the former associate editor of ...
